WALT WHITMANAmerican Poet

WALT WHITMAN ( 1819 – 1892) Whitman was born in

New York and lived an interesting life as a printer, a teacher, a journalist, a carpenter and eventually a field nurse in the Civil War.

He was an avid reader, a friend and admirer of Emerson, and he eventually produced some of the most influential and well known American poetry.

WHY WAS WHITMAN IMPORTANT?

He lived, wrote, and thought both before, during, and after the Civil War. SO……

His work serves as an important bridgebetween the Romantic/Transcendental ideals of the early 1800s and the shifted viewpoint on life that predominated after the Civil War.

HOW WAS WHITMAN A BRIDGE? An overall sense

of optimism and enthusiasm for democracy and the American way of life. (Again this is in line with Transcendental and Romantic thought).

BUT WHITMAN ALSO INCLUDES NEW THEMES AND IDEAS…

His experience in the Civil War brings an element of real, sometimes horrible experience that was absent from most work at the time.

His style signified an important departure from previous forms of poetry (which was often very scripted and reliant on certain forms).

VOCABULARY Free Verse - unrhymed poetry that does

not follow any SET rhyme or meter. (It can rhyme at times, but never in any set pattern)

This was new in American poetry, and it is said that free verse mirrors the freedom of Americans to pursue their own happiness.

VOCABULARY Cataloging: long lists in poems. Whitman uses extensive cataloging to build a sense of universality and commonality to his work.

Fear of knowing the danger Fear of falling Fear of the worst case

scenario Fear of what the doctor

says Fear of many months of

healing Fear of the unstable ankle Fear of stepping back on

your board Fear of doing it again Fear of everyone watching Fear of knowing the

possibilities out there Fear of should I hold on or

should I bail Fear of fear.

VOCABULARY Paradox: A

statement that appears to contradict itself, but it actually adds meaning.

Nobody goes to that restaurant, it's too crowded.

You achieve your goal only to find out that it's not what you wanted!

VOCABULARY OLDIES Simile Metaphor Imagery

POEMS “I Hear America

Singing” “When I Heard

the Learn’d Astronomer”

From “Song of Myself”

“A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak, Gray and Dim”

TICKET OUT THE DOORAnswer the following

questions:1. When did Walt

Whitman die?2. Name two ways

in which his poetry was innovative and new to the American Literary scene.