More handpicked essays just for you.
II、 The themes and style of the poetry of Walt Whitman
II、 The themes and style of the poetry of Walt Whitman
contribution in finishing civil war by abrahim lincoln
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Civil War ravaged southern America and left property and residents in a state of disarray. A vast majority of the blame and frustrations to come would land on the federal government, particularly on President Abraham Lincoln. However, in the 150 years since this war ended, many people still forget that freeing slaves was never a priority for President Lincoln nor did he think he could legally decree such a thing. His primary goal had been to unify the succeeding states, which he would ultimately achieve, but at the cost of lives, property, social norms. Upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the United States was relieved the war was over and eager to find normalcy again. Walt Whitman’s elegy to the President captures the shift from …show more content…
My Captain! is an undeniably articulate and timeless piece of literary work that captures the sentiments of a country that should have been celebrating the end of a tumultuous era, it captures an elegy’s rhythm effectively, and the metaphor of the captain, sea, and ship remain relatable. Additionally, this elegy is cleanly done so that every line reads exactly how Whitman wished it to be read and at a tempo appropriate for an elegy. The poem itself never strays far from familiar traditions of poetic rhythm and rhyme while managing to never become childish in its scheme or theme. More impressively, the text itself was structured to physically manipulate the reader’s comfort and gaze while, again, managing to still be clean and concise. Also, despite being an extended metaphor, the work never became overly dressed or a subject that disconnected with readers. In closing, upon closely rereading this poem, Walt Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain! perfectly plays with metaphors, rhythm, and structure to encapsulate a pivotal moment in American
The American Civil War is one of the biggest turning points in American history. It marks a point of major separation in beliefs from the North and the South and yet somehow ends in a major unification that is now called the United States of America. It still to date remains the bloodiest war in American History. The book “This Republic of Suffering, death and the American Civil War” by Drew Gilpin Faust better explains the change in thought from the American people that developed from the unexpected mass loss in soldiers that devastated the American people. Throughout this review the reader will better understand the methods and theory of this book, the sources used, the main argument of the book, the major supporting arguments, and what the
Margaret Mitchell once said: “They knew that love snatched in the face of danger and death was doubly sweet for the strange excitement that went with it.” The Civil war was a trying time for the American people, whether they were on the battlefield or at home. Although the name is quite deceiving, there was nothing civil about this war.I was fought with the violence and brutality that would define a century. Abraham Lincoln and Robert Lee take interesting stances on their Civil War texts Gettysburg Address and Lee’s Letter to His Son.
Within a short amount of time after the election of Abraham Lincoln to the office of presidency, the south had seceded from the Union and brought on the beginning of the American Civil War. In 1863, the third year of the war, Lincoln had given a speech of the sacred battle ground at Gettysburg, most notably called the Gettysburg Address. In it, he expressed sincerity for those who fought and died there and most of all, proclaimed his aims of war itself. Walt Whitman, a celebrated poet of the time, traveled from hospital to hospital witnessing the operations of wounded soldiers and also the horrific scenes of death and amputation. His views were very much different than those of Abraham Lincoln and though not evident, were still noticeable in his writings. Last, none other than William T. Sherman himself, a Federal Army General, disclosed letters sent between him and the Confederate General, J. B. Hood and also letters sent between him and the mayor of Atlanta, James M. Calhoun. In them, he expresses his opinions about the war which, not-so-surprisingly, is very similar to Lincoln's.
One thing that Lincoln and Lee both had in common was that they wanted this civil war to be over as soon as possible. When we are reading through Lincoln’s speech you realize everything that has happened. 51,000 people died in three days. There was nowhere to put all of the body’s; nothing to do to clean the ground of all the blood that had spilled. When you really think about all the people that died at this battle it is horrific and to think that this is just one of the battles t...
As we can only imagine, one can not erase the vivid images, of the Civil War from their memories, after seeing the fallen bodies and the fields of ash and smoke. The lasting images we view through photographs reminds us of the war that divided the nation, during tumultuous times. As the war came to an end, President Abraham Lincoln was elected for his second term in office. During, Lincoln's second inaugural speech he persuades his audience, to understand that the war was a catastrophe for all. The healing that is needed from this catastrophe will not begin, until the reformation of the once standing brotherhood, in order to, maintain peace and prosperity as a nation. To help persuade the audience, Lincoln's use of rhetorical strategies, evokes the audience to consolidate as one.
. .’, concludes James Oakes’ book with the aftermath of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination. Oakes discussed the respect Douglass gathered for Lincoln over the years and the affect his assassination had on both himself and America as a whole. Oakes even brushed over Douglass’ relationship with Andrew Johnson, the president succeeding Lincoln. Analyzing his experience with the new president, it was safe to say that Andrew Johnson had no consideration as to what Douglass and Lincoln previously fought for. Johnson did not have the same political skills as Lincoln did, and he did not retain the same view for America that Lincoln did. It was obvious that Douglass held Lincoln at a higher standard than Andrew Johnson, stating that he was a “progressive man, a humane man, an honorable man, and at heart an anti-slavery man” (p. 269). Oakes even gave his own stance on Andrew Jackson, “It was a legacy that Andrew Johnson could ever match. When all of Lincoln’s attributes were taken into consideration - his ascent from the obscurity to greatness, his congenial temperament, his moral courage - it was easy for Douglass to imagine how much better things would be ‘had Mr. Lincoln been living today’.” (p. 262). It is hard to imagine the pre-war Douglass to have said something like that as opposed to an older, much more reserved Douglass. With the abolishment of slavery, so came much discrimination. Without
Many had lost loved ones from both sides; the death toll over six hundred thousand and the initial issues still remaining. Even with Lincoln passing the Emancipation proclamation and Congress following suit with bills freeing slaves, many southern states didn’t take action. Instead they continued to discriminate against the freed slaves. Many in the north only wanted slaves free simply to harm their owners businesses, but they were very clear they didn’t want the free slaves in the north either. This left many free slaves stuck in the southern states. “Republican politicians who defended emancipation did so with racist arguments. Far from encouraging southern blacks to move north, they claimed, the ending of slavery would lead to a mass migration of northern blacks to the south”. This highlights the continuing issues of racism and discrimination not just in the south but in the north as well. These are some key issues that started at America 's birth as a country, and grew into a bloody conflict, and continued throughout the reconstruction period. These are the ideas the reconstruction period sought to change, but the unwillingness of the people and ineptitude of the nation’s leaders unfortunately lead to the continuance of these ideas for many more years. A strong leader may have softened the blow and could have even smoothed things out for a nation in crisis, but that strong leader was assassinated
Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would recognize the South as an independent nation, ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism, to touch the hearts of its listeners.
Poetry is a universe of subjectivity. When two poems are set up, side-by-side, to create discussion, results may vary. But it is clear in Sherman Alexie’s two poems, “Defending Walt Whitman” and “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel”, where the discussion must go. Alexie explores Native American culture and the effect that the Europeans have had on the native people of the United States. This feat is accomplished through the thoughtful use of several literary devices, including tone, simile, allusion, and metaphor.
Lincoln’s optimistic tone encourages all Americans to put behind them the Civil War and progress forward as a united nation once more. President Lincoln calls to action all the peoples of America with sentences such as, “let us strive on to finish the work we are in” and “ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace”. The tone that President Lincoln capitalizes on is purposefully optimistic because he hopes to end the war and move past the issue of slavery, among others, which has divided the nation, and he wishes to safeguard the nations reunification. Lincoln’s tone also has hortative sentences such as asking the American people to “strive”. President Lincoln also wishes to rid both sides of any grudges or rancor they may feel towards one another for the war by reflecting that “all sought to avert it” and by articulating, “Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it…attained”. And towards the end of his speech, Lincoln calls the nation to be unified “with malice towards none, with charity for all” so that their minds and souls may be cleared of any ill will in order for the nation’s reunification to be permanent and not just superficial. President Lincoln evokes the nation as a whole to a higher degree in hop...
“In general, the South reacted against the assassination of Lincoln. Confederate army veterans were particularly quick to express their abhorrence to the assassination. Most Southern newspaper editors also denounced the act of Booth and his accomplices. However, the Southern response was equally motivated out of sympathy for Lincoln and fears for the South, for they saw the reinstatement of President Johnson as a great calamity.” (Australia). The entire mourned the loss of the brilliance that was and could have been Lincoln. The long term effects of this monumental event are the deep rooted racial issues, country division, hostility, and the painfully slow reconstruction of our country. Lincoln had the ability to pacify both the North and the South. He was the man we need to make our nation whole again. As we can see from the way he handled the defeat of the Confederate, with respect and courtesy, he was the type of person who saw our country at its full potential. Decades after his death we were struggling with racial issues, division in the country, and overall hostility. One example is the occurrence of white officers shooting black young men and the effect it has the public. We can’t look at it the same as white shooting white, black shooting white, or black shooting black, because of the resentment left from this time period. It’s hard to say for sure because Lincoln didn’t have a chance to prove himself, but Lincoln had the potential to construct a nation that out shone ours today. He, better than anyone, could have brought our nation together and healed the wounds of the brother war. It hard to imagine what our country would have been like if Lincoln would of never been
Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is a vision of the American spirit, a vision of Whitman himself. It is his cry for democracy, giving each of us a voice through his poetry. Each of us has a voice and desires, and this is Whitman's representation of our voices, the voice of America. America, the great melting pot, was founded for freedom and democracy, and this poem is his way of re-instilling these lost American ideals. In this passage from "Song of Myself" Whitman speaks through his fellow man and speaks for his fellow man when his voice is not socially acceptable to be heard.
Terrinoni, Enrico. "Literary Contexts in Poetry: Walt Whitman's 'Oh Captain! My Captain!'" Understanding Literature -- Literary Contexts in Poetry & Short Stories. Great Neck, 2007. Print.
*Whitman, Walt. Song of Myself. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 3rd ed. Ed, Paul Lauter. Boston,NewYork: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
The poem “O Captain! My Captain!” is a mourning poem or elegy and it was written by Walt Whitman in 1865 during the time of the Civil War. Whitman admired President Lincoln and this poem was written to honor him after he was assassinated and to also celebrate the victory for America in the Civil War. The poetic devices used are apostrophe, metaphors, repetition, and symbolism. This poem brings out many different emotions ranging from joy to sorrow. You as the reader will be able to visualize that the “captain” is the symbol of the “father” of the country at the time, President Lincoln, and the “ship” is the United States making it through hardships such as the Civil War.