People are just giving Grass more work to do. In the final two lines of the poem “I am the grass. Let me work.” (Lines 10, 11) This annoyed tone comes from how humanity continuously asks questions even years later, or the ghosts of humanity does.
“Grass” is written in a manner that could be construed as chaotic, with three stanzas each with a different number of lines. The first stanza is a tercet, the second a sestet, and the final stanza is a couplet. Furthermore, “Grass” does not follow a rhyme scheme and is therefore written in free verse. Conversely, “At the Un-National Monument…” follows a far more structured organizational system, with two cinquain stanzas, using ABCCB and ABACC rhyme schemes respectively. Despite their structural contrasts, the two poems share some mutual literary devices.
The personification of the sun battling stubborn winter represents individuals resistance to embrace nature and the cycle of life in it’s simplicity. Finally, spring emerges and “the leafy mind, that long was tightly furled/will turn its private substance into green,/ and young shoots spread upon our inner world” (18-20). The leaf is personified to have a mind which becomes active when spring commences. Spring represents new life and the stimulation of the mind, or “inner world”. Roethke uses literary elements to describe an image that creates a metaphor comparing the awakening of nature, from winter to spring, to the awakening of the human sense, from neglected to
In the 1820s was a period known as the Industrial Revolution. Alexander Hamilton wrote the Report on Manufacturers in 1791 that gave the idea that women and children could be used as cheap labor. Thus, in the 1820s factories in New England started to hire women and children for only three dollars per week (Women in the Early Industrial Revolution ). Three dollars a week does not seem like much however, many of these women worked on farms were they did not earn that much money. Money was not the only thing that persuaded these women to begin working in factories.
When nonliving things are given human characteristics, we are better able to relate to them and engage with the story on a deeper level. Our emotional relationship grows even stronger when the sun and the grass are personified, adding a sense of happiness, peace, and trust to the story. Additionally, by giving all of these human traits, the author improves the reality and stress of the descriptions, giving us another point of view from which we can see the powerful sun rays and enjoy the reliable nature of the grass. In the end, this addition of human traits gives the story life and improves how we read
A leaf falls, breaking away from the grasp of the tree branch, falling into the world beyond. There are so much to think about and uncover. Another poem, named “r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r”, which spells grasshopper when you untangle the words (Doc B). In that poem, he scrambles words, uses parenthesis, uses colons and periods, to create an effect. Some people view the poem as a picture of a grasshopper or a way to emphasize point the point he’s trying to make.
In contrast, this time motif also reveals growth imagery throughout the passage in the recurring image of cycles. For instance, the suggestion of cycles is first seen in the use of the word, ‘ceaselessly’ in the opening sentence. By definition, the term ‘ceaselessly’ means to “be continuous and without end,” to propose that while elements of the forest will rust or decay, there is no true end because there will be a continuous change, or growth. Moreover, this concept further develops in the passage through the line, “[…] and from that rich graveyard grew ninety-foot trees, and tiny mushrooms that sprouted […] across,” as it metaphorically proposes that through death (the graveyard), new life can sprout, or “come into existence.” In addition, the image of cycles is can also be seen in the word, “eddies” present in the second sentence as this term refers to the “circular movement of water,” to suggest the fluidity of time as a characteristic by generating a metaphorical comparison between the cycles of time and the flowing quality of
In Walt Whitman’s “song of myself”, there is many reverences to himself. I am going to pick out some of the references to himself and explain what I believe that they mean to me. On the first line of the poem, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself” (Whitman 1330). Which says to me that Walt Whitman is proud out his accomplishments that he has achieved thought out his life. Even the accomplishments that were viewed as not good or not worthy of praise.
Each and everyday we see a new home being built, or a shopping mall opening, or even an apartment complex in the making, but we never think of at what expense all of this is happening. By building all of these new additions we are killing hundred of different species in the process. Humans are cutting down forests, and destroying animal’s habitats. Extinction is one of the most pressing problems we are currently facing today. Each day a new species shows up on the extinction list.
William McFeely suggests that Frederick Douglass, like Walt Whitman, has written a “Song of Myself” with his slave narrative. Both fairly known in their own time, I am going to look at how they compare and how they are different from each other. Frederick Douglass with his autobiographical slave narrative and Walt Whitman with his poem “Song of Myself”. The question becomes how Douglass creates himself through his narrative and how it compares to Whitman’s self in his poem.
Walt Whitman (debatably) one of the greatest poets of his age. Acknowledged for his life’s work Leaves of Grass, consisting of more than 400 poems and several editions that include the better known Song of Myself. During the year 1855, he published his first edition to Leaves of Grass making up a total of twelve poems. Over the time that he self-published his work it was banned in several places, because of the more controversial and sexual themes that he wrote about. In his fourth edition titled Inscriptions, he included several poems beginning with One’s-Self I Sing (which was is a revised and shortened version of the original Inscription).
Both of Walt Whitman articles are transcendentalism; Mr. Whitman shows individualism and nature in “Song to Myself” which are qualities of transcendentalism. In “Song to myself” he mostly uses individualism as you can tell just by the title he is describing himself in a song. Mr.Whitman uses repetition in his poem “I celebrate myself”(Whitman 1). Throughout the poem he uses the word “I” to describe himself which shows individualism which is a romantic quality. Mr.Whitman also uses imagery in his “Song to Myself”.
Langston Hughes uses images of oppression to reveal a deeper truth about the way minorities have been treated in America. He uses his poems to bring into question some of Walt Whitman’s poems that indirectly state that all things are great, that all persons are one people in America, which Hughes claims is false because of all the racist views and oppression that people face from the people America. This oppression is then used to keep the minorities from Walt Whitman in his poem, “Song of Myself”, talks about the connection between all people, how we are family and are brothers and sisters who all share common bonds. He says, “ And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own,/ And that all the men ever born are also my brothers,
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman emphasize the importance of living true to yourself and developing complete self-acceptance. To live true to yourself 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 is spiritual. Whitman argues, in Song of Myself, that your identity and sense of self is 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.
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).
