1、-Wang Ruixian2014.12.13Walt Whitman-01Position02Life 03 Major WorksCONTENTCONTENT04 Writing Features-01Position-Whitman PositionA poet,an essayist,A journalist,a humanistA giant of American lettersThe father of One of the great innovators in American literature-Whitman PositionA part of the transiti
2、on between transcendentalism and realismHe believed the American poets would create both new forms and new subject matter for poetry.He announced and instructed a complete new age.-02Life-Whitman Life ExperienceBorn on May 31,1819,the second son of a house-builder.Brought up in a working-class backg
3、round on Long Island,New York.Had five years of schooling and a good deal of loafing and reading.Tried at a various of jobs and picked up a first-hand knowledge of life and people in the new world.Worked as an office boy,a printers apprentice,schoolmaster,printer,editor(of eight successive newspaper
4、s),and journalist.-Whitman Life Experience1848,traveled to New Orleans and saw much of the Mississippi heartlands.1855,the first edition of came out(contained 12 poems).During the Civil War,worked as a volunteer nurse,a wound-dresser in military hospitals.-Whitman Life ExperienceReleased a second ed
5、ition of the book in 1856,containing thirty-three poems,a letter from Emerson praising the first edition,and a long open letter by Whitman in response.Continued to revise and expand his and it went through 9 editions altogether.1873,suffered a paralytic stroke.died on March 26,1892.-Whitman Life Exp
6、erienceAfter his death on March 26,1892,Whitman was buried in a tomb he designed and had built on a lot in Harleigh Cemetery.-03 Major Works-Whitman Worksnine editions，from 95 pages,12 poems to 400 pages,401 poemsthe first American genuine epic poemsa collection of poems written mainly in free verse
7、is noble for its frank delight in and praise of the sensesmost of the poems are about man and nature,praise the nature and the individaul humans role therein草叶集草叶集-Whitman WorksGrass means the image of the common people a symbol of rising America an enbodiment of his ideals about democracy and freed
8、om草叶集草叶集-Whitman Leaves of Grass1855,the first edition,12 poems did not sell well but made a stir on the America literary scene1856,the secnd edition,33 poems1860,the third edition,122 poems1867,the fourth edition1871,the fifth edition began to receive recognition in England and America1876,two volu
9、mes,Leaves of Grass and Two Rivulets 1881,the seventh edition first published by a reputation publisher,but was banned1889,the eighth edition1891-1892,the Deathbed Edition,400 poems his lifetime endeavor-Whitman Works“Song of Myself”自我之歌自我之歌a good example of his thought“I Sing the Body Electric”我歌唱带
10、电的肉体我歌唱带电的肉体“There Was a Child Went Forth”有个小孩走过来“O Captain,My Captain!”船长！我的船长！船长！我的船长！homage to the assassinated US President Abraham LincolnCrossing Brooklyn Ferry过布鲁克林渡口“Passage to India”向印度行进extol the marriage of continents and different races“Pound Music of the Storm”骄傲的风暴之音乐“Out of the Cradle
11、 Endlessly Rocking”走出永不休止地摇动着的摇走出永不休止地摇动着的摇篮篮a reminiscence of a childhood experience“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomd”当紫丁香上次在庭院中开放的时候-I celebrate myself,and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.I loafe and invite my soul,I lean
12、and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.我赞美我自己，歌唱我自己，我所讲的一切，将对你们也一样适合，因为属于我的每一个原子，也同样属于你。我闲游，邀请我的灵魂一起，我俯首下视，悠闲地观察一片夏天的草叶。Song of myselfSong of myself-Song of myselfSong of myselfMy tongue,every atom of my blood,Formd from this soil,this air,Born here of parents born here from parents
13、the same,and their parents the same,I,now thirty seven years old in perfect health begin,Hoping to cease not till death.我的舌，我的血液中的每个原子，都是由这泥土这空气构成，我生在这里，我的父母生在这里，他们的父母也生在这里，我如今三十七岁，身体完全健康，开始歌唱，希望不停地唱下去，直到死亡。-Song of myselfSong of myselfCreeds and schools in abeyance,Retiring back a while sufficed at
14、 what they are,but never forgotten.I harbor for good or bad,I permit to speak at every hazard.Nature without check with original energy.教条和学派先不去管，暂且退回来，满足于它们的现状，可是决不能忘了，我一味怀抱自然，我允许无所顾忌的诉说自然，以原始的活力，谁也不能阻挡。-Song of Myself Analysisrepresenting the core of Whitmans poetic visionIn this poem Whitman sets
15、 forth two principal beliefs:the theory of universality,which is illustrated by lengthy catalogues of people and thingsthe belief in the singularity and equality of all beings in value.He extols whole universe and the world.He is thinking of self as a powerful and sensitive instrument for receiving
16、and expressing.He moves from himself to you to others,to all humanity all together about him.-O Captain!My Captain!BackgroundAt the end of the Civil War in 1865,Abraham Lincoln,the symbol of democracy and progress,was assassinated by the obstinate slave owners of the south.Lincolns death shocked the
17、 whole country.The democratic poet Whitman wrote the poetry collection Elegy Collect(including O Captain!My Captain!)to eulogize the beloved president,to confide his own sorrow at the death of the president.In the poem Walt Whitman uses writing skills of symbol,imagery,and repetition to get a wonder
18、ful effect of art.This makes readers enjoy a unique beauty of art from vision,hearing,language and meter.The poem is highly popular among American people.It portrays Lincoln as the captain of a sea-worn ship which represents or symbolizes the Union that had experienced the American Civil War and tri
19、umphant at last.-O Captain!My Captain!Our fearful trip is done,The ship has weatherd every rack,the prize we sought is won,The port is near,the bells I hear,the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel,the vessel grim and daring;But O heart!heart!heart!O the bleeding drops of red!Where
20、on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.O Captain！My Captain！-O Captain!my Captain!Rise up and hear the bells;Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills,For you bouquets and ribbond wreaths-for you the shores a crowding,For you they call,the swaying mass,their eager faces tu
21、rning;Here,Captain!Dear father!This arm beneath your head;It is some dream that on the deckYou ve fallen cold and dead.O Captain！My Captain！-My Captain does not answer,his lips are pale and still,My father does not feel my arm,he has no pulse nor will;The ship is anchord safe and sound,its voyage cl
22、osed and done;From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;Exult,O shores!and ring,O bells!But I,with mournful tread,Walk the deck my captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.O Captain！My Captain！-Whitman WorksThe main themes are the ideals of democracy and individualism,which the author cons
23、iders to be compatible.Whitman outlines a new culture order for the U.S.He condemns the degradation of democracy and the growth of material wealth during the post-Civil War period,prophesies a future greatness and announces that there must be a declaration of cultural independence to achieve a truly
24、 national indigenous literature.民主的前景-04 Writing Features-Whitman Writing Featurethe usage of free verse.thr range of subjects is remarkable and international.he broke with traditional English verses and make his poetry original,revoluntionary and American.the usage of simple and humble speech-Whitm
25、an ThemeCelebrate democracy and freedomCelebrate human indixidual power and greatness of common peoplePraise the great natureBe full of patrotic feeling-Whitman Style and Language the verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern,the verse without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.Paralleli
26、sm,a rhythm of thoughtPhonetic recurrenceThe use of a certain pronoun“I”A looser and more open-ended syntactic structureStrong tendency to use oral EnglishVocabulary-powerful,colorful,rarely-used words of foreign origins,some even wrongSentences-catalogue techniques:long list of names,long poem lines-Whitman Democratic Ideals Openness,freedom and individualism concerned himBring hard-working farmers and laborers into American literatureAttack the slavery system and racial discriminationSings of mans dignity and equality-2014.12.13
