Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Walt Whitman as Poet and Person
Walt Whitman as Poet and Person
Walt Whitman as Poet and Person
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Notions of freedom and captivity abound in the writings of Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman. As contemporaries both men wrote much on the issue of slavery in the United States, Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass depicts his quest for freedom from captivity. Walt Whitman celebrates the freedom he sees as inherent in America through his verse. The work of both, however, can be seen to have been captive to political considerations of the period. According to Carl Martin Lindner, “Freedom is central to Whitman’s vision of life – the artistic life, the individual life, and the life of the society.” The notion that freedom is intrinsic to American life is a central theme of Whitman’s writings. The preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass outlines his admiration of the American people and “their deathless attachment to freedom.” In his letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1856, he refers to the “free modes, characteristic of The States.” This concept of “free modes,” seen in “Song of Myself” through the use of free verse, a poetic form Whitman is considered to have championed , signals Whitman’s intention to be free from the literary constraints of old Europe. As he declares in his preface, “[the poet] bestows on every object or quality its fit proportions neither more nor less.” Whitman is free to make his own choices concerning the form and subject of his poems. “Song of Myself” presents the reader with a wide variety of subject matter. By joining with the reader from the outset: I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. Whitman implies that everything he celebrates in the poem is worthy of celebration by ... ... middle of paper ... ...ican Man", The Cambridge Companion to the African American Slave Narrative, edited by Audrey Fisch (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). Stepto, Robert B., "From Behind the Veil: A Study of Afro American Narrative", My Bondage and My Freedom, edited by William L. Andrews (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991). Whitman, Walt, I Sit and Look Out: Editorials from the Brooklyn Daily Times (New York: Columbia University Press, 1932). Whitman, Walt, Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts Vol. 1 (New York: New York University Press, 1984). Whitman, Walt. "Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855)", The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Nina Baym (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012). Whitman, Walt, "From Democratic Vistas", The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Nina Baym, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012).
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.
Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself.” 1855 ed. Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Edwin Haviland Miller. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989. 9-11.
During the late romantic period, two of history’s most profound poets, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, emerged providing a foundation for, and a transition into Modern poetry. In its original form, their poems lacked the characteristics commonly attributed to most romantic poets of the mid to late nineteenth century who tended to utilize “highly stylized verses, having formal structures, figurative language and adorned with symbols” (worksheet). Unique and “eccentric use of punctuation” as well as “irregular use of meter and rhyme” were the steppingstones for this new and innovative style of writing (worksheet). Even though these two writers rejected the traditional approach, both remained firmly dedicated to their romantic idealism of the glass of water being “half full” opposed to “half empty.” Noted for his frequent practice of catalogs and parallelism, Whitman stirred up much controversy with his first edition of “leaves of Grass” in 1855. Many critics responded negatively to the ...
American Bards: Walt Whitman and Other Unlikely Candidates for National Poet. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2010. Print.
Monforton, Nicole. “Whitman and Ginsberg”. Weblog entry. Blog. 1 December 2010. 2 May 2012 .
Walt Whitman is one of America’s most popular and most influential poets. The first edition of Whitman’s well-known Leaves of Grass first appeared in July of the poet’s thirty-sixth year. A subsequent edition of Leaves of Grass (of which there were many) incorporated a collection of Whitman’s poems that had been offered readers in 1865. The sequence added for the 1867 edition was Drum-Taps, which poetically recounts the author’s experiences of the American Civil War.
Waterman, Bryan. "Coquetry and Correspondence in Revolutionary-Era: Reading Elizabeth Whitman’s Letters." Early American Literature (2011): 541-563.
Walt Whitman was not afraid to give his opinion of What was becoming of America, and he showed that in Democratic Vistas. Whitman
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.
While reading through the poem Song of Myself by Walt Whitman, what comes to your mind? His deep love for nature? The use of symbolism throughout the poem? Whitman’s questionable homoeroticism that seeps its way throughout the lines? What came to the forefront of mind when reading this poem by Whitman was his deliberately obvious theme of individuality while also maintaining a universal identity. I also think that Whitman throws in a common underlying theme of transcendentalism throughout his poem. At various times throughout Song of Myself, he really seems to show that each individual person has a sort of knowledge about themselves that surpasses their logic and sense but rather, uses their intuition and inner soul. He also shows how each individual person is, in fact, their own person, but that each person is a part of a bigger, universal identity. Whitman’s theme of transcendentalism intertwined with his main theme of individual having both personal and universal identities is what will be explored in this close reading analysis.
He crossed the boundaries of the poetry literature and gave a poetry worth of our democracy that contributed to an immense variety of people, nationalities, races. Whitman’s self-published Leaves of Grass was inspired in part by his travels through the American frontier and by his admiration for Ralph Waldo Emerson (Poetry Foundation). He always believed in everyone being treated equally and bringing an end to slavery and racism. Through his poetry, Whitman tried to bring every people in America together by showing them what happiness, love, unison, and real knowledge looked. His poetry and its revolution changed the world of American literature
There is contrast in Whitman's view, which embraces all society, and that which surrounds him. He views all mankind and nature as intertwined in the past, present and future in one perpetual cycle of life and death. He speaks of the sameness of man and se...
While the poem can be termed to be democratic, both in subject matter and its language, Whitman is viewed to be cataloging the ‘new’ America that he is seeing around him. The poem includes subject matter such as relationships, patriotism, heroes, family and ancestors, and a view on social commentaries too.
Walt Whitman was a poet born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, Long Island, New York. His first published work came in 1855; called Leaves of Grass, it is now a landmark in American literature. The second oldest of eight surviving children, Walt grew up in a democratic family, with his parents showing their love for America by naming his younger brothers after great American heroes. Walt and his family moved from Long Island to Brooklyn when he was just three years old. When he was eleven years old, Walt’s father took him out of school to help support his family, and he got into the business of printing. At age seventeen, he started teaching at a one-room schoolhouse in Long Island. After five years, Whitman turned to journalism, starting a paper called the Long-Islander, and later continuing his newspaper career in New York City. He became the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1846, and “proved to be a volatile editor, with a sharp pen and a set of opinions that didn’t always align with his bosses or his readers. He backed what some considered radical positions on women’s propert...