1、Walt Whitman 18191892,英本五班 張丹 1003150120,Walt Whitman,Life Contribution Influence Works,Life,Walter Whitman was born in 1819 in Long Island ,the second son of a house-builder. Largely self-taught, he read voraciously, becoming acquainted with the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible.,In

2、 the fall of 1848, he founded a “Free Soil newspaper, the Brooklyn Freeman, and continued to develop the unique style of poetry. In 1855, Whitman took out a copyright on the first edition of Leaves of Grass. During the Civil War ,Whitman worked as a volunteer nurse.,Life,Whitman died in 1892 because

3、 of his bad health ,he was buried in Harleigh(哈利公墓).,Life,Life,Contribution,One of the great innovators in American literature. He gave America its first genuine epic poem: Leaves of Grass. He created the “ Free verse ” : the verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern, the verse without a f

4、ixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.,Through him, American poets finally freed themselves from the old English traditions. His best work has become part of the common property of Western culture. He has been compared to a mountain in American literary history. Contemporary American poetry, whatever sc

5、hool or form, bears witness to his great influence.,Influence,Works,Mainly works Leaves of Grass O Captain! My Captain!,Mainly works,Leaves of Grass Song of Myself I hear America singing Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking Drum Taps O Captain! My Captain!,The title Features Themes,Leaves of Grass,Le

6、aves of Grass,The title : It is significant that Whitman entitled his book Leaves of Grass .He said that where there is earth , where there is water , there is grass . Grass , the most common thing with the greatest vitality , is an image of the poet himself ,a symbol of the then rising American nat

7、ion and an embodiment of his ideals About democracy and freedom .,Free verse : A kind of poetry that does not conform to consistent meter patterns ,rhyme (The line is the rhythmical unit as in the poetry of English bible). Envelop structure : Often in Whitmans poetry , the first line begins with the

8、 subject ,and then more and more lines list modifiers till the verb appears in the last line of the stanza .This is like enclosing a whole list of ideas in an envelop .,Leaves of Grass,Equality Divinity Multiplicity Self-reliant spirit Death ,beauty of death Expansion of America Brotherhood and soci

9、al solidarity Pursuit of love and happiness,The Themes in his poetry,O Captain! My Captain!,1.Background 2.Theme 3.Special Features 4.My Understanding,Analysis of O Captain! My Captain!,1. Background,At the end of the Civil War in 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the symbol of democracy and progress, was assa

10、ssinated by the obstinate slave owners of the south states. Lincolns death shocked the whole country. The democratic poet Walt Whitman wrote the poetry collection Elegy Collect (including O Captain! My Captain! and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomd) to eulogize the beloved president, to confid

11、e his own sorrow at the death of the president. The abolishment of slavery is not only the progress of the American, but of the humankind. Then Lincolns death is not only the sorrow of the American, but of the humankind. Therefore, Whitman revealed the grief of his own, of the American, of all the h

12、umankind. In the poem Walt Whitman uses writing skills of symbol, imagery, and repetition to get a wonderful effect of art. This makes readers enjoy a unique beauty of art from vision，hearing, language and metre.,2. Themes,This poem eulogizes Lincolns monumental contributions and expresses the poets

13、 mourning for Lincolns death with the background of the victory of the Civil War.,3. Special features,. The poem is composed of three octaves, that is, four long lines and four short ones, the latter being used as a refrain. . The meter is iambic and the rhyming scheme is roughly represented as aabb

14、 cded. . Phonetic recurrence is the main feature of the poem, i.e., the systematic repetition of words and phrases at the beginning of the line, in the middle or at the end. . Oral English is also applied in his free verse to make it an effective way to express freely the feelings of common people.,

15、4.My Understanding,O Captain！My Captain！ O Captain！My Captain！Our fearful trip is done. The ship has weathered 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

16、! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the desk my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.,O Captain! my Captain! Rise up and hear the bells, Rise upfor 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 turning; Here Captain! Dear father! This arm beneath your head; It is some dream that on the deck, Youve fallen cold and dead.,My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm , he has no pul