The poem was based near the time of the civil war. It is a poem that captured the feelings of all the Americans during the end of the Civil War’s end and the assassination of Lincoln. Also, captured the hearts of many Americans making the poem popular.…
In the poem “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer”, by Walt Whitman, the speaker “[becomes] tired and sick” of the learned astronomer's “proofs, [and] figures” used to observe the stars. While the others attending the lecture applaud the astronomer for his approach to the stars, the speaker, however, exits the lecture hall to enjoy the stars in his preferred method of going outside in the “perfect silence”. These contrasting scenes expose the dichotomous relationship of the speaker’s and the astronomer's approach to observing the stars. The use of structure, diction, and imagery reveal how the astronomer’s approach of observing the stars is far too mechanical and structured to truly see their beauty.…
found the poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman interesting. The poem was straightforward for the most part so I found it easier to read than many of the other poems. First, I found the use of the word gliding in the poem very strange. The speaker was in an astronomy lecture hall and he stood up and left in the middle of the lecture. When I imagine an individual standing up in the middle of a hall, I think of it being disturbing, loud and annoying. The choice of the words rising and gliding made it sound like the writer stood up smoothly and gracefully which I found strange in the context. Also, the line that says “How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick.” I understood unaccountable as in the author wasn’t feeling…
One of the most credited poets throughout the Civil War period was Walt Whitman, who wrote about the hardships of war in his work. In particular, two of his poems are not only heavily intertwined based on topic, but in structure and used literary techniques. “Beat! Beat! Drums!” and “O Captain! O Captain!” both share many similar qualities among figurative, sound and structural devices that Whitman uses to help further enhance the theme of how negatively war can impact individuals.…
Whitman make it clear that he loves women and mothers. He's by people being prudent and insecure. He sing the song of "pride" and celebration. He identify with the fact that his point of view is unusual and different, but he believes people need to get over their individual tensions.…
There can be several meanings and lessons take from the monologue said by John Keating. Keating is portrayed by Robin Williams and he does a wonderful job. He starts off by saying that poetry isn’t written just to be cute. It has a deeper meaning. It can stand for so many things. John takes time to discuss the necessities of the human race. We need medicine to heal us, laws to keep us in order, business to keep us off the coach and engineering to advance us. He is saying that we stay alive for “poetry, beauty, romance [and] love.” John quotes one of Walt Whitman’s poems “O me! O life” to gather further meaning to what he was saying to the students. It’s almost like John is saying the answer to our lives and why we’re still going is poetry.…
Walt Whitman entails a man questioning his own existence, only to answer himself with a simple answer. It begins as a list of the negative parts of life. For example, he feels as if he is “forever reproaching [him]self” (3); this means that no matter what happens in his life, the speaker still disapproves, and he can never feel truly content in his actions. When Whitman is spelling out “the struggle ever renew’d” (5) in life, he uses a repetitive device to emphasize the multitude of hardships people face in their lifetimes. At the beginning of each idea, he uses the word “of.” For example, Whitman states “of eyes that vainly crave the light” (4) to state that one negative art of life is that some people desperately crave attention and praise…
Walt Whitman was a great american poet that wrote about the CIvil War and life in general. In 1886, at the young age of 17, he became a school teacher and later became a journalist just five years later. In 1855 Whitman made Leaves of Grass, his first step toward poetry. He wrote this book of twelve poems and published it himself. Walt Whitman made, edited, and published many great american poems, including O Captain! My Captain! and Song of Myself, that he often included his views about transcendentalism and realism.…
Walt Whitman, generally ignored in his time, has come to be recognized as a great poet among the American romantics. His works emphasize romantic ideals such as reverence towards nature, examination of the inner self, and distaste for scientific thought. Whitman's poems piece together life lessons and observations of existence into a message which promotes reader based reflection. His strongest works are debatable, but his poems with the strongest messages remain clear. "When I Heard the Learned Astronomer," "A noiseless patient spider," and "A Clear Midnight" each present a fascinating insight into the nature of human existence.…
As a recovering anorexic, I am all too familiar with my body and how it looks when I am standing, sitting, and lying down. I know the way my stomach curls under my ribs and how the fat on top makes a crease as if to say, “I’ve got your back ribs, no one can touch you.” I know the way my thighs stick to wooden seats when I sit for too long. I know the way my body feels when it is hungry, full, or tired. In these ways, one could say that I am overly sensitive to my body and its ways and cues. However, I feel that it makes the sensations I have in my body more “electric.” In I Sing the Body Electric, Walt Whitman caught my eye with the very first few lines.…
To being, Whitman adequately addresses the reader as a close friend. His attitude is portrayed as someone who wants to help you and support you. I think this is important because relationships are what give life meaning. Another theme that is apparent in this work is the theme of identity. Whitman has multiple identities, one of the soul, one of himself, and one of the natural world, including animals. This theme is important because in the two other works, identity is something the main characters struggle with. On the contrary, Whitman knows that relationships with people are all important. The last theme that I will be addressing is one of spirituality. Whitman believes that the soul and body are both immortal because human beings are a part of the natural world unlike the Biblical references where the soul is immortal and the body is not. All in all, Whitman is content with the ways of life unlike Ivan and…
In Walt Whitman’s poem, Song of Myself, I found different key pieces of Whitman’s diction and language to be more in depth and not so cut, black and white. This poem really makes you think by giving you different perspectives of life to wonder about through the use of his words. I have gotten the impression that Whitman really values himself and his beliefs of a good world and being alive in the present is worthwhile to him. His words are very powerful, thoughtful and even strong enough to change somebodies view of how they see the world. Whitman includes inspirational, yet erotic views of how he feels for his soul and the life around him.…
In “Song of Myself” Walt Whitman is trying to see self as a whole. He wants to find strength and beauty as to make self whole and to be unified with humanity and nature. While people are condemning him, because the expression of a sexual content and a connection that makes use body and soul as well as the shock value. Whitman’s friend Ralph Waldo Emerson decides to back him in his writing. Emerson’s letter to Whitman calling Leaves of Grass "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed" saved Whitman 's self-published first edition from sinking into obscurity. Yet even more important, Emerson 's work as a whole helped to prepare readers for the liberal, post-Christian spirituality that pervades Leaves of Grass. (Insert my source). Whitman wants to bring…
In the poem “O Me! O Life!” by Walt Whitman he starts by saying that he has always questioned himself and life like most people regularly do. The fact that there are tons of others in this world like him, faithless and without direction and foolish, he admits he may be amongst the worst of them. He claims that he is always criticizing and analyzing himself in a negative light and how he along with other people long to become more and long to see the truth of what the meaning of life is. The poem was hard to choose because it is hard to understand but once it is broken down I feel like anyone can relate to it.…
Whitman’s poems To a Stranger and These, I Singing in Spring both talk about a lost love that is being remembered by the narrator. They give details on their joyful memories with their loved one and hope that they would meet them again in the future . A sad tone can be heard in the narrator’s voice in To A stranger when he says “I am not to speak to you-I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone.…