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Walt Whitman's I Saw In Louisiana A Live-Oak Growing

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Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in Long Island, New York and although he had limited formal education, he went on to be a printer, reporter, teacher, newspaper editor and is celebrated as “one of America’s most important poets of the 19th century” (Academy of American Poets, 2015). Compared to many of the other poets of their time, Walt Whitman started very late in his life. In 1855 he self-published Leaves of Grass which contained 12 poems and by the 8th edition in 1881 it contained almost 400 poems (Academy of American Poets, 2015). One of the original 12 poems was “I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing” and over the years many interpretations have been printed about the book and this 13 line free verse poem in particular. Walt Whitman uses vivid imagery …show more content…

One does not think of a tree as being rude but Whitman appears to be describing the tree as vigorous, healthy and released from any bonds which was impressive to him. Whitman also describes the tree as “uttering joyous leaves of dark green” (3). Again, not words typically used to describe a tree but used here to describe the beautiful and full leaves this tree is displaying. Whitman has painted a picture and you can thoroughly visualize this tree standing beautiful and statuesquely in solitude. Whitman appears to be completely mesmerized by the fact this tree is able to thrive and prosper “without any companion” nearby (3). In actuality, this is not such an outrageous feat. Live-Oaks are monoecious, which means their flowers contain either female or male reproductive parts, allowing for asexual reproduction. So, the fact that this tree is thriving incredibly well alone does not seem to be as significant as the fact Walt Whitman repeatedly states that he or maybe humans in general, could not flourish under the same

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The poem “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim; From Drum Taps” written by Walt Whitman is a bit different that traditional poetry covered in lesson 12. There is little to no rhyming which is quite different from traditional poetry seeing as many of the the poets before Whitman enjoyed using words that went together. Second the meters used by Whitman do not have the traditional feel to them, they are much longer and almost feel more like sentences in a story than the meters in a poem. Emily Dickinson's poem “ Tell all the truth but tell it slant” is very abstract, so abstract that it is almost impossible to understand what the main idea behind the poem is. Also not only is it difficult to understand, but the poem is the

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Whitman’s experience as a wound-dresser at the time of the war gave him a unique perspective of the men and women on the front lines. One way he shows the realism is through his free verse style that doesn’t have a rhyming pattern or many other traditional poetry rules. This gives his poetry sort of an edge that lets the realism come through. The way Whitman gets the audience’s attention in his free verse style is through repetition of words that rhyme but with no necessary order. One example of this is his use of the first-person pronoun I in “The Wound-Dresser” for example at the beginning of most stanzas Whitman starts out by saying “I dress a wound in the side, deep, deep, … I dress the perforated shoulder, … I am faithful, I do not give out” (Levine 78).

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This explains how he believed that the stars and the grass should be thought of as equal and man should show appreciation for grass as well. Moreover, Whitman implies that because the grass is so close in terms of touch, humans should enjoy it more since stars are completely out of reach. As it is evident that Whitman appreciates

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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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