Trickle Drops
Trickle drops! my blue veins leaving!
O drops of me! trickle, slow drops,
Candid from me falling, drip, bleeding drops,
From wounds made to free you whence you were prison'd,
From my face, from my forehead and lips,
From my breast, from within where I was conceal'd, press forth red drops, confession drops,
Stain every page, stain every song I sing, every word I say, bloody drops,
Let them know your scarlet heat, let them glisten,
Saturate them with yourself all ashamed and wet,
Glow upon all I have written or shall write, bleeding drops,
Let it all be seen in your light, blushing drops.
-Walt Whitman
Angela Drews
Professor Pat Baehler
English 3005W
04/11/2012
Close Reading: Trickle Drops
Whitman starts of
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He needed to acknowledge these feelings again with opening up these “wounds” and letting these confession bleed out of him. Deep within the body and soul are where these things lie and with pressing out these “red drops” or confessions he is able to achieve some sense of relief. Whitman had a deep appreciation for confessing because it is such a big part of him. He acknowledges it and wants to remember it when he writes “Stain every page, stain every song I sing, every word I say, bloody drops” (7). He uses the word stain to signify that he wants these things to be remembered and be a part of everything he does. It takes so much emotion for him to be able to make these confessions that Whitman wants these to become a part of who he is. His intentions are not to forget the acknowledgment of the confession, but to help him continue in life. Every one of his confessions has some form of importance that he wants to remember. Whitman uses a certain way of writing to be able to portray the act of confessing and the emotion in his poem Trickle drops. When looking at the poem there is a pattern, which starts with the second line every two lines ends in drops. Every time Whitman ends with drops it signifies the confessions coming out, the next two lines to follow are the feeling and passion about these confessions that had occurred. He gives the poem these breaks from the
Now I intend to turn my attention to concrete examples from Walt Whitman's poetry to provide some evidence of that sexuality played an important role in his poetry, and there are possible readings to find traces for that. Of course, we cannot only rely on selected
Whitman’s point throughout the story is that in war there is more suffering than there is glory or bravery. This can be seen in the first section of this poem:
Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes. Two highly renowed poets. One of Whitman's most known poems, "I Hear America Singing", is about living the American life; he explains multiple types of people in his piece of work and how they are all a part of America. Similar to this, Langston Hughes wrote the poem "I, Too, Sing America", and in this, he includes African Americans, suggesting that Whitman left some people out. Also saying, that blacks are proud and just as big of a part of America as anyone else. Along with this, both are similar in the sense that they are about people in America. Aside from this, there are three other ways in which the poems "I, Too, Sing America", and "I Hear America Singing", are similar. Becasue of this, the poems
Are we seeing Whitman breaking down because this passage sounds very upset? To me Whitman adolescence appears to me lonely, because he seem typical boy who goes for walk at the shore carrying so much emotions and grief.
Personally I believe the brain tumor was partially responsible for Charles Whitman's actions. Reseachers found that the tumor could have contributed to Whitmans in ability to control his emotions and actions. Investigators came up with a theory that the tumor was putting pressure on the amygdala part of his brain. This would have affected his fight or flight response. Charles also had a very difficult childhood that no child should ever have to endure. While Whitman was young, his father abused him emotionally and physically. Children that experience abuse at a young age are at a greater risk for emotional and behavioral problems throughout their entire lives. With an overwhelming amount of anxiety and depression, it could have pushed Whitman
Walt Whitman could be seen as a narcissist because of his confidence in knowing the “ways” of the world. He is confident in his theory that the physical self and the emotional self, or the soul, are equals in all aspects. But I’m unsure if this is such a bad thing, as narcissism has negative connotations. On the other hand, the object of a visionary poet is not to sway people a certain way or impress them but to be able to reveal a moment or feeling in time and share their findings, which Walt does. Through his work he isn’t saying look at me and all I know. He is sharing his self-discovery and soul searching with the reader to show how magical it can be. He shares his uncertainties, what it’s like to love and what it’s like to be at peace
Within the text of (Hear.) a multitude of free verses can be found. In one example in the poem Whitman will, express, “The wood-cutter 's song, the ploughboy 's on his way in the/ morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,...” (Whitman Lines 11-12). Found within this text is Whitman’s clear usage of free verse. One sign of this usage of free verse can be found in the fact that Whitman does not make his lines rhyme in any way; instead, he simply writes what he thinks and pays no attention to rhyme. In addition to this the lines also could pass as everyday normal speech, something that is a clear sign of free verse. To create a connection to Whitman, Hughes also used free verse in his poem (Too.). By using Whitman’s style of free verse Hughes was able to create a sense of connection between his poem and Whitman’s, truly driving the relation to be seen as legitimate. In one portion of Hughes text he will explain, “But I laugh,/ And eat well,/ And grow strong” (Hughes Stanza 2, Lines 1-3). In this text presented by Hughes it can clearly be seen the author 's usage of free verse, as in fact the lines are similar to normal speech. The line presented hold very little rhyme, in fact, none at all; in
Thesis: People who read about Walter Whitman tend to say that he had a good life until his mother pass and his book Leaves of Grass in a book about his life and what he went through.
Walt Whitman was born in 1819, a second son to a housebuilder and one of 9 children. He worked as a printer at an early age, this is where he became enamored with the written word. Working as a printer in New York until a fire devastated the printing section of the city he was self-taught reading the works of Homer, Dante and the Bible. Whitman worked as a teacher for several years before becoming a journalist, full-time and establishing the paper The Long Islander. He worked as an editor for several papers before moving to New Orleans to become the editor of The Crescent where he first experienced the reality of the slave trade. Returning to his hometown of Brooklyn in Long Island he founded the newspaper the Brooklyn Freeman and continued
In a variety of Walt Whitman’s poems, the first person narrative emphasizes that the emotions expressed in his writing are unique to him. In his poem Song of Myself, he describes a scene in nature involving a wild goose call. He reflects “The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listening close,/ Find its purpose and place up there toward the wintry sky…. I see in them myself and the same old law” (6). The use of the first person shows how Whitman’s interpretations of the events he depicts do not apply to all people. He admits that other people may find the goose call “meaningless”, showing his understanding that his feelings of mutual connectedness with the world is not a universal reaction. Whitman is able to show that the emotions evoked
Whitman uses many different techniques toward intriguing his readers toward his work. A very quaint way is through homosexual aspects. In the tenth line of the poem W. Whitman says that the twig reminds the man of manly love. When someone reads this the words manly love just sticks out at you and you
On this verse, we can see how Whitman tries to connect to mind, body, spirit and nature. In “Song of Myself” Whitman attempted to change the meaning of American poetry. I described identity issues that pertain to him, but that the audience was able to identify with. Whitman, opened the door to
It was a deep poem, because it opened up his perspective on life, and his perspective is unique. In a way he spoke of his own religion, and preached that everyone meets their maker, but everyone is reincarnated as a blade of grass, and he spoke of showing respect for the blades of grass because they could have been part of his ancestory or a person of importance to another person. In general, he wanted people to show appreciation for the world because many generations walked this planet before he did. He wanted people to respect those who have since been deceased, no matter their race, because death is inevitable, and they will soon face it. Whitman’s writing style carried over into this canto, his blank verse style of poetry, although it was not flashy, it made him sound educated and well spoken, but hard to follow. He also revealed that he did believe in a god when he spoke of God’s handkerchief was a gift for Earth, through a
Whitman's Poem "Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking," is not, at first glance, an obvious love poem. Most readers would probably consider this a tragic poem about death and love lost. In spite of the fact that the poem is about intrinsically sorrowful events, or perhaps because of it, Whitman is able to capture a very unique and poignant portrayal of love. There are three major perspectives to examine how Whitman develops the theme of love in Out of the Cradle, and by examining each reoccurring theme in the poem separately, we can come to a more complete understanding of how they work together to communicate Whitman's message about love.
Whitman is known for being revolutionary for his use of free form verse in the nineteenth century. This style is evident throughout Song of Myself which aids in his descriptions and devices used to get his meaning across. His grouping of three lines per stanza for this section is common for the entirety of “Song of Myself”, which has variations of three line to occasionally five line stanzas. His freedom in his poem’s style and lack of rhyme scheme allow him to fully showcase his thoughts in a new way for this time period. An overall summary of the poem is Whitman’s pondering of himself and the world in behavior and personality to him being fully confident in himself with no existential crisis. For the first half of section 20, Whitman’s character of himself questions everything beyond the ownership of himself. He questions the integrity of other people’s identities and characters as well as ignoring social norms involving manners and religious behavior. The declaration of a lack of manners and questioning the church would have been scandalous to