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How Did Walt Whitman Influence Poetry

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Influence by Whitman or Challenged? In the late Victorian period, two poets influenced the next generation of poets. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickson two similar, but very different poets. Both influenced their own string of poets. For example, Emily Dickson influenced Sylvia Plath. They both had different infatuations and a different outlook on life. Walt Whitman exposed religion and his beliefs in his writings. He believed that that everyone should have a relationship with their soul. Whitman also believed that a person should invite his or her soul to a celebration. In Whitman’s “Song of Myself”, he dotes on himself and express his relationship with his soul. In the first section he says, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume …show more content…

I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air, born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same”. In this section, Whitman, by celebrating himself, is saying that’s what we all should do. He is also saying I will celebrate for you. He says the reason he acts this way is because he is doing what nature told him to do. This is also how Whitman writes his poetry so natural with no rhyme. Whitman influenced poets, whose writing speaks for themselves, such as Carl Sandburg, William Carlos Williams, and D.H. Lawrence. Carl Sandburg was high influenced by Whitman. They both used the same form and style. For example, in the poem Gargoyle by Sandburg, he uses the same approach about America as Whitman does. He gives America a body. Sandburg also made America seem like a child because it was so young and gullible. The poem we read in class, “Chicago” seem to be like Whitman long lines and free verse style. “Chicago is pictured as this tough city in the poem. The city of the hard workers, the lady dancer, the gang members, and the proud residents of Chicago. Sandburg

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Whitman's autobiographical writing style was well-known, and many of his poems are inspired by his personal life. Similar

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Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson use similar and different poetic devices. They were different and similar in their topics in the poems, “324” and “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer”. They both talk about different and similar things and both come from the same era of writing which is the Romantic era. First when you read “324” by Emily Dickinson you can see that she has a rhyme scheme in the endings of each lines.

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Carl Sandburg Carl Sandburg was an American poet, writer, and folk musician. Sandburg was born January 6, 1878 in Galesburg, Illinois. “Carl Sandburg is the only American poet ever to address Congress” (“A Workingman’s poet”). He would compose his poetry in free verse. “If it jells into free verse, all right.

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Whitman was not concerned with what was called traditional religion. He expressed that the poet was the new priest and he thought religion was negative and too confining. Although he speaks negative of religion, Whitman poetry echo’s that of biblical undertones. For instance, in his poem “Song to Myself,” he speaks of how we come from soil, in which the bible speaks of us being made from the dust of the ground. Whitman considered himself as a “bardic probhet,” in which he was breaking away from the traditional way of British poetry.

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Nineteenth century poet Walt Whitman lived and wrote in a fascinating time period and changed the literary world, all while experiencing a unique American war first hand. A humanitarian as well as a writer, Whitman volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War where he experienced the horrors of mortality, yet felt spiritually content afterwards as well. His frequent interactions with the wounded and sick would further alter his poetry and life, in a way where he would be able to cope with his time spent among the battle. Traumatized by the aftermath of the brutal war, Whitman used his writing as a reflection of his mind and life as his involvement in both the depravity and nobility of human existence absorbed into every aspect of his spirit.

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On a bright Sunday morning, accompanied by her mother and grandmother, a young girl lounges in the pew of a church when a missal catches her eye, and she begins to flip through the pages revealing the compilation of the religious texts. As this young girl grows older and presumably pursues a higher education, she will begin studying texts of the same complexity of those contained in the missal, which will challenge traditional beliefs and contrast religious literature with literature that happens to contain religious themes. When analyzing these pieces of work, the girl will propose many questions that readers prior may have considered at an earlier time. In American literature, specifically through the examples of "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman and Lorraine Hansberry 's A Raisin the Sun, religion, once thought of as a unification of all people, paradoxically acts as a source of the development of an identity, rebellion from a community, and a factor of discrimination.

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In the two poems, “I Hear America Singing,” and, “I, Too,” there are many similarities and differences that show us that know matter what is happening you have to stand up for yourself and do what you love. We see this in the two poems, “I Hear America Singing,” and, “I, Too” when the authors, Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes, both talk about what America was a like in the 1900s, and how people were doing jobs that they had liked to do. We can see how a African American man would stand up for himself and we see this in the poem “I, Too” because we are able to see how he was able to stand up to everyone else and prove he was able to be treated like anyone else.

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By doing this Whitman introduces himself and at the same time identifies with the reader. He also states that he should be celebrated not only by himself, but also by the reader because they are the same. He also gives off a feeling that his writing is true and good, we get the feeling he is one of us and at the same time a poet. This leads to comparing Whitman with a preacher or public speaker of some sort, he wishes to be

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1302 Words | 6 Pages

Although there are many differences between these two gifted authors, similarities can be discovered as well. The background of Walt Whitman is enormously different from that of Emily Dickinson. Because Walt Whitman was such an under privileged kid and rose from his struggle in avery romantic life style, we see this slight bit of romanticism in his writing, like when he says, “ But O heart! heart! heart!/O the bleeding drops of red,/Where on the deck my Captain lies,/Fallen cold and dead” (Whitman).

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Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman emphasize the importance of living true to yourself and developing complete self-acceptance. To live a genuine life and completely accept who you are, you must understand your identity and your sense of self. In Self-Reliance, Emerson explains that your identity and your sense of self are spiritual. Whitman argues, in Song of Myself, that your identity and sense of self are based on both your soul and your body. While both Emerson and Whitman allow for intimate connections and friendships, Emerson encourages people to have relationships with a select few, whereas Whitman encourages people to connect with everyone and anyone, due to their different views of self.

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Throughout his poem, he constantly talks about the importance of coming together and merging. Whitman says, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (Whitman 1). On the surface, this quote may appear to illustrate that Whitman thinks highly of himself, but it is more than this. The last part of this quote emphasizes that we are all connected and even though we are all individuals, we should not forget that we are connected to one another. Whitman also says, “Urge and urge and urge, Always the procreant urge of the world.

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His works are full of realistic qualities. Moreover, they are long with deep messages, as well as well-structured and detailed. Furthermore, his poems are democratic both subject and the language which shows how intellectual was his imaginary and visual style of writing. To both Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, the individualism in society has a huge importance which, at the same time, inspired their style of writing. Also, they accept the importance of God in connection with nature and immortality.

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Walt Whitman captures his audience’s attention with his realism poetry and free verse poetry throughout much of his life as a poet. Whitman was a man of the civil war era and in his poem “The Wound-Dresser” shows his life experiences in the war come full force in the way he conveys his contribution in the civil war. His view of the war as a wound-dresser and he describes some of the most horrendous scenes imaginable from the eyes of an everyday man. His poem “The Wound-Dresser” doesn’t show the war from a distance, but from right on the battlefield in its unedited version as written by Whitman. The way Whitman conveys his poems of the everyday man’s life in his time-period is presented by utilizing his realism style to connect to the audience and his gruesomely descriptive vocabulary.

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It is common for a person to admire the stars in the sky. Their brightness and arrangement is a fascinating sight, of course. On the other hand, people tend to forget or plainly ignore what is right under their feet. In “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman focused on what he thought was truly important, details of the green grass. Whitman wrote, “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars” (663).

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In this grand poem, Whitman glorifies the unity of all people and life. He embraces the geographical diversity as well as the diversity of culture, work, as well as sexuality or beliefs. Whitman’s influence sets American dreams of freedom, independence, and self-fulfillment, and changes them for larger spiritual meaning. Whitman appreciates hard work as well as being simple and non-egotistical. His major ideas are things such as soul, good health, as well as the love of nature.

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