A True Poet By Walt Whitman - 2023 Words

A true poet takes his imagination and molds it into a flowing story for others to read and enjoy. They put their whole selves into their work, leaving no emotion or feeling unsaid. Today, poems are written for fun or to entertain an audience, but in the nineteenth century, poets made their literature their sole focus and syntax and diction were as natural as breathing and eating. Poets stood by their work and praised it as if it was all they lived for. Throughout the years, these poets have become harder and harder to find, but their legacies will linger with us for many years to come. Walt Whitman can be seen as a perfect example of a poet who was determined, passionate, and stood by his work, regardless of the criticism. Walt Whitman is†¦show more content†¦In 1835, when Whitman turned sixteen, he was a compositor, a person who arranges type for printing or keys texts into a composing machine. He then moved to Washington, but despite all his hard work and dedication, the P anic of 1837 struck and Whitman was forced to live off the salary of a store clerk. In addition, Whitman’s brother, George, enlisted in the army and became First Lieutenant. After a short time in service, George was reported as wounded near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Frightened by the report, Whitman rushed to Virginia to find that his brother’s wound to be superficial. Walt Whitman returned home in June 1848, but his political beliefs against the extension of slavery made him turn to carpentry. Sadly, Whitman’s father died in 1855, and at the time Whitman was forty-one years old. In the year 1861, the Civil War was approaching and Walt Whitman began a new career with poetry and new themes. With a newfound passion and love for literature, Whitman had finally found a job that suited his personality. Walt Whitman’s poems are far from ordinary in the sense that they do not include a metrical pattern or rhyme and his language went along with his themes of demo cracy and self-hood. â€Å"The lines are broken, like verse, but are not really verse. No metre, no rhyme, no stanzas. Nothing but rhythmic prose, long rhythmic lines. At first glance rough, clumsy, without form; but still, for the Fenton 3 sensitive ear, theyShow MoreRelatedEssay on Religion in Walt Whitmans Literature976 Words   |  4 PagesReligion in Walt Whitmans Literature Why should I pray? Why should I venerate and be ceremonious?#8230;#8230;I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones. (pg 40)Nature and all of her wondrous facets, especially the human body, was Whitmans religion. Walt Whitman was indeed an intensely spiritual man in his own unconventional way. His epic classic Song of Myself demonstrates these attitudes of his, and in his view how the proverbial poet of his America should believe. HumanityRead MoreWalt Whitman Proves that Greatness Comes in Many Ways, Shapes, and Forms513 Words   |  3 Pages A Literary Hero What makes a poet spectacular? Some people say that a poet needs a good educational background. Well in this poets case it’s almost the exact opposite. Walt Whitman was a poet with a light educational background, he was enrolled in school until he was 11, and from then on he was self-taught. It is said that, â€Å"At a young age he fell in love with the written word and his fans fell in love with his work† (Mark Heftier). Whitman is an inspiration to many; he proved thatRead MoreEssay about Emily Dickinson and Walt Witman Clash803 Words   |  4 Pagespoetry has become a way to blend the psychological side of human intellect, with the emotional side of human intuition and curiosity. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were two early poets from the late 19th century. 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He was the secondRead MoreAmerican Romanticism : An Important Time For Poetry And Its Development974 Words   |  4 Pagesromanticism that most poets touched on in their work. There was nature, breaking free, individualism, democracy, radicalism and the figure of the outcast. Ralph Waldo Emerson touched on a few of the themes in many of his poems, but touched on individualism especially in â€Å"Hamatreya†. Another poet that touched on themes of the American romanticism was Walt Whitman, in his poem â€Å"Song of Myself†. He also promotes individualism, but also touches on unity unlike Emerson. Both poets were very well knownRead MoreSummary Of The Dooryard Bloom 1349 Words   |  6 Pages2015 When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Mourn When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, one of Walt Whitman’s most popular poems was written to show his private mourning over President Lincoln’s death, in a public way. Whitman realizes his mourning is not his alone, it is a national grief, and so he tries to vocalize his in a way that can be shared by everyone; he did so by writing this poem (Rollyson). Whitman, â€Å"drawn to the idea of a president that would emerge from the frontier west,† admired LincolnRead MoreAnalysis Of Song Of Myself By Walt Whitman1451 Words   |  6 Pagesself-wisdom, discovery and betterment – is the ground-breaking poet, Walt Whitman. In his poetry, Whitman explores the surreal and cosmic, relating the supernatural to the mundane .With an emphasis on oneness with nature, Whitman’s celebratory attitude of the human soul in all of its complexity, beauty, and contradictions is most noted in his extensive poem titled â€Å"Song of Myself†, and is deve loped further in his poem â€Å"Kosmos†. Moreover, Whitman pioneers the future of modern poetry while incorporatingRead More walt whitman Essay1383 Words   |  6 Pages nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Walt Whitman nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Walt Whitman was a follower of the two Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. He believed in Emerson and Thoreau’s Trascendentalist beliefs. Whitman believed that individualism stems from listening to one’s inner voice and that one’s life is guided by one’s intuition. The Transcendentalist centered on the divinity of each individual; but this divinity could be self-discoveredRead MoreIndividuality And Free Verse in Walt Whitmans Song of Myself1524 Words   |  7 Pagesperspective of poetry, Walt Whitman embodies these values in his life and work. First published in 1855 in Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself is a vision of a symbolic I enraptured by the senses, vicariously embracing all people and places from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. Sections 1 and 2, like the entirety of the piece, seek to reconcile the individual and the natural world in an attempt to uncover the individuals humanity. Born near Huntington, New York, Whitman was the second of a familyRead MoreThe Lincoln Assasinations Impact on Walt Whitman Essay1149 Words   |  5 PagesThe Lincoln Assasinations Impact on Walt Whitman On the night of the awful tragedy an unreal action occurred in the box at the theater. Watching was the greatest man of his time in the glory of the most stupendous success story in our history. He was the idolized chief of a nation already mighty, and a symbol to all of the grandeur of a great nation. Quick death was to come on the central figure of that company -- the central figure of the great and good men of the century. The shot