Walt Whitman's Poetry

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Walt Whitman 1819 – 1892 By: Sharon Mendez Rodriguez

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Summary of Walt Whitman's Biography and Poetry. The poems that will be studied in class are included in the presentation.

Transcript of Walt Whitman's Poetry

Walt Whitman 1819 1892

Walt Whitman 1819 1892By: Sharon Mendez RodriguezBiographySon of Walter and Louisa Velso Whitman, working-class parentsParents had nine children.Family moved to Brooklyn, NY, when Walt was 4 years oldHere, Walt attended public school until he was 11He became a printers apprentice for a local newspaper when he was 12 or 13.Begins publishing his writing in popular New York magazine MirrorFamily moves back to the country.

Walt joins them later and teaches school, works as printer, and briefly establishes his own newspaper, The Long-IslanderWalt rarely holds down a job for a long time; he disliked systematic labor and tended to roamImpressions from his long walks through countryside, towns, and cities (esp. New York) would leave a profound impression on his workWhitman is overwhelmed by the carnage of the Civil War and volunteers as a nurse, without pay, at military hospitals in Washington, D.C.Under impression of the Civil War, he writes collection of poems, Drum-Taps

He briefly holds a government job in the Bureau of Indian Affairs; is fired because Secretary of Interior James Hartland objected to sexual imagery in Leaves of Grass1882: publisher suppresses the book after the Massachusetts District Attorney threatens to prosecute on the basis of obscenity laws (thus: Leaves of Grass one of a long list of banned or challenged books)Weakened by strokes and tuberculosis, Whitman dies of pneumonia on March 26, 1892.

Leaves of Grass

A spiritual autobiographyExpanded and revised 9 times throughout Whitmans life.

Poetic Devices of Whitman

AlliterationAssonanceImageryOnomatopoeiaCatalogPersonificationMetaphor

ConsonanceParallel structureRepetitionAnaphora (repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences)CadenceInformal or slang; invented wordsTone

AlliterationThe repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.It is used to create musical effects and to establish mood.

From Song of Myself #1I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

AssonanceThe repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds; especially in words that are close together.

From Song of Myself #1

I loaf and invite my soul, I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

ImageryThe use of language to evoke a mental picture or a concrete sensation of a person, place, thing, or idea.

Leaves of Grass #10Alone far in the wilds and mountains I hunt,Wandering amazed at my own lightness and glee,In the late afternoon choosing a safe spot to pass the night,Kindling a fire and broiling the fresh-killed game,Falling asleep on the gathered leaves with my dog and gun by my side.

CatalogA list of people, things, or events.

Whitman uses long, descriptive lists to express the voice of America.

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,/ Those of mechanicsThe carpenter singingThe mason singingThe boatman singingThe wood-cutters song

Parallel StructureThe repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structure.

I am the hounded slave, I wince at the bite of the dogs, I clutch the rails of the fence, my gore dribs..

Make It Sound Like MusicCadence: The natural, rhythmic rise and fall of language as it is normally spoken. It is not written to a particular, predictable meter of language.Free Verse: Poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme. Walt Whitman was the first American poet to use free verse.

New LANGUAGEWhitman used chunky language to enlarge the possibilities of American poetry.He used slang words or invented words like Yawp to reflect the depth of heart he hoped to express.In repetition he trumpeted America as a land of greatness, diversity, passion, and optimism. He wrote of a great America.

Whitmans PoetryWhitman declared his poetry would have:Long lines that capture the rhythms of natural speech.Free verse.Vocabulary drawn from everyday speech.A base in reality, not morality.

CriticsCritics of his time where often appalled by: His lack of regular rhyme and meter (free verse) and nontraditional poetic style and subject matter shocked more traditional writers.He also wrote poetry with unabashedly sexual imagery and themes, some of them homoerotic. Examples include the Calamus poems and I Sing the Body Electric.

ThemesDemocracy As a Way of LifeThe Cycle of Growth and DeathThe Beauty of the Individual

MotifsListsThe Human BodyRhythm and Incantation

SymbolsPlantsThe Self

When I read the Book

To a Stranger

Once I Passd Through a Populous City

I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing

Song of Myself (1892 version)