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To Walt Whitman's Song Of Myself

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To Whitman poetics and politics are inseparable. He understands the politics of his country and realizes the mutual relationship between that politics and the national poetry of his country. He tried to put up for sale the first edition of Leaves of Grass on July 4, 1855. “By invoking the scene of an Independence Day celebration in ‘Song of Myself,’ Whitman succeeds in connecting the internal events of his poetry with the external circumstances of his book’s publication” (Whitley 460). “In addition to the metonymic feat of making Leaves of Grass and his own person merge so that they became almost exchangeable terms, Whitman created similar slippage between himself and his country” (Price, To Walt Whitman, America 4). Therefore, to Whitman Leaves
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Whitman revised his book, Leaves of Grass nine times from 1855 to 1891. Originally containing nine editions, it grew into about 400 in the span of thirty-six years. Because of his obsession over his work, it is evident that he was a perfectionist and too proud to forget about his original submissions. Therefore, he continued to revise them as his skills progressed. It was no secret that Whitman saw the world differently than others, admiring little details and showing appreciation towards things any other person would not think twice about.

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692 Words | 3 Pages

Walt Whitman was an American poet and journalist born on May 31, 1819. Whitman was influenced by transcendentalism, which was an idea emphasizing that to understand nature, one must analyze the reasoning or process behind it. Whitman had done many writings throughout his life that had been inspirations for other poets. For example, in the spring of 1855, Whitman published “Leaves of Grass”, which was a collection of twelve unnamed poems. This writing was enticed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who thought that the collection of poems were “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom.”

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Whitman was more intimate and exposed in regards to the body and soul with his writing, so much that his poems were thought to be disgusting by old English readers. Mr. Keating taught a poetry class and frequently incorporated Whitman into his lessons. Mr. Keating made his students rip up their poetry books’ introduction because he believed that poetry couldn’t be interpreted through a graph of ‘greatness’ but rather through emotions and feeling, stating, “We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion...poetry, beauty,romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

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1009 Words | 5 Pages

Whitman believed that while science and technology could be helpful, it could also be a distraction from the natural world and its beauty. He praised the locomotive for its power and strength but acknowledged that it might be too powerful for our world. Similarly, he had respect for the astronomer's knowledge and understanding of the universe, but he was dissatisfied with the disconnect he felt it caused him with nature. We should always attempt to gain a complete understanding of a concept before making a judgement, just as Whitman did when attempting to hear what the astronomy lecturer had to say. Furthermore, having multifaceted opinions should be considered the standard practice, as many things in our world are far from

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851 Words | 4 Pages

“We Shall Overcome” -- LBJ’s Speech Analysis Lyndon B. Johnson, in his persuasive congressional speech, “We Shall Overcome”, which took place in Washington D.C on March 15th, 1965, asserted that the voting rights should also apply to African-American citizens. Mr. Johnson used a variety of rhetorical devices, such as climax, synecdoche, personification, ethos, logos, etc, in order to develop the art of his effective speech. On the purpose of persuading and convincing the congress to pass the Voting Rights Act, Johnson gave this speech during the meeting of congress on March 1965. His speech brought audience a mood of peace, at the meantime, created an ambience of equanimity, by using a formal, calm and confident tone as well as an appropriate diction. 50 years before, the Bloody Sunday Massacre took place in Selma in 1965, the state troopers attacked 525 civil rights demonstrators.

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2326 Words | 10 Pages

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.

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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”.

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887 Words | 4 Pages

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,

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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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2353 Words | 10 Pages

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself “And what I assume you shall assume, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” A groan escaped my lips as Mary’s polished voice began to recite the first three lines of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself. She had almost the entire poem memorized, and would begin to quote certain lines when they pertained to a situation, or when she was just trying to annoy me. She fell in love with the poem when she was in the eighth grade after doing some American poet project for her English class.

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1496 Words | 6 Pages

An iconic figure in the history of American literature, Walt Whitman was born on the 31st May 1819. Today his contribution and works in the poetic world have come to define sentimentalism, ambitions and some key experiences that Americans underwent in the 19th century. Even though he may have been politically inactive, his work had the will to display political views. Having survived through the civil war, he grew much affectionate perception on the nature and complexity of American polity. Whitman’s view of America was that of a culturally diverse society that we currently witness as such this vision was mainly expressed in his poetic works.

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Romanticism in ¨From Song of Myself¨ From song of myself, is a very open minded poem as the author Walt Whitman speaks so much in this poem about himself. Throughout the poem there is a variety of topics going on through every other line in where Walt Whitman declares that he is going to celebrate himself in his poem by all the personal opinions he provides in it. In this poem, Whitman explains how much he loves the world, especially nature and how everything fits together just as it should.

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197 Words | 1 Pages

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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1125 Words | 5 Pages

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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938 Words | 4 Pages

In Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself’, one can appreciate the poem properly by understanding the poem’s voice, imagery, figures of speech, symbols, word choice, and theme. To understand it though requires a great deal of thought to arrive to the meaning behind the writing. Especially since this poem was written in the nineteenth century and is written in a very loose structure and free verse. Firstly, the speaker of the poem is an individual, Walt Whitman himself, as seen by the repetition of “I” in the poem.

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