...Walt Whitman was one of America’s most inspiring poets. Born a poetic genius in the nineteenth century, Whitman influenced the twentieth century with his idealistic poetry. He envisioned democracy as a way of life and looked to America for inspiration. Walt Whitman’s background influenced his writing in many ways and produced a new poetic style which changed the face of American Literature. Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, New York, to Walter Whitman, a carpenter, and Louisa Van Velsor. He was the second oldest of nine children (Price and Folsom online). At age four, Whitman and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he spent a difficult childhood because of his family’s poor financial circumstances. At age eleven, Whitman ended his formal education and sought employment to supplement his family’s income. He got a job as an apprentice on a liberal, working-class newspaper called the “Long Islander Patriot.” There he “learned the printing trade and was first exposed to the excitement of putting words into print and observing how thought and event could be quickly transformed into language and immediately communicated to thousands of readers” (Price and Folsom online). Whitman began promoting his ideas to the newspaper. By age twelve, he had his first words published (Price and Folsom online). He was fascinated with seeing his own words and thoughts in print. Two years later, Whitman’s family moved back to West Hills leaving fourteen year old Whitman...
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...Analysis Essay This essay will examine two poems by Walt Whitman, “A Noiseless Patient Spider” and “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”. These two poems are similar in several ways yet differ in many as well. Each poem can be broken down and analyzed to relate to the human experience. Walt Whitman “A Noiseless Patient Spider” is about a spider as well as one’s soul. Whitman does a great job making two different things similar. A spider’s legs are always moving searching for a good place to make its connections to create its web. The speaker of the poem describes the spider as “a little promontory it stood isolated” (L.2) A promontory is a land mass protruding out surrounded by water. The spider is standing on a ledge protruding out surrounded by a vast emptiness. Whitman says “marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding” (L.3) meaning the spider is working vigorously to find the correct place for its web. This relates to the second stanza which is about a person’s soul which is alone in the world constantly searching for a companion to quote, “ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, and seeking the spheres to connect them.” (L.8). this poem really leaves you to wonder how exactly a person really connects Hammer 2 To another person. It is not known exactly known what draws you to a person you just are. Whitman uses a lot of words that are euphony as well as...
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...alt Whitman Born on May 31, 1819, Walt Whitman was the second son of Walter Whitman, a housebuilder, and Louisa Van Velsor. The family, which consisted of nine children, lived in Brooklyn and Long Island in the 1820s and 1830s. At the age of twelve, Whitman began to learn the printer's trade, and fell in love with the written word. Largely self-taught, he read voraciously, becoming acquainted with the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible. Whitman worked as a printer in New York City until a devastating fire in the printing district demolished the industry. In 1836, at the age of 17, he began his career as teacher in the one-room school houses of Long Island. He continued to teach until 1841, when he turned to journalism as a full-time career. He founded a weekly newspaper, Long-Islander, and later edited a number of Brooklyn and New York papers. In 1848, Whitman left the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to become editor of the New Orleans Crescent. It was in New Orleans that he experienced at first hand the viciousness of slavery in the slave markets of that city. On his return to Brooklyn in the fall of 1848, he founded a "free soil" newspaper, the Brooklyn Freeman, and continued to develop the unique style of poetry that later so astonished Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1855, Whitman took out a copyright on the first edition of Leaves of Grass (self-published), which consisted of twelve untitled poems and a preface. He published the volume himself, and sent a copy to...
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...Walt Whitman Through the history of the United States there have been a countless numbers of poets. With them came an equal number of writing styles. Certainly one of the most unique poets to write life’s story through his own view of the world and with the ambition to do it was Walter Whitman. Greatly criticized by many readers of his work, Whitman was not a man to be deterred. Soon he would show the world that he had a voice, and that it spoke with a poet’s words. Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. Thus Whitman began his “Song of the Open Road”. This paper will attempt to describe his life and poetry in a way that does justice to the path he chose. He was a man who grew up impoverished, who wrote from his experiences, and who tried to lift his fellow men above life’s trivialities. These are the points to be discussed on these pages. To know the essence of Walter Whitman, you would have to understand the heart of his writing. For he is in his pen. Walter Whitman was born in West Hills, Long Island, New York, on May 31, 1819 . He did not have much opportunity for education in his early life. His parents were mostly poor and illiterate- his father a laborer, while his mother was a devout Quaker. Whitman was one of nine children and little is known about his youth except that two of his siblings were imbeciles. No wonder he demonstrated such an insight for life in his poems...
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..."The two giants of 19th-century American poetry who played the greatest role in redefining modern verse are Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson" (Burt). Both poets Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are considered as the founders of today’s modern American poetry that are tried to revalue the poetry of the last century. Sooner or later, but they succeeded. They put the keystone of the modern American poetry which drifted in the breeze. The poetry has been redefined in a way to be able to get to the modern society's cultural level. The modern poetry becomes more discreet and it uses the topics of everyday life spiced with emotions. The emotions of the human being began to depict a higher quality. By the poets, so to speak, the mankind adjusts to...
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...Name Professor Course Name Date Walt Whitman, Man of Influence Introduction Walt Whitman’s literary works have occupied the highest place in the world of American literature. He has been recognized as the focal center of creativity having truly American experience in the literary expression. Although a late bloomer in the literature world, Whitman embodies the elements of indigenous realism and the New England philosophy which makes him a truly national spiritual synthesis. His works touched on the trying times in the American history during the civil war and a story that influenced the society in many ways. Though a very individualistic poet, his works have influenced many other modern poets, who take after his style and themes. The most exceptional characteristic feature of his work is that he endeavored to always produce a mystical vision where everything was a part of something bigger and was equal in every aspect. Walt Whitman, indeed, embodies many qualities that highlight the real American character like viciousness, diversity, love for adventure and the ever pioneering fortitude of the American people. He is a symbol of variety, largeness and the tendency toward innovation. Brief History Walt Whitman was born on May 31st, 1819 in West Hills, a village near Hempstead in Long Island, New York. His mother, Louisa Van Velsor was a farmer, while his father, Walter Whitman was a carpenter. The family moved to Brooklyn where Walt attended school. He left school at...
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...Walt Whitman was an American Poet who lived in the United States during the the Civil War. Whitman moved to Washington DC in 1862 to care for his brother who was wounded in the war. While in Washington, he was overcome by the the suffering and ramifications of the Civil War. Whitman worked in hospitals in Washington DC for several years before writing “O’ Captain! My Captain” in 1865. Walt Whitman lived a simple life. Walt Whitman's humble life, love of democracy and writing style made him one of my favorite poets for this assignment. Walt Whitman was born in Brooklyn, New York on May, 31st 1819. He was one of 9 children in his family (Oppen). His family did not have a lot of money and for school he was mainly self taught. When he turned twelve he started a job in the printing business. This is when his love of reading turned into one of his passions. He had many jobs throughout his life. They included, a printer, teacher, journalist, he founded a newspaper called the, Long Islander, he was the editor of the New Orleans Crescent, and of course a writer and poet. He also worked in a hospital for several years. Oppen wrote that “Whitman struggled to support himself through most of his life. In Washington, he lived on a clerk’s salary and modest royalties, and spent any excess money, including gifts from friends, to buy...
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...Whitman and Royce both involving in 'construction' of national identity in 19th-century America Whitman and Royce expressed the general aspects of the American nation. Both of them worked in reflecting and highlighting the main feature of Americans in addition to describe the basis of them. Whitman and Royce works assist in creating the history. Their thoughts and ideas let everyone being able to understand what america was and helped them to learn how it appeared. At present, these States, in their theology and social standards (of a greater importance than their political institutions) are entirely in possession of the foreign lands. (Whitman 1). We see the sons and daughters of the New World, ignorant of its genius, not yet inaugurating...
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...through heart gives us a better understanding of life’s contents. He shows us this through mind and teachings with explanations, through personal experience, and the difference between both learning in a classroom and learning about what's personal to you. Whitman received little public acclaim for his poems during his lifetime for several reasons. His openness regarding sex, his self-presentation as a rough working man, and his stylistic innovations.” A poet who “abandoned the regular meter and rhyme patterns” Through diction, the poem reveals the sense of patronizing, structured learning. The speaker illustrates harshness to book learning through compatiblity. In line two he gives a stern sound to it, creating the feeling of stress. This happens again in line five, with “Lecture-room.” This represents a tense setting, a place the speaker does not want to be. The speaker imparts a sense of confinement, using the “Lecture – room,” while adding even more emphasis to it by its capitalization and indentation of its own line. In the second stanza, the diction changes dramatically, from structured to a whimsical air feeling. The rising and gliding portray a sensual outlook, as the speaker is now more open and free. Whitman wrote this poem in free verse, like most of his other...
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...Walter “walt” Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. He was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, New York. His parents were quaker’s named Walter and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. He is the second of nine children. He was later nicknamed “walt” to distinguish him from his father. Whitman moved with his family from West Hills to Brooklyn. Whitman didn't really like his childhood as he looked back on it. At age eleven Whitman concluded formal schooling. He then started looking for employment for further income for his family. Later he became and office boy for two lawyers and later was an apprentice and printer’s devil for the weekly Long Island newspaper. There he learned about the printing press and typesetting. He once attempted...
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...Issue of race in Jackson, Mississippi, in The Help: combination of Whitman’s egalitarianism and individualism and Morrison’s description of inequality 1. Introduction Throughout time the issue of race has gone through several important transitions and therefore it has been a controversial writing topic for many novelists and poets. For a long time African American people were disdained and used as slaves and later on as help in the household. Laws, such as the Jim Crow Laws, regarding race and human rights were very rigorous and those who did not abide the law were punished severely. When thinking about the struggle it has been for those with African heritage and the people who have fought to reach equality, Martin Luther King and Megdar Evers come to mind. The novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett, adapted for the screen by Tate Taylor, is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s. A young girl, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan aspires to become a writer and averse to the way her friends treat the African American maids and driven by the love for her own maid Constantine, she decides to document the life stories of the servants and tries to get them published. Throughout the story, a realistic representation of the 1960’s society is being viewed and there are several sides to the story. Firstly a side that describes the inequality, secondly the struggle with the law and its representatives and thirdly a relationship of love and respect between the help and the children they...
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...Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman were two highly influential poets with two very different backgrounds. Hughes was a seaman from Missouri. Whitman was a journalist from Long Island. Surprisingly, they’re differences do not show in their work. They discussed working class culture in America, and rejected the usual writing styles of their time. Even in death, they were praised for bending the rules of poetry. Born in Joplin, Missouri, James Mercer Langston Hughes would soon become one of the foremost voices of the Harlem Renaissance. His writing style was heavily influenced by jazz music (his funeral was full of jazz and blues) and he even cited Walt Whitman as one of his inspirations. Hughes wrote about African American culture, mostly...
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...Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are both influential poets, who have inspired many young writers. The two authors vary significantly from one another. They both have unique style, content, and approach to writing. Whitman writes in a lengthy manner. “Song of Myself” spans many pages and contains long and descriptive lines. An example of his elongated style is, “I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women/And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon/out of their laps” (Norton Anthology 1028). This thought is expressed over three lines of his poem. This style contributes to the descriptive and eloquent nature of Whitman’s poetry. The reader absorbs much from his writing. In contrast to Whitman, Dickinson writes in an incredibly choppy style. For example, she states, “Flow plain – and foreign /On my homesick eye -/Except that You than He/Shone closer by-…”(Norton Anthology 1210). This style is evident in all of her works. It evokes a haunted feeling from the reader....
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...Carl Sandburg Although Carl Sandburg had a hard life and a rough time growing up, he expressed himself through writing. Carl Sandburg was a famous poet. Sandburg wrote forty-nine different pieces of poetry. Most of Sandburg’s poems were about human nature. Sandburg had a huge impact on many different peoples lives. Many people influenced Carl Sandburg. As a salesman, Sandburg learned about human nature, which influenced him to start writing. Harriet Monroe, a fellow poet encouraged Carl Sandburg to keep writing, free verse in particular. Poetry connected Sandburg to many different strands of American life. Walt Whitman was a huge inspiration to Sandburg. Once he heard Whitman’s pieces, he instantly was inspired. Carl Sandburg had many different themes of writing. Sandburg’s most common theme was free verse. He had many different pieces that was about him expressing himself and how he feels about different topics. Sandburg’s pieces had a big statement that standed out. Sandburg's poems occasionally sound very blunt and boring but oddly they change your perspective and how you look at things. Carl was such a good example of a great man when it came to his writing. He didn’t care what people thought about him, he just wanted people to understand his point of...
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...Walt Whitman s Views on Slavery Walt Whitman was a very famous writer, and many people believed that he was pro-slavery. He doesn't really talk about it though because it wasn't anyone else business. Walt wrote a bunch of poems on slavery, but they weren't biased. Although those reading Walt Whitman's poetry during his lifetime assumed that he supported slavery a closer inspection proves that he is actually against it. Many of Walt's poems are based on slavery. Mostly all of them are anti-slavery poems. Some of those poems are The Slave-Ships, Expostulation, The Yankee Girl, The Hunters of Men, A Summons, The Moral Warfare, Ritner, The Farewell, Pennsylvania Hall, The New Year, and The Slaves of Martinique. The Slave-Ships Walt doesn't really express his feelings that much. He expressed himself in his writing. He thinks that everyone should be treated equally and have the same options life, Everyone believes that he is pro-slavery because his parents are, and they were slave owners. Walt felt bad for the slaves because they had to do work for the white people, and he thinks that it would have made it better for white people to do work for themselves. Most people thought he was pro-slavery because his parents being slave owners, and that's what he grew up learning. Also his Friends were pro-slavery, so sense he hung out with them everyone figured that he was to. Back then it was pretty much the way everyone lived. They owned slaves, or paid people to do stuff for them...
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