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Analysis of Song of myself 1
Walt Whitman Lincoln
Walt Whitman Lincoln
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The third passage, excerpted from Walt Whitman's Song of Myself, demonstrates Whitman's willingness to represent those from usually neglected peoples, such as prostitutes, sickly persons, and slaves. He is their voice of portrayal. He is the one who will reveal the true nature of these people and the circumstances they've been forcefully thrown into. He isn't afraid to speak for them towards those who are ignorant and uncaring. He will be truthful but painfully candid, as well, as shown by how he'll "keep as delicate around the bowels as around the head and heart." He does not find indecencies more vulgar than death itself. On the contrary, he sees them as normal occurrences in life, further emphasizing how he won't back down from educating
those who believe otherwise. The second half of the passage addresses Whitman's view of himself and how he accepts everything that he is. He is honest and shares how he also succumbs to desires. Additionally, he celebrates himself. He calls his body and the abilities given by it a "miracle." The idea that recognizing how beautiful and valuable you are is a hard concept, especially when the image seen by your company is held at the highest degree of importance. All in all, Whitman is saying how the stories of those rejected by society can be far different than what we assumed, and we should see ourselves with open eyes and accept our faults, in order to see the beauty in us.
An example is in Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself”, that “it can recognize one’s readings of Whitman’s body of writing. In thinking about the poem as the central work, one can make discussion about the culture of democracy” (Kateb 21). The poem presents Whitman's seemingly inconsistent and self-contradictory attitude he holds toward slavery that has long been a source of critical debate:
The Heath Anthology of American Literature repeatedly refers to Walt Whitman and his poetry in terms of being American, yet as I read Song of Myself, my thoughts are continually drawn to the philosophies and religions of the Far East. Like the Tao Te Ching ideas are expressed in enigmatic verse and each stanza is a Zen koan waiting to be meditated on and puzzled out. Even Emerson called Whitman's poetry "a remarkable mixture of the Bhagvat Gita and the New York Herald" ("The Whitman Project"). Song of Myself contains multitudes of passages that express Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist thought.
Whitman is giving a more graphic example of how sex is a natural thing. By comparing the act of reproduction to death he shows just how natural of an act sex is. Everything that is born will eventually die. He feels that the natural curiosities of the human sexual appetites should not be denied or not discussed because of social standards. Not only is sex a "miracle" that is a part of him, but also nature and the universe, and each individual part should be celebrated.
Walt Whitman’s poem Time to Come explores Whitman’s curiosity of what happens when people die. Rather than taking a pessimistic approach, his writing is more insightful about the experience. The title alone introduces an aspect of his purpose; to point out that dying is inevitable. With Whitman captures the reader’s attention and shares his curiosity with vivid images, sophisticated diction, and his use of metaphor and personification in Time to Come.
Walt Whitman is commonly known as the bard of America, a poet who wrote about the common man of the country as had never been done before. He was able to do so because he was a common man, as can be seen in lines such as "This is the city and I am one of the citizens." Within his poetry he often used certain tools of the typical epic tale, borrowed from such tales as The Iliad, and The Odyssey. All of these tools can be seen within the lines of his lengthy poem of fifty-two sections "Song of Myself." The first of these tools include an invocation of the muse, as can be seen in the lines "I loafe and invite my soul," which appears to be an invocation of a muse, or his own soul which may also be his muse. Another tool used is cataloguing, throughout this poem Whitman incorporates many descriptions and images that he lists in a catalogue form. Another typical epic tool is that of beginning en medias res, or in the middle of things. The use of similes, comparisons using like or as are another epic tool that is pervasive within Whitmans works. The final tool Whitman uses is the intermingling of high and low, or the common man associating with people of a different class for example when he compares someone to the president " Have you outstript the rest? are you the President?" Whitman also incorporates certain personas into his works when he uses "I" and "me", which do not always refer to him. Lastly, Whitman uses a form of writing called free verse, which exhibits no conscious rhythmic structure, it is unrhymed. It is with this form that Whitman sets out to capture the American vernacular, making his poetry more of a representation of Americas common man.
America is a place where people share a sense of unity and pride for their country. In Whitman’s “Song of Myself” he shows that he feels “ Comrade of Californians, comrade of free North-Westerners... Comrade of raftsmen and coalman, comrade to all who shake hands and welcome to drink and meat” (35). This shows how americans no matter how far apart they may be feel a sense of friendship just because they are Americans. People in America are willing to come together as one due to their shared trait of all being Americans. Mark Twain shows in “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” that people have a sense of pride in the country 's history when he talks about the dog being named Andrew Jackson (103). People in America respect their country’s
In stanza six of the poem "Song of Myself", by Walt Whitman, he poses the question "What is the grass?" I believe that grass is a metaphor for the cycle of life. Throughout the poem Whitman points out images that grass could represent. All of these images stem from the life and death that we come to expect in our lifetime. During your life you will experience death, it at times surrounds you, but if you look past the grief and look to the beauty you will see that it is a cycle that keeps our world in balance. The images of flags, tears, children and older people that are torn from the ones they love, but only to soon return to other lost ones are all parts of Walt Whitman's poem.
Accretion is the growth or increase in size by gradual external addition, fusion, or inclusion (American Heritage), which can also be described as a thing formed or added by gradual growth or increase. Within Whitman's "Song of Myself", accretion is used to show equality through diversity. Accretion is seen through two epic catalogues, one focuses on describing the people and their occupations and the other is about the locations where many things--like animals, people, objects---are. Both are describing a diverse variety of many things, which seem to have a distinct difference, for example, being a doctor or a field worker or maybe in an area with only water or only land. However, towards the end of the long catalogues the speaker embodies
He pronounces in previous stanzas, "You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself," and, "Not an inch nor a particle of a... ... middle of paper ... ... sp; By projecting his sexual self against such broad parameters, Whitman generates a decidedly transcendental experience. With such vivid imagery in his celebration of the sensual, he elevates the limited faculties of man to being capable of limitless understanding. The role of the sexual in his work is integral to this sense of active, individual discovery.
There are many "popular" topics used frequently by authors. Love, religion, and war are some favorites. Two other such topics we typically read about are nature and death. The two can be discussed separately or they can be related to each other. Walt Whitman, a lover of nature, tackled these subjects in "Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass. Another author who does the same is William Cullen Bryant. Though two very different writers with different styles, they share some of the same ideas.
Walt Whitman is considered the foremost poet of American democracy of his time. Not only did he fully embrace it, but he believed that American democracy was more than a political system, but a way of life (Casale 48). Many of his personal experiences influenced his deep democratic point of view (48). As a volunteer at an army hospital during the American Civil War, he saw many die and became increasingly grateful for the opportunities provided by the American government (Mirsky). Later, as he was residing in New York City, Whitman witnessed America face urbanization. He loved the diversity of the cities and believed it was possible because of democracy (Brand). This adoration of democracy is apparent in many of Whitman’s works, such as “Drum-Taps”
Society shapes human beings into what they think is perfection. People in today’s society follow the world’s rituals as they continue to conform to fit in to the latest trends. Today, implants, plastic surgery, and weight loss treatments are the reason people have money set aside in their savings accounts. The pressure of others claims to be the main reason people change their hair, skin, and size, and often forget about their own special characteristics. There is a reason Walt Whitman, writes “I Celebrate Myself, and Sing Myself,” to show the importance of loving yourself and cherishing your own personal qualities as a human being. He speaks of himself, hoping to grab his readers’ attention. Throughout the poem, “I Celebrate Myself, and Sing
The poem Repondez, by Walt Whitman, first published in 1856 had the title Poem of Propositions of Nakedness. The title used today only appeared as such in the 1867 and 1871-72. This essay, I shall analyze this poem based on Ball, T and Dagger’s entries from The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought, more specifically the entries on Radicalism and Philosophic Radicalism. I will attempt to do this in order to see how much does this poem is inclined to be a radical poem based on the theoretical background outlined by the authors.
His discussion of desire and pleasure were simply unheard of for the time and the readers as a whole were not sure how to react to this new sense of openness. It could be said that the reason that Walt Whitman was so open all of his life, was because of the way he was raised and the way that his family was. “In June 1816, when he was twenty-seven, he married Louisa Van Velsor, vigorous, big-boned and florid, and brought her from her parents’ farm at Cold Springs to the new house” (Kaplan, 1980, p. 59). One example of this would be one of Whitman’s most risque poems. The following line from A Woman Waits for Me gives a brief glimpse into how far Whitman took his poetry. “Yet all were lacking, if sex were lacking, or if the moisture of the right man were lacking” (Whitman, A Woman Waits for Me). It is poems like this and the person experiences expressed through them that creates an image for the reader of any of Whitman’s poems. If he had something to say or a feeling that he wanted to express, then he was going to share
Walt Whitman was a famous poet that is still known today for his works for how well his poems connected with people. Whitman was a well renowned poet that lived from 1819 to 1892, and during his lifetime he wrote many poems that are known for their unique style. Whitman is described as, “Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is generally considered to be the most important American poet of the 19th century. He wrote in free verse, relying heavily on the rhythms of native American speech. In all, over a 37-year period, Walt Whitman published nine separate editions of his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass. The final, 1892 edition, is the one familiar to readers today. He has strongly influenced the direction of 20th-century American