Meaning and Texture of the Seventh Poem in Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman's seventh poem in his work, Leaves of Grass, displays the subtlety with which the poet is able to manipulate the reader's emotions. In this poem there are no particular emotional images, but the overall image painted by word choice and use of sounds is quite profound. This poem, like many others written by Walt Whitman, is somewhat somber in mood, but not morose. It is serious, but not to the point of gloom. Whitman writes concerning the general idea that everything is merged together and is one. One cannot die without being born, just as one cannot be a mother without first having one. The purpose of the poem is to show those things that are real are true and holy, and even more importantly unified. In this poem he is speaking as some sort of omnipotent being, perhaps God or a soul. The tone or mood of the poem is delivered in the first stanza of the poem. He delves directly into birth and death, a sure sign that this poem will be no light reading. However, he uses a question to set the stage of the poem when he says, "Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born?" Questions are effective attention grabbers, but even more effective is Whitman's answer to the question. He produces an unorthodox response to the question, posing the answer that it is just as lucky to die. By giving such an odd answer to the question, he sets the stage for the rest of the poem presenting ideas not necessarily considered orthodox. The whole poem revolves around the idea that things must constantly be looked at from other viewpoints, and this initial stanza serves to illustrate this point well. The primary idea he sets forth in his poem is the idea ... ... middle of paper ... ...et over. Whitman also uses commas in many of the longer lines. By doing this he forces the reader to slow down and not read the poem too quickly. The commas cause the reader to take in more because he/she will read the poem slower, and therefore read the poem as it was meant to be read. Whitman stresses the fundamental idea of nature in this, his seventh poem: Everything is dependent-no one can be independent from everything. Therefore, we are all essentially one giant organism. A fundamental unity exists in nature, and we are a part of it. Independence is a concept that nobody can truly understand, because everything is interdependent upon one another. The texture of the poem is very helpful in understanding its meaning. Whitman's structural brilliance shines through in this poem, helping the reader grasp the concept that all things are but one.
The way he writes the poem shows how he was in love with the president on how Lincoln conducted himself during the war. He refers to Lincoln as the captain of the ship which is the Union, throughout the poem he begins to call out to the Captain acting like the president was never shot. Through this all, it seems like Whitman could never bring himself to acknowledge the assassination of the late president. He also wrote it as a way to express the grief of losing the beloved commander and chief, and also explain to the American people how Booth killed the man who helped bring the Union together once again. However, he makes the metaphor in this poem explain why he would have wrote it, it shows that through an imaginary situation that things begin to seem alright in the world. Finally, Whitman deals with the pain through the metaphor to cover up the hurt America feels even if he despised the poem later on in
In a subtle way, he gives the reader a feeling of lightness and life, because in the last four lines he begins all of the lines with "A's" and as you read it you get that choral "Hallelujah" feeling. Whitman shows you the light. He tells you why death is a good thing. There is no more fear. "To die is different from what any one supposed, and/luckier.
Life in its ever-evolving glory seems at times to be nothing more than a serious of random events that lead us from one place to another. It takes many years of grace and wisdom to see that life is much more than that. Life is far bigger than any one person or group of people. Life is a lesson and sometimes lessons need to repeat. Life during the time of Walt Whitman was oddly and sadly similar to our very own time in some ways. Like us, Whitman dealt in "Leaves of Grass" with living in a nation during wartimes; and if you can say anything about war, it is that, it is never fast and never easy.
Whether they have loved or loathed his poetry, each writer or critic who has encountered "Leaves of Grass" has had to come to some sort of reckoning with Walt Whitman. The Good Gray Poet, the grandfather of American poetry, has been deified by some and labeled a cultural and artistic barbarian by others. While Whitman freely admitted in his preface to the final publication of "Leaves of Grass" that the work was faulty and far from perfect, some critics see no redeeming qualities in Whitman's art. Henry James goes so far as to say, "Whitman's verse...is an offense to art." (James, p.16) James chastises Whitman for extolling and exploiting what James feels are truisms. To James, Whitman's poetry is completely self-aggrandizing; it lacks substance and coherence. Through an examination of a specific poem, "The Wound Dresser", the claims of James and other negative critics can be refuted.
“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by yourself. It is not far. It is within reach. Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know. Perhaps it is everywhere” (Whitman 33) is Walt Whitman’s first and one of his most popular works, Leaves of Grass. It was and still is very inspirational to many people including Ralph Waldo and many others after him. He had a major influence on modern free verse. Following a hard childhood in and around New York, Walter Whitman was well known and received in his time for Leaves of Grass which did not use the universal theme, which he became known for in the eighteenth century as well as his way of seeing the world in a view that very few could comprehend in his time.
Whitman establishes a direct connection between the lyrical and the reader to get to each one of us. The power that the poem has and having Whitman writing it, rests on the ability of the author to separate himself amongst thousands, almost as a wonderful schizophrenia which allows you to view the world from certain points of view and understand it better than anyone.
In stanza six of the poem "Song of Myself", by Walt Whitman, he poses the question "What is the grass?" I believe that grass is a metaphor for the cycle of life. Throughout the poem Whitman points out images that grass could represent. All of these images stem from the life and death that we come to expect in our lifetime. During your life you will experience death, it at times surrounds you, but if you look past the grief and look to the beauty you will see that it is a cycle that keeps our world in balance. The images of flags, tears, children and older people that are torn from the ones they love, but only to soon return to other lost ones are all parts of Walt Whitman's poem.
bonds apart as we go down the list as there will be more bonds to
(A critique of Walt Whitman’s themes and ideas in Song of Myself 6, 46, 47)
Whitman uses free verse in almost all of his poems. His use of free verse is evident in these lines from his poem “Faces so pale with wondrous eyes, very dear, gathered closer yet, / Draw, close but speak not.” (Whitman 1). Whitman’s use of free verse allows the poem to feel more personal and natural. He continues to use free verse all throughout the poem and it is never abandoned. He also tends to use parallelism in his poems. Whitman describes the scene, as ghosts are emerging “ From their graves in the trenches ascending, / From cemeteries all through Virginia and Tennessee, / From every point of the compass out of the countless graves,” (Whitman 1). His use of parallelism reinforces the idea that everyone, no matter which side, is remembered. Whitman uses parallelism in most of the stanzas in the poem, so it is never abandoned. Whitman is also known for his unique vocabulary and slang. Whitman promises the dead soldiers that he will “exhale love from [him] wherever I go like a moist perennial / dew,“ By using words like dew, he is signifying that everyday he will have love for them. Whitman uses a unique style of poetry to get his point
Nature was an important concept that Whitman used to convince people that there were more important things to life than class structure. He used nature to connect us all, and encourage people to become less materialistic and more appreciative of life itself. There are many themes in Emily Dickenson’s poem that are very reminiscent of Whitman’s popular themes. Although there were some consistency with the themes Whitman’s used in his own work, there were still a lot of ideas Whitman would not have agreed with. The poem starts off with something Whitman would have unanimously disagreed with.
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
American poet, Walt Whitman explores the connection between the concept of the nation and the poet as a means of further establishing the national identity of the United States of America. The preface to his collection of poetry, entitled Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855 merely 79 years after the United States was founded acts as a reinforcement of nationalist sensibilities that work to define what the American is on a internal and international scale. Within this text Whitman creates an inventory of the attributes that are defining of the poet as an individual, emphasizing the positive qualities as being linked to their vocation. Described as being equal to the average citizen, the poet is a symbol of the American, reinforcing the
Walt Whitman was a great poet who profoundly influenced American culture. From his humble beginnings on the Long Island shore to his early careers working as an office boy and apprenticeship to “The Patriot”, Whitman began to develop his ideals and educate himself. Looking back to the events of his childhood, Whitman began to author great poems and wrote his famous book “Leaves of Grass.” Whitman gave America cultural roots and set an example for poets to follow. Whitman truly was America’s poet.
Conclusively, Whitman’s poem is one artistic material that is devised in a peculiar style that exemplifies a dynamic freedom in poetry. Even though the poet defies some regular conventions of poetry, a great success in autobiographical conveying the message is realized. Therefore, it is a poetic work that poses a challenge to the philosophy of poetry as far as poetry orthodoxies are concerned.