Research Paper On Walt Whitman

Whitman wrote broad stanzas and focused on the whole of America as his inspiration. His lines covered a wide range of topics and generated multiple points of view for the reader. He called his life’s work “Leaves of Grass”; stressing the

During the 19th century, Walt Whitman revealed America as precariously perched between becoming a successful “teeming nation of nations” and increasing into divisibility, fractured by resistance to the very diversity that could have been a source of power (Mancinelli, 3). Throughout Whitman’s writing, he has celebrated and elaborated upon the human spirit, soul, and body. He has sung the attributes of a democracy throughout his literature. As America was growing around him, his poetic structures imply his democratic ideals. In Walt Whitman’s famous “Song of Myself” he touches on three important themes

Walt Whitman was one of the best literary figures of that time and through history because people still love his books. After Whitman stopped writing he decided to become a nurse during the Civil War. His most famous book was Leaves of Grass; it is now a trademark book through history. He also wrote about the potential freedom in America.

Whitman identifies himself for the first time in section 24 and even then into a balance of scriptural, half-comical outline as “Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son” he strikes readers in a distinctly proud and individual posture and addresses the audience in a doubly straightforward demeanor. He talks about how his body does indeed “spread,”not only from head to toe, but also from from earth to heaven, and from self to others. So now his voice can now represent the nearby and the inaccessible, the life around him and the life a long way from him. The pace begins to diminish as he distinguishes nearly and carefully with one section of society as it were: the injured, the imprisoned, the

Walt Whitman, one of the world's greatest journalist and poets, touched the lives of many different and diverse cultures through his many works in which he placed his feet in the shoes of everyday people and the experiences they faced. However, his attitude towards slavery and abolitionism were never permanent as if he was constantly torn between how he really felt or how others who did not agree with him would judge his views. As the saying goes, "your first teachers are your parents." Whitman grew up in a racist environment, in which he was a descendent of slave owners. Therefore, he grew up embodying white prejudice and coming to a conclusion that blacks were shiftless and ignorant. However, as he grew older and became more educated on the

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.

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.”( Bio. A&E Television Networks 1) Walt Whitman's life was a representation of his famous quote. Whitman lived his life looking toward the future waiting for his radical ideas to become reality. Walt Whitman was arguably the best writer in United States history, and has written many famous pieces in the American Realism era. Whitman suffered through the Civil War, where brothers would often turn against brothers to fight for opposing sides. Walt Whitman rose up through turbulence of the Civil War during the American Realism era to write, “O CAPTAIN! My Captain!”(Whitman 1), a poem that illustrates a nation morning for their fallen leader.

Walter “Walt” Whitman, also known as “the father of free verse,” is one of the most influential writers in American history. Whitman was born, on May 31, 1819, in Long Island, New York. His family settled in North America in the first half of the 17th century. His father and mother, Walter Whitman Sr. and Louisa Van Velsor, got married on June 9, 1816. Together, they had nine children. Whitman's father was of English descent and his mother was Dutch; this ancestry was typical of the region. They were poor farmers with meager amounts of formal education.

The Good Gray Poet, Walt Whitman, is one of the giants of American literature. He wrote with passion and used his own life experiences to start the spark of his greatest works in literature. Whitman was strongly influenced by the United States and during his life he witnessed and wrote about many of defining moments of American history.

After studying American author, Walt Whitman, it is clear that he has had a long lasting impact on society and the lives of authors and artists who came after him. Through works like Democratic Vistas and Song of Myself, Whitman gave American society tools to promote creative expression and the essence of democracy. However, Whitman’s methods had to be adopted over time to touch/bring attention to different social issues. Two authors who were able to branch off of Whitman’s works and ideas were Isadora Duncan and James Baldwin. By analyzing these two important characters of history, we will be able explore two different social issues in two different eras and how Duncan and Baldwin refined Whitman’s approach in order to make a statement in society. It’s significant to identify the importance of these artists because this process is still relevant in today’s society, adapting from Whitman in order to get points across and make a difference.

Walt Whitman is considered one of the most important writers in the history of American Literature. The people of his own time called him a radical, a madman, and a pornographer. These days he is greatly appreciated and entitled as a fearless prophet of a new stage of human development. Sometimes Whitman would be in a slump and he felt that he needed to deflect the people who inquired too directly. This even meant using examples of homosexual elements in his work, as well as unbelievable stories of him having affairs with numerous women and fathering many children, unknown to him. Throughout these sorts of times W. Whitman has gone through both resentment and flattery, nevertheless showing us

After the Civil War, Walt Whitman realized that the American people were in need of their own identity. Therefore, he wrote the book “Leaves of Grass” with the goal of creating a literature piece that was authentic and organic to the United States in every sense. Whitman introduced to literature the idea of the “American Dream” and highlighted how important it was for the American people to develop their own identity. Consequently, he rejected the European writing styles and adapted the use of free-verses to his writing, making it a popular writing style in American poetry. Whitman valued of humanity, nature and spirituality. Therefore, he joined the Transcendental literary movement and

In his first anthology of poems entitled “Song of Myself”, Walt Whitman reveals some of his views on democracy through the use of symbolism and free verse poetry. His use of symbolism and free verse poetry creates indeterminacy, giving the reader hints rather than answers about the nature of the poem. In the sixth part of “Song of Myself”, a child asks the narrator of the poem, “What is the grass?” (Whitman). Instead of simply giving an answer, the narrator cannot make up his mind, and stumbles on how to explain the grass to the child. Through the use of specific symbolisms, Whitman, as the narrator, explicates his views while remaining under the façade of explaining grass to the child. The views Whitman conveys remain indeterminate and

In his poems and life, Walt Whitman celebrated the human spirit and the human body. He sang the praises of democracy and marveled at the technological advances of his era. His direct poetic style shocked many of his contemporaries. This style, for which Whitman is famous, is in direct relation to several major American cultural developments. The development of American dictionaries, the growth of baseball, the evolution of Native American policy, and the development of photography all played a part and became essential components of Whitman’s poetry.

President Abraham Lincoln, admired by Walt Whitman, blossomed in “Whitman's writing and in American mythology”(Eiselein) for his leadership and nobility. Whitman hoped for a rugged, healthy, who knew what real, physical work was, to be the “[r]edeemer [p]resident of [t]hese [s]tates”(Whitman). His hopes came true “as in a dream”(Whitman) when “four years later, just such a beard-faced boatman”(Goodheart) entered the White House. Walt Whitman discovered the “comprehensive, all-directing soul he had long been seeking”(Reynolds) in Abraham Lincoln’s life. Therefore Whitman, a patriotic American, would see Lincoln’s death as not only a grave tragedy but also a “promise [of] ultimate purgation and unification for America.”(Reynolds).