Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman lived from 1819 to 1892. He was one of ten children and
was born on New York's Long Island. He worked as a printer, teacher
and property speculator. In 1855 he published 13 poems in a collection
entitled Leaves of Grass. Over the years, Whitman published fresh
editions of this collection, the last one in 1892, each time adding
many more poems - eventually it would contain hundreds of poems and
some 10,500 lines, making Leaves of Grass the length of a good sized
novel.
Whitman set out in Leaves of Grass to write about himself, giving his
purpose as:
"a feeling or ambition to articulate and faithfully express in
literary or poetic form and uncompromisingly, my own physical,
emotional, moral, intellectual and aesthetic Personality, in the midst
of, and tallying, the momentous spirit and facts of its immediate
days, and of current America"
During the American Civil War (1861-1865) Whitman served as a nurse in
a military hospital, where he caught an infection that weakened him.
In 1873, Whitman moved to Camden in New Jersey (inland from Barnegat),
where he stayed until his death. Whitman published other books, but
his reputation rests almost wholly on Leaves of Grass.
About the poem
The date in the AQA Anthology is mistaken - this poem (according to
the Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Volume 16:
Early National Literature) was first published in The American in 1880
and reprinted in Harper's Monthly in 1881. By this time, Whitman was
settled in New Jersey, where Barnegat lies on the coast in what is
today called Ocean County. The title is also "corrected" to the
standard UK form - Whitman writes "Patroling" with one "l".
This poem comes from a section of Leaves of Grass called Sea Drift -
containing poems, inspired by the sea, which explore the mysteries of
life and death. It contains two of the most famous of all Whitman's
lyrics - Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking and As I Ebb'd with the
Walt Whitman is known for his excellence in writing and poetry during the mid 19th century in American Literature. The Leaves of Grass is one of his more memorable works of literature. The work expresses many thoughts and opinions about art, nature, and early nationalism. It also includes a multitude messages for the readers in an attempt to capture the reader and reinforce his points.Within the Preface of the work he talks about issues that he feels are important to inform his audience before they continue into the literature. These observations made by Whitman signify some importance to him in one way or another. Using his rhetorical skills, Walt Whitman attempts to educate his audience about the importance of self improvement and self awareness
“Patroling Barnegat,” is a poem about Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. This poem fits with Whitman's life because Whitman lived in New Jersey during the last years of his life. The technique of this poem is special because every line rhymes. The rhyming of every line makes the poem flow very nicely. Whitman beautifully describes the waves on the bay. He describes how the sand on the beach flows and moves on the shore. For example in the first line of stanza two, he says, “Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wedding.” This description of the sand really helps you visualize it. This is how Walt Whitman’s poem “Patroling Barnegat” fits with his life and has an interesting
Introduction: Walt Whitman was an American poet from West Hills, Long Island New York. He wrote plenty of poems for the New York Times Journal newspaper also known for the famous book Leaves of Grass that had nine editions and is more than one book. The book Leaves of Grass was published in 1888 when he was finally done with all nine editions and he had passed after publishing the ninth edition.
Poems by Walt Whitman and Hanshan feature strong enlightenment ideals and prevalent references to nature as a way to achieve these ideals. Though the two men lived in very different times, their works carry similar messages. Following the path to enlightenment generally refers to the Buddhist Eightfold Path, though it has been adapted over time to refer to the state of understanding a person reaches, both of oneself and his or her surroundings, as well as of that beyond what can be sensed. Relying solely on one’s talents and denying society and worldly possessions are typically seen as characteristics of an enlightened person, as seen in the writings of both Whitman and Hanshan.
Walt Whitman had many ideas of how America was not living up to what the founding fathers had hoped to have achieved in their democracy a century before in succeeding from England. Whitman thought that the government was beginning to resemble what the founding fathers had fought and multitudes of soldiers died to escape from. In contrast to what the government had been returning to, Americans as a whole were finding their identity as a very young nation and were proud to call themselves Americans. Whitman was progressive when it came to his ideas on women and industry and it showed in the book Democratic Vistas.
Ernest Hemmingway is one of the greatest writers of all time. Like many great authors he was influenced by the world in which he lived. The environment that surrounded him influenced Hemmingway. These included such things as serving in the war and living in post war areas where people went to forget about the war. Another influence on his writings was his hobbies. He loved the great outdoors. He spent a lot of his time deep sea fishing and enjoying bull fighting. These influences had an impact on Hemmingway and they were expressed in his writing.
Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in a small community of Oak Park, Illinois. He was the second child out of six, with four sisters and one brother. The area Ernest grew up in was a very conservative area of Illinois and was raised with values of strong religion, hard work, physical fitness and self-determination. His household was a very strict one that didn’t allow any enjoyment on Sundays and disobedience was strictly punished. Ernest’s father taught him good morals and values that he if he followed that he would be good in life. His father also taught him to hunt and fish around the Lake Michigan area and to love nature. The family would spend their summers in the wilderness and their winters back near Chicago. For the rest of his life Hemingway remained an avid fisherman and never lived far form a fishing hole. The outdoors is where he created a lot of his work, and a place where he got a lot of his inspiration from.
Robert Lee Frost was an honored American Poet who received four Pulitzer Prizes for his works. His poetry reflected realistic illustrations about rural life in the twentieth century, while his poetry also tackled social issues. Robert Frost was known for his use of metaphors in his poetry about the landscape, human nature and history. He was greatly inspired by his wife, Elinor. The other two people who had a significant impact on his life were Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas. Edward Thomas inspired one of Frost’s famous poems called, “The Road Not Taken.”
In the fall of 1848, Whitman returned to Brooklyn, New York as an aspiring poet. With the awful image of slavery still lingering, he turned to writing which helped him cope with what he saw. Between 1848 and 1855, Whitman worked on a book of poems called “Leaves of Grass” (“Walt Whitman”). In the spring of 1855, Whitman self-published the 12 poems named “Leaves of Grass” and this would open a new door to poetry that spoke to the reader directly. In the beginning, he could only afford to have 795 copies made. During the process of writing “Leaves of Grass”, Walter Whitman Sr. died (Folsum & Price).
Walt Whitman is a praised, renowned poet and journalist whom is recognized for his self-published book, Leaves of Grass. He was born on May 30th, 1819 in Brooklyn to Walter Whitman and Louisa Van Velsor. He shortly moved to Long Island where he and his other seven other siblings were raised. Due to the lack of hands around the house, Whitman, unfortunately, was pulled out of school at the age of 11 in order to help his father. He took up a job in the printing business to ensure there was food on the table. Many believe that Whiteman’s optimism came from his father’s pessimism. His father went through a period of alcohol reliance and upheld a negative view because of his interest in the conspiracies of politics. "I stand for the sunny point
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.
Walt Whitman is considered one of the famous American writers who lived in the 19th century. The author is primarily known for his poetry, and also best known for his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass, which was published in 1855 as a collection of 12 poems. Whitman’s poems were different from those written during the era, and this is because they had a unique style, as well as a concentration of commonplace subjects. The use of commonplace subjects led to many people calling the author the “poet of democracy.” This paper compares Pre-war Whitman and Post-war Whitman. However, this is done through comparing the Song of Myself, Beat! Beat! Drums!, and The Wound Dresser. In addition, the essay also focuses on other facets of the poet.
His greatest work was ‘leaves of grass’, which is a collection of poems which he first self-published at the age of 37 in the year 1855. It was a free-verse that was loosely inspired by the Bible. It was at first criticized in his country for its ‘raw sexuality’ but was widely acclaimed elsewhere in Britain by prominent writers. It was an attempt by Whitman to get through to the ordinary American people by giving them their very own ‘epic’. He went on changing and adding material to this work until his death in the year 1892 in Camden, New Jersey. The poem ‘America’ is one of the late additions to the collection, written in 1888.
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
Walt Whitman was a man that served as a nurse helping wounded soldiers in the Civil War. While he was there, he took what he saw and wrote them in his poems. Every aspect of each poem related to the time that he was in and he wrote about every experience and feeling he had about what he saw. Whitman had three themes that he used to focus all of his poems on and these themes were individuality, democracy, and freedom. With writing with these themes, Whitman could make an impact on what the reader imagined in their head while reading and he was also able to convey a certain feeling through his poems that he wanted the reader to feel. Whitman had a unique style of writing, which was free verse. Through free verse, Whitman could direct and write a poem in a way that he liked and in a way where he was able to give more detail rather than writing in a rhythmic way. Through Walt Whitman’s themes of individuality, democracy, and freedom, Whitman was able to express his feelings about war and leaders in the poems that he wrote during the Civil War time.