Walt Whitman Research Paper

People of all kinds are influenced by their everyday life and it shows in their work. Walt Whitman is no exception to this rule. Whitman was born in 1819

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

Whitman. Whitman’s body was examined afterward and it was found that he had a small tumor in his brain that impacted a part of the brain called the amygdala, which is involved in the regulation of emotions such as aggression and fear. In writings he left behind, Whitman indicated that he suspected he had something wrong with his brain, that he begun to feel “overwhelming violent impulses” and left the note hoping that his body might be studied. In his letter Whitman writes “I do not understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts.” This story brings back up an important issue of the book, free will and how to a certain extent none of us are really free to do anything. We are held captive by our neural chemistry and neural connections and we do what they make us do. This book had a very enlightening impact on my life. I will most likely never think the same way about driving, making choices, or anything I do at all ever again. Everything I do, I will probably stop and

In 1865, he came out with a book called "Drum-Taps". It was about the soldiers fighting the war and how hard it is during the war for the family of those soldiers that are afraid they might never come home. He wrote many books that year about the war and how he felt. After the war, he met Peter Doyle who helps take care of Whitman after his health started slipping. In 1873, he had a stroke and became paralyzed, which did not stop him from

“Re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul” (Whitman). The brilliant mind behind this quote is Walt Whitman, one of the greatest and most influential poets America has ever produced. Walt was inspired by transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Although, Walt Whitman is considered the most radical out of the three. He had many radical views, but primarily on his views of the individual, religion, and education. Walt Whitman believed in a certain pedagogy, otherwise known as the method and practice of teaching, and he also had certain views of what it means to be a teacher and about learning past the years of school.

Michael Conlin, professor at the University of Wisconsin, stated, "But Whitman was, in the 1850s, consumed by the coming of the Civil War. It was in the midst of the crisis that Whitman wrote some of the most egalitarian and profound verse relating to African Americans." Being born into a lifestyle where he was taught to take full advantage of white privilege and to show nothing more but hatred towards blacks can explain why he was often between mind and matter when expressing himself. The Civil War caused dismay for many whites because they believed that blacks would make life in the North chaotic. Post Civil War drew in even more worry and tension between black and white men. As humans we all want feel accepted by our peers and sometimes worrying about validation from them drifts us away from our own self beliefs. That may have happened to Walt Whitman as well. Deep down he knew that even a scientific theory could not come to the conclusion that integrity, wisdom, and lack of humane quality was based on race. With that thinking, his works provided and showed how e really felt about African Americans. This dismay could have caused him to be called a "nigger lover" by his peers. His thoughts being diminished based on how his peers felt about him may have been what caused him to take advantage of his white privilege and turn the blind eye towards blacks, the ones he once adored and stuck up for. Later on he discovered that that did not solve any problems because he was also confused on how he actually felt himself. That caused his later works to be bright line in which he was helping both races see the sides of their own madness, he too was expressing how he had connected both with the white and the black man. However, some people

Loneliness was an important characteristic of both poet's lives during the writing years. Whitman, whose sexuality has been questioned, was never one for social interaction. Much of his time was spent

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

Walt Whitman was a compassionate man who also advocated for the illegalization of slavery. Whitman’s romantic partner Peter George Doyle was also a huge influence for some of his poems. In order to somewhat grasp the full scope of the man, some of the earlier biography of Walt Whitman would have to be explained. Considered one of the most unique poets of his time, his poetry was not always appreciated.

There have been many influential writers that left their own unique mark on American history; one in particular that has made a significant impact is Walt Whitman. His writing styles evoke different nontraditional methods that did not coincide with the traditions of more “mainstream” American writers. He did this by establishing a pattern that utilized a lot of free verse compared to the more natural rhyme of poems, and also by describing his subject with emphasis to make the story as real as possible. He tried to subject his characters to a variety of situations, and seemed to establish a connection between body and pen. It could be said that Walt Whitman was the most influential writer during the 1900’s and contributed the most to the

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

Walt Whitman, a civil war nurse was a self-taught poet in the 1800s. Whitman is known for using lists, anaphora, free verse, and other literary devices in his poems. In his works, he focuses on American workers, diversity, transcendent approaches to nature, and individualism. “Song of Myself,” a poem written by Whitman, explores themes of nature, sex, democracy, and spirituality. Whitman uses nature to fuel his creativity in using grass as a symbol of comparison to life by using imagery, metaphors, and analogies.

Many critics states Walt Whitman as the best American poet. The publication of Leaves of grass in 1855 marked the beginning of a new poetry. The most innovative thing about Whitman’s poetry was the fact that he completely abandoned all the traditional form of writing poetry and their rules about rhyme meter and length. Instead of using traditional farm of poetry writing he uses free verse to write poetry. This is the style that most modern and contemporary poetry is written in. Whitman abandoned traditional meter patterns in favor of free verse. Free verse is the poetic verse written completely free, without rigid rules or predictable patterns. The tone and content of his poems were also very original. To most of his readers, he sounded alive,

In Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”, the poet showcases his feelings of people and himself by using literary descriptors to convey his thoughts on these and various other subjects. In section 20, Whitman’s purpose is to showcase self-assuredness regardless of what the world tries to state otherwise by maintaining his resolute happiness in being himself. This is what sets him apart from being like the other people in the world.