Walt Whitman's 'Song Of The Open Road'

What does it mean to be an American? This question has often been purposed throughout American Literature. This answer depends on one singular important factor, time. Timing is everything, it determines what is happening in the present, what has occurred in the past, and it gives us a glimpse of the possibilities yet to come. Benjamin Franklin and John Winthrop, both knew a very different America, because of this they both have a very different sense American identity and a sense of community that was present in America during those time periods. Winthrop lived in early America when the country was just starting to take shape with the first colonies being

To be an American can mean a lot of things to others, but one thing everyone has in common on what they think it means is to be free. It means you can vote for who and what you want. It means you can say “The Pledge of Allegiance.” It means you can have a good education and the job you want. It means to be proud in living in the United States of America. Being an American is having freedom and being able to do things with that freedom. It’s about having freedom of religion, rights, and justice. It also means having equality. To be an American means you have the right and freedom to do what you want. It means having the freedom of speech. It means you can be yourself. To be an American mainly means having freedom.

The idea of an equal America exists no more. Regardless of the fact that there is a plethora of varying perspectives dividing the country into two, there are words and phrases that are generally accepted in viewing our country from the rest of the world. First, the American Dream is regularly associated with equal opportunity, prosperity, and liberty. Walt Whitman, as well as many others, have written about this desired America for the socially accepted American. He is often referred to as “America’s Poet,” who amplifies the elegant qualities of America that we believe to be true. It is obvious that Whitman portrays America as an alive and colorful place full of chance and flourishment throughout his work. “I Hear America Singing” is a prime example of an America that is only seen from the surface, where Whitman clearly indicates that the United States is a country where all its citizens are able to achieve equality and liberty. Contradictory, Sharon Olds poem, “On the Subway,” proves the lack of individual liberty, which deteriorates the growth of the country, ultimately opposing the America, where personal freedom is the foundation. Olds’ poem pokes holes in the surface that shows the controversial interior that truly makes up America that Whitman painted beforehand. Olds and Whitman also illustrate varying insight regarding personal liberty and its importance in two opposing poems; one who proclaims it as easily attainable and necessary to the country and the other who

What does it mean to be an American? Well think of it like this our generation has changed a lot throughout the years one big thing is technology we've went from just using paper and pencil to making documents and reading online. If you think about it we get new ways to learn and write stuff online and avoid paper and pencil we don't use it as often anymore, most things we use is on technology. We went from writing essays on paper to now doing most of it online we find it easier and faster and new ways to learn that aren't on paper and pencil.

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

Walt Whitman, a great American poet to be compared to Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe, exists at the heart of American culture. Whitman’s work has not lost its appeal because it still applies to America in the new millennia; America is still deeply troubled by issues of division, hypocrisy, and racism—much unlike the America of inclusion and forbearance Whitman envisioned for American in Leaves of Grass. Although Leaves of Grass is often considered Whitman’s most influential work, Whitman spent eighty-five chapters of his autobiography discussing his war experiences, even though his life through 1860 seemed to be the years crucial to the background of Leaves. When considering Whitman’s view that the war

In section fifteen of Walt Whitman’s poem Song of Myself, Whitman makes working Americans the subject of most of his sentences while sparingly using concepts, instead of people, as subjects on other sentences. Most of the non-living subjects are closely tied to the concepts of Life and Death, Time, and Nature. By using nonliving conceptual subjects to contrast concrete images of working Americans, he demonstrates that though working Americans control society, Life and Death, Time, and Nature control working Americans.

His contemporary poem was written about himself for his readers. He depicts all the confusion of the American ideal and emphasizes independence, equality, optimism and love. b. Song of Myself consists of the following main points: i. Whitman is viewing himself as a part

Walt Whitman was a renowned American poet and essayist whose literary works were extremely controversial in his lifetime. One of his most famous literary works is the collection of poetry titled Leaves of Grass. In the preface to the 1855 edition of leaves of grass, Whitman greatly shows his admiration of America. This first becomes apparent with the statement “The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem” (Whitman para. 2). By this Whitman is referring that America is the central poem and the individuals whom inhabit America as the poets. This almost seems to be a metaphor for the fact that each individual living in America,

Of all the questions that have vexed contemplative minds for centuries, one of the most persistent is that of enlightenment. What exactly does it entail? Who has the capacity for it, and how is it accomplished? Answering questions such as these must be a collaborative effort, across generations, geography, class, and all schismatic divisions between humanity. From the Greek philosophers in Plato’s dialogue Republic, to transcendentalist American thought in Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of the Open Road,” to modern Jesuit teaching in “Challenges to Jesuit Higher Education Today,” a keynote address from Superior General Adolfo Nicolás, SJ, the thread of attempted understand regarding enlightenment is incontrovertible. The works of Plato, Whitman,

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

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.

Walt Whitman’s portfolio of poetry was a crucial staple in the American identity. Whitman used his poetry to contribute to the evolution of self-reliance, human freedom and concepts of democracy. These influences can be seen throughout all of his poems, but more relevantly in “Song of Myself”, “For You O Democracy” and in “Live Oak, with Moss”. After analyzing these works thoroughly, Whitman has undeniably aided in the development of American identity and influenced many more American poets and literary authors. Whitman is able to influence his beliefs by creating personal connections in his poems that will resonate with his audience. During the time of Whitman, the Civil War was on the rise

Walt Whitman is an influential national American poet; he creates the image of America for itself and to his readers. As an individual who advocates for diversity in this country, I saw a few elements of Whitman’s beliefs in me. Starting off with that notion, I began flipping through the pages of the corpus to locate common themes that I could relate to myself. Because Whitman believes he speaks for everyone, finding poems that seemed relatable to this country and me were not that difficult. I then contemplated what I could do with the poems—if I should completely re-write them, change a couple of words to make it seem like it fit me as an individual, or to evoke his style.

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.