Poems are a work of literature that are meant to evoke strong emotions. They usually rely heavily on imagery and tone to deliver the reader a message. In this essay, two poems will be compared and contrasted to show that even though these poems are very different, they both work toward the same theme. “The Dash” by Linda Ellis and “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman both share the theme of living your life to the fullest.
First we will discuss the titles of each poem and how they reflect the theme. “The Dash” by Linda Ellis keeps its mystery with its title. The reader can not really predict what this poem will be about just from reading the title, as they could from a “Song to Myself”. If the reader had to come to a conclusion of what “The Dash” would be about just from its
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The dash is used to emphasize the what the speaker now feels is more important than the dates it sits between. The speaker calls attention to how we have spent our life so far and what would be said about our time on this earth when we are gone. This poem wants the reader to be aware of how they have spent their life and if they have taken people or loved one for granted. I believe that the dash was used not just as a symbol to life but also to represent how fast our life goes by.
In “Song to Myself” by William Whitman the theme of appreciating life still remains but in a different way. The speaker already appreciates their life and wants the readers to know it. In the very beginning the speaker proclaims:
“I celebrate myself, and sing to myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass” (lines 1-5.
When I read poetry, I often tend to look first at its meaning and second at how it is written, or its form. The mistake I make when I do this is in assuming that the two are separate, when, in fact, often the meaning of poetry is supported or even defined by its form. I will discuss two poems that embody this close connection between meaning and form in their central use of imagery and repetition. One is a tribute to Janis Joplin, written in 1983 by Alice Fulton, entitled “You Can’t Rhumboogie in a Ball and Chain.” The second is a section from Walt Whitman’s 1,336-line masterpiece, “Song of Myself,” first published in 1855. The imagery in each poem differs in purpose and effect, and the rhythms, though created through repetition in both poems, are quite different as well. As I reach the end of each poem, however, I am left with a powerful human presence lingering in the words. In Fulton’s poem, that presence is the live-hard-and-die-young Janis Joplin; in Whitman’s poem, the presence created is an aspect of the poet himself.
To help Year Twelve students that are studying poetry appreciate it's value, this pamphlet's aim is to discuss a classic poem and a modern song lyric to show that even poetry written many years ago can still be relevant to people and lyrics today. By reading this may you gain a greater knowledge and understanding of poetry in general, and not just the two discussed further on.
Two of the most prominent poets during the 19th century were Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Although both poets are extremely renowned for their widely known poems, they had distinctively different writing styles. Both wrote about different topics and led almost opposite lifestyles. To understand the reason behind the differences in themes of the two writer’s poems I will first compare their backgrounds and motives, then directly examine the similarities and differences in themes and ideas. Lastly, I will analyze the similarities and differences in the writing itself.
The dash in Emily Dickinson’s poetry, initially edited away as a sign of incompletion, has since come to be seen as crucial to the impact of her poems. Critics have examined the dash from a myriad of angles, viewing it as a rhetorical notation for oral performance, a technique for recreating the rhythm of a telegraph, or a subtraction sign in an underlying mathematical system.1 However, attempting to define Dickinson’s intentions with the dash is clearly speculative given her varied dash-usage; in fact, one scholar illustrated the fallibility of one dash-interpretation by applying it to one of Dickinson’s handwritten cake recipes (Franklin 120). Instead, I begin with the assumption that “text” as an entity involving both the reading and writing of the material implies a reader’s attempt to recreate the act of writing as well as the writer’s attempt to guide the act of reading. I will focus on the former, given the difficulties surrounding the notion of authorial intention a.k.a. the Death of the Author. Using three familiar Dickinson poems—“The Brain—is wider than the Sky,” “The Soul selects her own Society,” and “This was a Poet—It is that,”—I contend that readers can penetrate the double mystery of Emily Dickinson’s reclusive life and lyrically dense poetry by enjoying a sense of intimacy not dependent upon the content of her poems. The source of this intimacy lies in her remarkable punctuation. Dickinson’s unconventionally-positioned dashes form disjunctures and connections in the reader’s understanding that create the impression of following Dickinson through the creative process towards intimacy with the poet herself.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
The poem does not have a perfect rhyme; however, it still has some rhythms making the poem connected. For instance, “Immortality” (line 4) with “Civility” (line 8), “finally” and “Eternity”; they all make the poem has beautiful rhythms and poetic musicality. Dickinson also uses many art techniques; for instance, personification and metaphors, to make the poem more appealing. Dickinson personified “Death” as a gentleman in the poem, which it the most important personification in the poem. Dashes are another literary trope commonly used by Dickinson, in this poem she also uses many dashes. Dashes can make readers’ reader speed slow down. Hence, readers can have more time to consider the meaning of the poem. Besides that, the tempo of the poem also influenced by the use of capital letters for common nouns. The speaker of the poem is a woman who has an unusual trip with death and immortality, at the end of the trip, the woman realizes that death is not the end of the
Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 24-67. Print.
Ferguson, Margaret W. , Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy. The Norton Anthology Of Poetry. shorter fifth edition. New York, New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2005. print.
The tone of Listening to grownups quarreling, has a completely different impact. When reading this poem, the reader has a more sad outlook on the thoughts of this author’s memories. Whitman uses ...
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” is an encouraging poem in which Longfellow has utilized many different poetic elements including imagery, rhyme, metaphor, simile and others. The poem is very easy to understand and is engaging to the reader because of the images the poem invokes. Of all of the elements used, imagery is the most consistent and prevalent poetic element in the poem “A Psalm of Life”. Using imagery, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem describes a life not fully lived, how to live and what a life fully lived looks like.
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.
Walt Whitman used free verse in “Song of Myself” in order to connect with the common man and his American readers. In this first person narrative, Whitman deconstructs the “self” into many different sections that all are a part of the celebration of the individual. Some of the topics he breaks the “self” into are self- identity, and human exploration (including the human body and sexuality). In the poem, Whitman uses a speaker to exclaim that for individuals to grow they must discover themselves spiritually, physically, and mentally. The speaker in the poem
This lack of action continuously emphasizes the lack of empathy and care of the narrators and highlights to the reader the importance of acting differently from them. Through both of these poems the reader is shown that everyone faces struggles and how important it is to help others in their times of need because they too will face them at some
Society shapes human beings into what they think is perfection. People in today’s society follow the world’s rituals as they continue to conform to fit in to the latest trends. Today, implants, plastic surgery, and weight loss treatments are the reason people have money set aside in their savings accounts. The pressure of others claims to be the main reason people change their hair, skin, and size, and often forget about their own special characteristics. There is a reason Walt Whitman, writes “I Celebrate Myself, and Sing Myself,” to show the importance of loving yourself and cherishing your own personal qualities as a human being. He speaks of himself, hoping to grab his readers’ attention. Throughout the poem, “I Celebrate Myself, and Sing
Whitman's Poem "Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking," is not, at first glance, an obvious love poem. Most readers would probably consider this a tragic poem about death and love lost. In spite of the fact that the poem is about intrinsically sorrowful events, or perhaps because of it, Whitman is able to capture a very unique and poignant portrayal of love. There are three major perspectives to examine how Whitman develops the theme of love in Out of the Cradle, and by examining each reoccurring theme in the poem separately, we can come to a more complete understanding of how they work together to communicate Whitman's message about love.