Within the field of American writing and music, Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" stand as celebrated works that jump into the pit of human identity and societal constructs. Despite being from one-of-a-kind periods, both pieces show continuities and discontinuities, setting forward modern perspectives on race, identity, and distinction. Through a close examination of form, content, and thematic components, this paper will translate the similarities and differences between Berry's song and Whitman's poem, to further understand their relevance and significance to this day. At the heart of both works lies a party of independence and resistance towards societal standards. Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" transmits a feel of revolt and reinforcing through its energetic pace and catchy verses. The individual, a brown-eyed man of color, will end up with an image of resistance towards racial bias and segregation. Also, Whitman's "Song of Myself" shows a comparable sense of insubordination, despite being more noticeable and reflective. Whitman's speaker revels in his own personality, grasping all aspects of himself, regardless of societal expectations or …show more content…
Berry's track transcends racial boundaries with the help of celebrating the different reports and characters of people from differing backgrounds. The verses resonate with individuals of all races, emphasizing the shared humankind that joins us all. Whitman's verses receive a universalistic point, obscuring the line between self, other, and collective. Through energetic symbolism and expansive dialect, Whitman welcomes readers to grasp the interconnection of all creatures, cultivating a sense of sympathy and solidarity. Despite their contrasting settings, both Berry and Whitman emphasize the significance of grasping contrasting qualities and grasping the characteristic display of human
Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 24-67. Print.
When I read poetry, I often tend to look first at its meaning and second at how it is written, or its form. The mistake I make when I do this is in assuming that the two are separate, when, in fact, often the meaning of poetry is supported or even defined by its form. I will discuss two poems that embody this close connection between meaning and form in their central use of imagery and repetition. One is a tribute to Janis Joplin, written in 1983 by Alice Fulton, entitled “You Can’t Rhumboogie in a Ball and Chain.” The second is a section from Walt Whitman’s 1,336-line masterpiece, “Song of Myself,” first published in 1855. The imagery in each poem differs in purpose and effect, and the rhythms, though created through repetition in both poems, are quite different as well. As I reach the end of each poem, however, I am left with a powerful human presence lingering in the words. In Fulton’s poem, that presence is the live-hard-and-die-young Janis Joplin; in Whitman’s poem, the presence created is an aspect of the poet himself.
American singer-songwriter and folk musician Bob Dylan describes in his autobiography, as well as his life and music in general, the ambiguity of folk songs and their ability to be openly shared, interpreted, and even fabricated, and he believes that human nature is such that we are most comfortable with this opacity. The work of African American artist Kara Walker reinforces this belief, and applies it to history with the exploration of cultural ideas regarding race, sexuality, identity, gender roles, repression, and violence.
Whitman’s poem was written in the mid-1800s during the industrial revolution, but Hughes’ poem was written in the 1900s during the Civil Rights Movement. This is important because the Civil Rights Movement established the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Industrial Revolution moved at a slow place but there were still issues with slavery. Whitman’s poem was free verse while Hughes’ poem was traditional rhyme/rhythm. The tone of Whitman’s poem was patriotic and celebratory (I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear); because he was paying tribute to the success of the individuals; however, the tone of Hughes’ poem was sarcastic and frustrated (to build a “homeland of the free,’’ because he didn’t feel like some individuals were allowed to experience the American Dream. Whitman’s theme of his poem was that individuals and liberties make America great. On the other hand, Hughes’ theme of his poem expressed that individuals felt excluded from the “homeland of the free.” The purpose of Whitman’s poem is praise for universal brotherhood. However, Hughes’ poem’s purpose was to inform individuals about inequality, meaning that not everyone has the same liberties in America. Whitman’s poem focused on the jobs of the workers, while Hughes’ poem focused on race, social status, and a list to represent the “I am’’ phrase; (I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars). He also
Sociologists often employ intersectionality theory to describe and explain facets of human interactions. This particular methodology operates on the notion that sociologically defining characteristics, such as that of race, gender, and class, are not independent of one another but function simultaneously to determine our individual social experiences. This is evident in poetry as well. The combination of one poet’s work that expresses issues on class with another poet’s work that voices issues on race, and so forth, can be analyzed through a literary lens, and collectively embody the sociological intersectionality theory.
“Most things I write, I do for the sheer love of the music in them. Somehow or other, however, I find my poetry of itself treating of the Negro, of hi...
“Together the matrices of race and music occupied similar position and shared the same spaces in the works of some of the most lasting texts of Enlightenment thought..., by the end of the eighteenth century, music could embody differences and exhibit race…. Just as nature gave birth and form to race, so music exhibited remarkable affinities to nature” (Radano and Bohlman 2000: 14). Radano and Bohlman pointed out that nature is a source of differences that give rise to the different racial identities. As music embodies the physical differences of human, racial differences are not only confined to the differences in physical appearances, but also the differences in many musical features, including language, tonality and vocal expression. Nonetheless, music is the common ground of different racial identities. “In the racial imagination, music also occupies a position that bridges or overlaps with racial differences. Music fills in the spaces between racial distinctiveness….” (Radano and Bohlman 2000:8) Even though music serves as a medium through which different racial identities are voiced and celebrated individually, it establishes the common ground and glues the differences
Very few people will contest that Walt Whitman may be one of the most important and influential writers in American literary history and conceivably the single most influential poet. However many have claimed that Whitman’s writing is so free form as evident in his 1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass and Song of Myself that it has no style. The poetic structures he employs are unconventional but reflect his very democratic ideals towards America. Although Whitman’s writing does not include a structure that can be easily outlined, masterfully his writing conforms itself to no style, other then its own universal and unrestricted technique. Even though Whitman’s work does not lend itself to the conventional form of poetry in the way his contemporaries such as Longfellow and Whittier do, it holds a deliberate structure, despite its sprawling style of free association.
Roy, William G. “Aesthetic Identity, Race, and American Folk Music.” Qualitative sociology 25, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 459-469.
Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is a vision of the American spirit, a vision of Whitman himself. It is his cry for democracy, giving each of us a voice through his poetry. Each of us has a voice and desires, and this is Whitman's representation of our voices, the voice of America. America, the great melting pot, was founded for freedom and democracy, and this poem is his way of re-instilling these lost American ideals. In this passage from "Song of Myself" Whitman speaks through his fellow man and speaks for his fellow man when his voice is not socially acceptable to be heard.
*Whitman, Walt. Song of Myself. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 3rd ed. Ed, Paul Lauter. Boston,NewYork: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
Walt Whitman used free verse in “Song of Myself” in order to connect with the common man and his American readers. In this first person narrative, Whitman deconstructs the “self” into many different sections that all are a part of the celebration of the individual. Some of the topics he breaks the “self” into are self- identity, and human exploration (including the human body and sexuality). In the poem, Whitman uses a speaker to exclaim that for individuals to grow they must discover themselves spiritually, physically, and mentally. The speaker in the poem
As aforementioned, this paradoxical concept of individuality coexisting with unity and equality is evident in “Song of Myself” (Chase 132). Whitman believed the theme of unity is a common link embracing all humanity. Whitman also felt that “one of the founding beliefs of American democracy is the fundamental equality of all people” (Casale 49). In “Song of Myself,” the people are portrayed as a collection of distinct individuals with their own soul and qualities.
As Whitman, the specific individual, melts away into the abstract, “Song of Myself” explores the possibilities for communion between individuals. Whitman addresses the reader in a particularly direct manner. He integrates his reader into the poem, and is freed of the constraints of poetic principle and social etiquette. The poem presents entire body lounging on the ground, leaning and idling. Whitman deliberately conflates natural world and poetical world. “Song of Myself” goes beyond the boundaries of Transcendentalism in the relationship of the physical and spiritual, individual and universal. The self that Whitman cheerily sings and celebrates substantiates a ‘uniform hieroglyphic’: suggestive, multiform, and awash with inconsistency. “It is as much a physical presence as a projected spiritual possibility” (Jason 2). Even as it blatantly and fervently expresses Whitman’s faith in evolution (and therefore in the necessary indivisibility of self-reliance), “Song of Myself” also conveys a separation with the “self,” the poet himself, and the co...
In his first line he urges, “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear” (I Hear, 1), referring to the people as one group of Americans who are all somehow united by their individual tunes. Each and every individual has lived a different walk of life, with different hardships, and varying circumstances. With that being said, the people singing these tunes are all driven by their ambitions, and have achieved a level of freedom they could not anywhere else in the world. Whitman writes, “Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else”, implying the importance of independence and individuality. Like their different tunes they sing which together form a melody, the different circumstances they come from unites them as Americans. Ironically it’s the fact that everyone in America does live a different walk of life, with different goals, and different circumstances that unites them. It is the ability to express one’s own individuality that forms the American, the same way the individuals different songs form a melody.