Have you ever experienced a gut feeling something maybe wrong in the world? When we turn on the news and listen to what is going on we see poverty, death, anger, oppression, and corruption. In the poem “I Sit and Lookout” by Walt Whitman, the reader goes through the harshness of human cruelty, betrayal, and self-sacrifice. This poem discusses the meaning behind human cruelty, the structure of the poem, and why the author was trying to address this particular issue. The poem starts out by saying, “I sit and lookout upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon oppression and shame.” (Whitman 23). Walt Whitman expresses alliteration by combining like sounds. This particular quote presents the tone of this poem right at the beginning. The tone …show more content…
In this line, the reader is introduced to the horrors woman went through back in the day. From, them being disrespected or physically abused, woman had tough roles to play in society. On lines three and four the speaker shows the reader an act of violence it says, “I see a wife misused by her husband, I see the treacherous seducer of young women. (Whitman 23). This is where the author revels to the reader that woman are not well respected and that domestic abuse is an everyday norm. Not to mention, young women seducing married men, describing the effects of lusting for someone and being misused by their husbands. In this particular part of the poem Walt Whitman uses personification when he says, “I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tranny, I see martyrs and prisoners.” (Whitman 23). This is personification because he is giving a human ability to something that is not alive. Lastly, in line seven, when the speaker talks about famine and disease and sailors giving their lives to save others. We see some compassion even through the ugliness, people dying because they don’t have any clean water or the right medicine. Soldiers coming back from the war, traumatized by what they have seen. Images we keep in our heads to remind us of what not to be. We grow up with the best intentions just to realize we are all fighting wars
Examining the literary terms used in this poem, one should mention alliteration first. It is used in the following line: “There are those who suffer in plain sight, / there are those who suffer in private” (line 1-2). Another literary device,
As children we are oblivious to the influence of those who surround us . We chose to see the greater good in humanity rather than the obvious truth. We are influenced by our environment and choose to abide to the morals presented to us. This applies directly to the novel to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which moves along with the lives of two young children ;Scout and Jem. Along with the obstacles they face and the exposure they have to the ideas of racism, gender roles, and degenerate morals. Throughout the novel it is evident that Scout and Jem go from naïveté to maturity due to their surroundings, influence of family members, and the arising controversy of the Tom Robinson case. They both develop
7. The personification in the second stanza is that she gives poems the ability to hide and are waiting to be found. The author states that poems are hiding in the bottom of your shoes, and they are the shadows drifting across your ceiling before you wake up. This is personification because she gives the poems traits that only a living organism can possess.
The chronologically earlier poems celebrate the coming hostilities, expressing Whitman’s "early near-mindless jingoism" (Norton 2130). As one progresses through the work, he finds a less energetic, sorrowful, jaded narrator who seems little like the exuberant youth who began. Understandable so, "[Whitman] estimated that over the course of the war, he had made ‘over 600 visits or tours, and went. among from some 80,000 to 100,000 of the wounded and sick, as sustainer of spirit and body in some degree, in time of need’" (Murray).
These poems represent the idea of allusion by symbolizing the need for poetry. For example in sentence 9 of Introduction to Poetry he uses allusion to demonstrate there is a dream or accomplishment he wants to do with "his students". In sentences 16-19 of Trouble with poetry, he also uses allusion because it looks like he has an idea in mind and has plans set ahead.
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
Personification is an important theme throughout this poem. In lines 1-2 it says, “The mountain held the town as in a shadow I saw so much before I slept there once:.” Also in lines 3-4 it says, “I noticed that I missed stars in the west, where its black body cut into the sky.” This is an example of personification. In lines 5-6 it says, Near me it seemed: I felt it like a wall behind which i was sheltered from a wind.” Most of the examples showing personification in this poem, are displayed in the first couple of lines of the poem.
Personification is presented by the author as the only explanation for the narrator’s consumption. “The Blue Estuaries” begins to stir the narrator’s own poems (line 24) until she bores down on the page once more, coming back into what is perceived by the reader as a much more clear state of mind. Then, the narrator claims to have “lost her doubts” for a moment (line 34). This was a turning point in the narrator’s tone- signalling a shift in her thoughts, and was a strikingly out of place claim- especially coming from somebody so preoccupied- making the reader wonder what she had thought about for a moment. The narrator then begins to read once more (Line
Throughout the poem, there is repetition of the line “I am the man, I suffer'd, I was there, ” to emphasize his empathy. He also includes alliteration such as “rent roofs” and powerful imagery like “the long roil of the drummers” to liven the poem. Additionally, he helps the reader experience the events in the poem by using similes to compare the challenges to things that the reader has experienced. One line reads, “The twinges that sting like needles his legs and neck”. In the poem, Whitman becomes the heroes, but by incorporating the literary devices, Whitman allows the reader to experience the same experience as the heroes as
Whitman is giving a more graphic example of how sex is a natural thing. By comparing the act of reproduction to death he shows just how natural of an act sex is. Everything that is born will eventually die. He feels that the natural curiosities of the human sexual appetites should not be denied or not discussed because of social standards. Not only is sex a "miracle" that is a part of him, but also nature and the universe, and each individual part should be celebrated.
In “On the Beach at Night Alone,” Walt Whitman develops the idea that everyone has a connection with everything else, including nature. Whitman uses a variety of writing techniques to get his point across. First, the repetition and parallel structure that his poems contain reinforce the connection between everything in nature. The usage of “All” 11 times emphasizes the inclusion of everything in the universe. The sentence structure remains the same throughout the poem, without any drastic change; however, the length of the lines in the poem vary. In addition, Whitman’s’ extravagance with his words further illustrates his idea of the Over-Soul. For example, “A vast similitude interlocks all” (4) shows his verbose nature. Whitman does not do directly to the point, but gives every little detail. Most importantly, Whitman’s’ use of catalogues stands as the most recognizable Whitman characteristic that illustrates his beliefs. These long lists that he uses set the mood of the poem. “All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,” (5) shows the idea that everything is connected in nature. Similarly, “All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations languages.” (10) furthermore emphasize Whitman’s belief in the Over-Soul.
In “I Sit and Look Out” Walt Whitman shows the carelessness in the absence of
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.
The poem has set a certain theme and tone but no definite rhyme. In this poem, the poet explores into a thought of the self, the all-encompassing "I," sexuality, democracy, the human body, and what it means to live in the modern world. He addresses that the human body is sacred and every individual human is divine. Hence, Whitman was known for writing poems about individualism, democracy, nature, and war.
The short stanzas containing powerful imagery overwhelm the readers forcing them to imagine the oppression that the speaker went through in her short life. The tone of this poem is that of an adult engulfed in outrage and who oftentimes slips into a childlike dialect; this is evident when the speaker continually uses the word "Daddy" and also repeats herself quite often. The last two stanzas of the poem, especially, portray a dismal picture of life for women who find themselves under a dominating male figure. The passage seems to show that the speaker has reached a resolution after being kept under a man?s thumb all her life.