Post a response to these questions here:
Questions on "Song of Myself"
1. Who is this poet and what happens to him? Also consider in stanza #5, what is happening to the poet's body and soul. What wisdom comes from this transformation?
2. His subject matter: what does it include? What seems most important.
3. The form: grass as symbol. What other characteristics of the form of the poem do you see as unusual (and romantic?)?
4. The reader: promises and projection. Also consider what relationship the poet establishes initially with "you," his reader? What sort of person does he seem to be? What does he reject and what does he embrace? What promises does he make?
Consider the stylistic characteristics of the poem: the catalogues (such as #15); the repetitions of syntactic structures; the frequent participial verbs (-ing endings); any others that strike you. Perhaps more than any other writer, Whitman subscribed to the organic theory of writing: that the style must be organically part of the meaning (not imposed mechanically in any way). Think about how any of these stylistic characteristics are essential to his meaning.
By the end of the poem, where is Whitman in regard to the reader? How has the "I" changed in the poem through its experiences? How is the reader supposed to finally understand the "I"?
I adore this man! He's a great writer and person because he isn't afraid to love himself openly. He is extremely narcissistic but it makes his writing more personal and intense. He's gay and very open about that and hes really sexual and hes challenging the reader to love sexuality as much as he does. NO ONE could love sexuality as much as a gay writer (wink) but still...He writes a lot about being one with the forces of the world. He writes about love and sex and passion. He makes it more intense with descriptive and poetic vocabulary. Walt Whitman makes us feel what he feels...but maybe i speak only for myself. I appreciate the symbols he uses as well. He uses the grass symbol to describe how insignificant he is in the world. Still, he compares himself to it and boasts his greatness. I love it...Others my feel threatened by his pride but I know if you don't love yourself, everyone else that loves you doesn't matter. I give him a 10 and my 7 digits...if he wasnt dead and old looking. I appreciate the way he looks in the cover art.
ReplyDeleteThe poet is Walt Whitman who takes us on a journey of self discovery and celebration. His subject matter seems to be passionate relations with others and the effects it has on him and thoughts that stir in his mind. Also he focuses on seeing the beauty of nature and feeling connected to it and all things in it. He has a very trusting relationship with the reader. He talks to us very personally as if we are his best friend or his diary.
ReplyDeleteWalt Whitman uses different literary devices such as anaphora, apostrophe and parallelism to make a close connection with a reader.He is not ashamed about every part of his body and sexuality in general, he opens his mind to the reader.He talks about everything in this world and brings up every kind of question that bothering the humanity.
ReplyDeleteWhitman seems to be the type of person who doesn't want to be defined by labels or grouped into a category.He rejects the ideals of what mans purpose is on earth and combines everyone and everything embracing all living thing as beautiful. He spends his life celebrating the earth and its differences rather than consuming himself with the afterlife
ReplyDeleteWalt Whitman's style of organic writing correlates with his subject matter, it seems that the majority of his writing connects himself to nature and the nature of the world around him. this focus also continues with ideas of transcendance which is a tool that he uses to describe himself. as Whitman is describing the landscape or sexual encounters with men and women he uses words primrlyi used in describing mother nature or organic topics. similarly the style and punctuation of the poem also follows through. the most interesting thing for me was that the last part of the poem which does not end in a period. almost all of the other stanzas did and it makes us contemplate the poems life and its organic texture and growing as well as dying qualities, but according to walt dying is not the end of life
ReplyDeleteINCOMPLETE POST: I suppose I understand the history and meaning behind this poem more than I would be able to understand the poem all on its own. At a certain point (and that’s way before the 50th page), it just doesn’t seem concise anymore. Whitman has a few ideas that he presents here, all related to a transcendentalist nature-human connection.
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ReplyDeleteI was impressed by the Walt Whitman poem Song of Myself and want to read more of it slowly to absorb it. What seems most important to him is achieving not only the bare minimum of peacefulness but peacefulness and celebration at the same time. He doesn't simply want to be okay, functional, and satisfied, he wants to celebrate himself as an important part of the world as he asserts we all are. That we are all connected through life. He poetically and patiently goes through all the details of life he finds important to describing his findings. I think it's important to read this poem, and other poems like this one to help us see all the ways you can look at the world, at yourself, life and death. We should find other works detailing philosophy through literature so we can learn as much about the world and ourselves as we'd like to. I'm glad I understood the parts of the poem I did understand and am interested in understanding more which I didn't get this first time. This is the most important thing -- that like Whitman, I'm not pursuing the bare minimum but pursuing things that can lead me toward celebrating myself. I want to read more not for school but for myself, and sometimes the best parts of my life are when I pursue things I want to but don't have to. Whitman's passage on death helped me feel peaceful about the recent death of my grandpa, (the first big death in my life.) There must be other pieces of wisdom hiding in pieces of literature that can enrich me, make me feel peaceful and help me to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 4: Walt Whitman makes a clear connection with the reader, referred to as "you" in Song of Myself. He makes this connection to tie in the reader into the cycle of life, expressing the continuation of people and their souls throughout the universe. Walt takes the position of two views. One is of a normal human being, and trying to grasp the understandings of our world to the best of his ability. When Whitman explores further, he is speaking as the Whitman that transcends over all the earth and beyond. He speaks of knowing everything, and knowing nothing, and that these opposites must live together. Whitman embraces all religions, and their explanations of the beginning of Nothing.
ReplyDeleteWalt Whitman seems to be quite a self absorbed and extremely observant individual. He continues to celebrate the beauty of the earth and values nature a great deal more than relationships with humans. His openness about sexuality was very unusual coming from his time. Most of all his subject matter contains a continual list of descriptions relating to transcendentalism and transforming the readers idea of transcendentalism. Whitman uses a variety of literary techniques to convey his point of view. Including anaphora, parallelism, and chiasmus
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ReplyDelete1. Walt Whitman is the poet who takes his readers on a journey through his life and experiences in a very sexual manner. He does not fear the judgement that comes with this style of writing, he has created such a work that it makes you think of different circumstances and situations through many vital topics such as religion, human relations, life, and death. Whitman uses nature as a major source when relating his poetry to other aspects. Imagery is so greatly utilized in Whitman’s poetry to paint a picture in the readers’ minds of what is being seen, heard, felt.
2. His subject matter is nature, the human body, his journeys, and his thoughts.
3. Sensuality is infiltrated throughout Walt Whitman’s poetry in such a way that either makes the reader feel at one with their own body, their lovers’ body, etc. or feel uncomfortable to a point where the detail described is too much. The form: melon as a symbol.
4. Whitman initially establishes a comfortable, carefree relationship with his readers, as he feels comfortable talking about just about anything, because he is at one with his own body, he understands it, embraces it, loves it, and wishes to explore others.
Song of Myself absolutely bored me. I thought the sexual references were extremely irrelevant and yes I understand the fact that he is very comfortable with his own body, and definately isn't ashamed to flaunt who he truly is. But yet at the same time he use of organic words and connecting with nature was able to grasp the tiniest amount of my attention. Whitman seems to have a very strong vocabulary for someone who was only schooled for 6 years, which is extremely remarkable. The one thing that I did actually enjoy about reading Song of Myself was that it was about a journey, or as some would call it a lifes journey. Although I didn't necessarily love his writing style, he did however make me become more to terms with my inner self, as well as looking at nature than just something beautiful to look it. Nature is more than that, as Whitman would probably note nature has emotions as well.
ReplyDeleteWalt Whitman was the author : and he was talking about things that were going on at the time era, and things that mattered to him. The 'Song of myself' was very different from the regular long poems that I am used to reading, understanding him is not difficult for me. I really do like his work, I love how he is so outspoken about topics. Critically I have nothing bad to say about his writing.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I understand the history and meaning behind this poem more than I would be able to understand the poem all on its own. At a certain point (and that’s way before the 50th page), it just doesn’t seem concise anymore. Whitman has a few ideas that he presents here, all related to a transcendentalist nature-human connection. Sexuality, beauty of nature and the "holiness" of nature itself, and the nature of Whitman himself. However, my first thought is, "Why do we need so much of this?" Why does it feel like he's rambling? There are good ideas in here. There is an inspiring use of vocabulary (especially given his background), though it can be a bit distracting at times. One of my subsequent thoughts is, "is Whitman truly that full of himself?" He appears to be creating a persona proclaiming such philosophies, but his delivery is a bit confusing. He also calls out to nature and the "Soul" in apostrophe. This, and other literary devices he uses I find distracting and unnecessary, personally, though they do where his values are. The "poem" still feels more impersonal than it was intended to be, and I don't feel strongly enough about it to understand its "influence," though it obviously survives as a fantastic and distinctive demonstration of the style and subject matter.
ReplyDelete(The previous post, by "j", is mine.)
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