Charles Whitman

Despite, or perhaps because of, this country’s short history, the American identity is one of the most highly contested and undefinable of intangible ideas. Many of the highly debated abstract concepts are so often and sometimes needlessly argued over because they are indefinable. So much can fall under the categories of these types, like art, love, and poetry, that deems them impossible to narrow down into workable definitions. A blank canvas can be considered art and free verse is somehow…

such art that allows its creator to call upon a variety of emotions. Whether those emotions are a sense of delight, anger, contempt, sorrow, etc, all are forms of emotion and are easily seen throughout the many poems written by Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Paul Lurance Dunbar. When these poets fuse their emotions with their words, we the readers are able to feel a fraction of what they might have felt at the time of the poems creation. It is this component that allows the readers to…

The Natural World The poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman is talking about him listening to an educated astronomer lecture using his proofs, figures, columns, charts, diagrams and how to add, divide, and measure them. While he was sitting in the lecture room with that astronomer teaching, the rest of the room began to applause. It seemed to be too much for him because he became unaccountably tired and sick. He felt that way until he left the room and went outside and…

historically America has had difficulty balancing these ideals. One of Walt Whitman poems preaches the possibility that these concepts can work together. “Song of Myself” is Whitman’s paean to his ideal of American democracy, an idea which balances, or attempts to balance, freedom with equality, individualism with community, a relentlessly inclusive, or as Whitman puts it, “absorptive”…

chemical release of dopamine in the brain can be triggered by nearly anything depending on the person. The question then becomes, what brings people the ecstasy of living? Walt Whitman is a well renowned poet to this day. In his poem, Poem of Joys, he mentions different examples of people and what brings those people joy. Whitman suggests that joy is found in different forms of weather such as rain drops or sunshine. He explains that…

(McElroy, 1999). During the Civil War many civilians decided to volunteer, among one which was Walt Whitman, after witnessing such drastic measures taking place. Walt Whitman became emotionally and mentally involved with matters of the Civil War due to his brothers involvement. George Whitman, brother of Walt Whitman, served in an infantry regiment with many other volunteers (McElroy, 1999). Once Walt Whitman heard of his brother being wounded he then decided to leave Brooklyn to head to…

James Truslow Adams is responsible for coining the term “American Dream” in his book The Epic of America (Source E). Some may find it surprising that the book was published in 1931 because the idea of America’s unique, opportunist culture had been prominent since the country’s founding. However, several creators utilized this idea for central themes in their literary works long before it had a name. One of these people was F. Scott Fitzgerald, who published The Great Gatsby in 1925. In The Great…

In what ways does Sylvia Plath make use of the language in order to make the poem convincing? "Daddy" is a confessional and a very passionate poem composed by American writer Sylvia Plath. It was composed on October 12, 1962 in the blink of an eye before her passing. With the striking utilization of symbolism, Plath makes a imagery of her father,Otto Plath, utilizing different analogies to portray her association with him. Otto Plath kicked the bucket when Sylvia was eight years of age because…

in American history known as the, few poets started to stray from the traditional routines for composing poetry. Among these poets were Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. A percentage of the writers discussed the common war in their glory. By so doing, they figured out how to advise their audience on the different parts of the war. Emily Dickson and Walt Whitman are a percentage of the poets who discussed the war and other noteworthy part of American History. These two writers discussed the war…

When people hear the word hero, they usually imagine the generic spandex wearing, soaring like a bird hero, like the kind you see in the movies. When I hear the word hero, I instantly think about people who made a great impact in our world, like Martin Luther king jr. or Gandi. My hero that I chose to commemorate is someone who is strong, independent, has enough kindness to spread across the world, and single handedly proves that this is not just a man’s world, my hero is Eleanor Roosevelt. In…