Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman, born in 1819, is profoundly known for his later start in poetry. His works primarily focus on his personal experience within the Civil War. His two works deeply reflect his time spent as a nurse for the Union side of the war. Although one being fiction and the other nonfiction, Whitman is capable of getting his tone and ideas across to the reader in both The Artilleryman’s Vision and Letter to His Mother. Both works and their depictions articulate the Civil War experience through…

Thank you Uncle Alan and Auntie Rumi for honoring me with the opportunity of saying a few words today. In one of Walt Whitman’s poems (a personal favorite of mine that I was thinking of over my plane ride here) O Me, O Life, he wrote: “That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” The verse Noelle contributed in this powerful play during her time with us was unconditional love and happiness. She was one of the most down to…

(read with a NYC accent) Somehow, someway, before I was born, before my existence was even a concept, before fate found it’s stepping stone, Walt Whitman was thinking of me. He was dreaming of all of us; the people he would never meet, the people who may never know his name, the people of the past, present, and future. Few evidence can be found that Whitman had any clairvoyant powers, yet he seemed to know what to look for, when thinking, dreaming, and wishing for the future generations. He…

(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…

Walt Whitman was an American poet, teacher, and journalist that lived from 1819 to 1892 (PBS). The themes of his work were heavily influenced by social and political events as well as experiences from his own life. Individualism and American idealism were two of the major themes that Whitman used in his poems. Events like the abolitionist movement, the Civil War, and the migration of pioneer families to the newly acquired Western portion of the United States also influenced his work (Poets).…

In “If Walt Whitman Vlogged,” Kenneth Goldsmith explores the versatility of the Internet and social media by connecting different Internet poets’ media and messages to exhibit a new way emotion and thoughts are being communicated. The convenience of instant posting allows people to be more connected than ever before. An idea can be posted to an audience which members can view at any time, from any place, while they live their life separate from other members and whoever posted. This allows…

The poems “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman and “I Too” written by Langston Hughes each express similar and different attitudes towards America. Both writers each have their own perceptions of America that they have written about in their poems.The attitude expressed in “I Hear America Singing” and “I Too” are both wanting equality along with the poem “I Too” wanting to end racism. There are some major differences perceived in both these poems on the author’s perspective on America. One…

In Walt Whitman's Song of Myself, the author is seamlessly stepping into the shoes of another and identifying himself with their experiences, he also observes them. Walt Whitman does not write this poem as a final stroke to his light-hearted, if not an egomaniacal sense of self, but rather as a celebration of all types of individuals. When Whitman uses the word assume, in his second line, he is not asking the reader to automatically hold all of his statements true to himself, but rather assume…

Though Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson use different structures and figurative language, they convey a similar attitude about education and religion, which are common institutions. In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman and “324” by Emily Dickinson both poets use personification to describe their tone in order to explain the view of their groups. Although, they use different poem structures and figurative language. Whitman and Dickinson have a similar attitude, in the poem…

John Hodgen critiques the affect prominent poets have on the thinking of future generation and examines the validity of these critiques made on the subjects they write about. In this poem, John Hodgen describes, in a plain spoken and blunt way, Walt Whitman helping wounded Civil War veterans in a makeshift military hospital. He uses candid comparisons to prove his points and alliteration to improve the readability of his poem at the end. In order to understand poems, the reader must have a…