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Walt Whitman's A March In The Ranks, Hard-Prest

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A March in the Ranks Hard-prest Walt Whitman is famous for his heart wrenching and thought provoking poetry. "A March in the Ranks, Hard-prest" is one of his best, and most profound poems. Whitman is able to put so much emotion and imagery into a few short stanzas. In this poem Whitman shows many different images of pain and suffering. Of the horrors that went on during the bloody Civil War. It shows a young soldier marching with his unit when they come across an old Church turned field hospital. Whitman paints an erie picture of the doctors and nurses preforming surgery, of men lying on the floor in their own blood, of people seeing the flickering of candle light for the last time. All of these terrible images are used to illustrate the …show more content…

In the spacing of the stanzas, however, we see framing. The first and last stanza are only five lines long while the middle three are all six lines long. The poem is also framed by the idea of moving forward into the unknown. "A MARCH in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown; [. . .] unknown road still marching."(Whitman 1, 25). In both the first and last lines of the poem we see the narrator moving forward on his journey. The idea of darkness is prevalent throughout the poem. From the darkness of the woods at the beginning and end, to the dark corners of the hospital where men are bleeding and dying. Whitman also uses cataloging in this poem to show the death and destruction that the narrator is seeing. One of the strongest points in this poem is the imagery used. Whitman is able to describe a horrible and complicated scene with just a few sentences. First he describes how the hospital itself looks, "Shadows of deepest black, just lit by moving candles and lamps, / And by one great pitchy torch, stationary, with wild red flame, and clouds of smoke;"(Whitman 8-9). From just these two lines an image of poor flickering light in a room whose corners and crevices are as dark as they can possible be. Then Whitman describes the people and the movement in the room

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In many of Whitman’s writings, multiple meanings can be interpreted. This is similar to Montag because Montag has two sides to him. One side fulfills his duty as a fireman, while the other side makes him want to rebel and have books to read. This shows how both Whitman and Montag contradict ideas in

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“Enough”, by Suzanne Buffam is an odd tale in the form of a poem, showing how someone is questioning life while in a depressing mood. The first few stanzas include melancholy lines and a sense of indirect somber portrayed through an action and a statement. A major tone shift follows with a feeling of equivocalness with the narrator questioning one’s self and life. Buffam uses strange metaphors, questionable line placement and the feeling of doubt and curiosity to portray “Enough”. The poem includes several different tones and examples of imagery to give the reader a true sense of what this poem is supposed to mean.

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Walt Whitman is one of nine children, he grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and Long Island and was faced with many different aspects of society. Growing up he had a great fascination of the atmosphere of Brooklyn which led him to journalism at the age of twenty. In 1855 Walt Whitman self-published a collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass which was expanded and revised through many editions until the ninth “deathbed” edition which was published in 1892. His brother was wounded in Fredericksburg Virginia, shortly after Walt Whitman traveled to see him. Once he saw the aftermath he was compelled to work as a nurse in Washington, D.C. as a volunteer nurse, in this time he wrote many more poems.

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“The Artilleryman’s Vision” is about a soldier who has flashbacks of tragic events from a past battle. In this poem, Whitman

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“In fantasy unreal, the skirmishers begin,” Walt Whitman states in “The Artilleryman’s Vision.” Walt Whitman is describing what happened during the Civil War. He described it like “suffocating smoke,” and, “warning s-s-t of the rifles. In “The Artilleryman’s Vision”, Walt Whitman uses imagery and tone to make it feel like you are living the war. Whitman starts the poem with the narrator in his room with his wife and his infant.

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He portrays this message by giving descriptions of different kinds of people and their occupations. An example of this is the line, “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, / Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong” (Whitman 1-2). The “carols” mentioned in the quote represent the occupations and the mechanic described is an example of one of the many types of workers in America. This poem is different than “America” by Claude McKay because rather than presenting both the positives and negatives of America, Whitman only discusses the positives. Whitman’s writing differs from McKay’s because Whitman only shows one side of the topic.

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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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One way that Whitman conveys his poetry is through the eyes of the everyday man. In this period of American history, the civil war was ongoing, and his poetry did not shy away from the everyday

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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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Walt Whitman’s “A Noiseless Patient Spider” was initially published in 1868, in London Magazine. Originally, it was the third section of a larger poem, entitle “Whispers of Heavenly Death.” In the poem, “A Noiseless Patient Spider” the speaker, Walt Whitman repeatedly emphasizes the connection between the spider and his soul. In this poem, the speaker observes a noiseless patient spider on a promontory leaving a mark on its vast surrounding by weaving its web. The main idea of this poem is to draw the comparison between the spider and the speaker’s soul.

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To begin with, Whitman throughout the poem shows a lot about what he believes and what he's opposed to as the states that he is both the body and the soul. By providing the lines he provides, it reflects his individualism as well as gives ideas about the topic of his poem as the title says it clear that it is about himself. Whithmand in the poem relates to the Romantic era as he mentions nature a lot making it obvious of his love for it. Romanticism era shown by Whitman is expressed in the poem as he says ïn the beginning, second stanza ¨I loafe and invite my soul, I learn and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer

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“Poetry is ordinary language raised to the Nth power. Poetry is bonded with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words,”(Paul Engle). Poetry covers all spectrums of life, whether it encompasses morality, love, death, or finding ones true self. When reading poetry one may stumble across pure brilliance, words so powerful they have the ability challenge the mind. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman have that such gift, and are nothing short of illustrious.

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His divinely inspired vision led him to the domain extending beyond the reach of empirical experience. The unknown, the unseen, the unheard and the unexpressed revealed to his mind the deepest truths about the ultimate reality. For Whitman, according to V.N.Dhavale, “the world of senses is not real world, it is only a poor substitute for the real, the ideal , the transcendental”(Walt Whitman 43).Whitman’s approach to the transcendental nature of life is free from any obscurity or dogmatism. Limitations of Material Life Whitman is invariably analysing the material in terms of transcendental in his poetic universe to highlight its limitations.

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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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Secondly, Whitman’s use of imagery shows the power of his imagination and the extent of his sensory impressions. Line twenty-two for example brings forth the energy coming from nature and its spiritual affect on the self. In addition, Whitman uses the senses to draw a picture for the reader. Touch for example, is used in “a few light kisses, a few embraces…”(1150). Hearing is used in “the sound of the belch’d words of my voice…”(1150).

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