Walt Whitman Tears

Tears by Walt Whitman shows the damage that is done to an individual when his/her emotions are held in. The author uses multiple metaphors and a depressing tone to express the theme in the poem. Some of the self-devastation that comes with masking sadness and only letting out your feelings when in solitude is a feeling of helplessness and continuous depression. The first way that Tears conveys the theme of holding onto negative emotions and masking them from the public being detrimental to the individual is the the feeling of helplessness that comes. The author shows helplessness as a direct result in holding onto sadness when he states, “Tears not a star shining, all dark and desolate.” This shows how the person in the poem feels alone and believes that there is no hope near by. This can be deciphered from the text because stars usually symbolize hope and no limitations because space seems to be endless and so do the opportunities that come with it, so by there being no stars the person whom we have the perspective of within the poem believes that he/she is going nowhere and that his/her future is non-existent. The text also uses the

The author shows this by saying, “Streaming tears, sobbing tears, throes, choked with wild tears.” This shows how the author uses imagery to show some of the negative effects of holding in your feelings. All of these feelings include crying one way or another. Crying is an effect of depression. The author also uses the metaphor, “But away at night as you fly, none looking-O then the unloosen’d ocean, Of tears! tears! tears !” This shows that the person cried an out entire ocean of tears, both of which are salt water. The author also uses repetitiveness to express the feeling of depression in this poem by saying tears 3x. This how the author shows proves the theme of holding in sadness can result in