Walt Whitman-social, gregorious-he wanted to spread his message for all to hear-famous throughout his lifetime-style is of cadence/catalogues and free verse(w/o rhyme or meter)-never went to college-publication of Leaves of Grass went unnoticed because it was too boldly new and strange, went thru 9 editions, its an epic“ I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”-By Walt Whitman-Summary: He heard about astronomy, hears lecture of the astronomer. He catalogues all that the astronomer does and has(charts, etc). He becomes tired and leaves to go look up at the stars. THEME: Stay close to nature. You should have the romantic attitude about science. Away from the rational, don’t like advancement.“ Song of Myself #10”-By Walt Whitman-SUmmary: The section starts out with descriptions of an outdoor life (or many different outdoor lives) involving hunting, boating, and fishing. Then it describes the wedding of a white man and an Indian woman. It also describes a white man aiding a runaway black slave — comforting him, sheltering him, feeding him, healing the wounds caused by shackles around his neck and ankles, keeping a loaded gun ready to protect him if slave catchers come hunting.-THEME: Celebrations of life under the open sky in the natural world, and celebrations of love and good fellowship between people of different racial backgrounds-USES: imagery, cadence, tone starts cheerful then gets more serious.“ I Hear America Singing”-By Walt WhitmanSTYLE: Lyric, catalouge-HISTORY: Its in Leaves of Grass to introduce the major themes.-SUMMARY: America is made up of many kinds of manual laborers; of carpenters, masons, boatman, shoemaker, hatter, woodcuter, ploughboy, women sewing all singing and content.-THEME: All should be celebrated, america is a mush pot. Manual labor is dignified. He is confident about America as a country, very patriotic. Alliterationrepetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables of an English language phrase. ex: “ Song of Myself” – “ observing a spear of summer grass.” OnomatopoeiaOnomatopoeia: the creation of words that imitate natural soundsex: “ I sound my barbaric yawp” by Whitman in “ Song of Myself” Assonancerepetition of the sound of a vowelex: whitman- The use of assonance is more subtle in this poem. The repetition of the soft “ e” sound in “ America” & “ Varied” creates the effect of assonance. Free-Verse PoetryPoetry that is open to pattern and is recognized as nonconforming and rhymeless verse.
example: I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
Formal-Verse PoetryFormal poetry or metrical verse follows “ rules” regarding stanza length and meter or rhyme patterns. There are several traditional, commonly-known types of formal poetry.
example: GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying : And this same flower that smiles to-dayTo-morrow will be dying.
Imageryauthor’s use of vivid and descriptive language to add depth to their workex: “ Song of Myself” – Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded withperfumes, (decribes the scene)Parallel Structureusing the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importanceex: The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves offwork, The boatman (he starts each sentence with the (job)) -whitmanCatalogingpoetry that is made up of lists of thingsex: “ I Hear America Singing” by Whitman lists the different jobs of Americans of the working class and how important they are.
