Images of sexuality in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself

Images of sexuality in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself PDF Author: Dirk Lepping
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638209636
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 17

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 1999 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0 (A), University of Münster (English Seminar), course: English and American Romantic Poetry, language: English, abstract: This research paper is going to deal with the poem “Song of Myself“ by Walt Whitman, which was published in the collection of poetry Leaves of Grass in 1855 and holds a central place in American literature. Whitman himself is said to be one of the most revolutionary poets in America and besides the most radical transcendentalist. He was a fighter for democracy and especially stood up for the rights of oppressed and disadvantaged people. His poems were an outlet of their suppressed feelings and drives. By using free verse he also broke the conventional meter and introduced a new - more natural - verse form. Therefore I feel a personal interest in this fascinating man and his works. A common subject of many of Whitman’s poems is sexuality. You can find a huge variety of several images and symbols of sexuality in numerous poems like e.g. the famous ‘Calamus-poems’ (“When I heard at the Close of the Day“ or “Trickle Drops“) and also in the so-called ‘Enfans d’Adam (Children of Adam)-poems’ (Poem of the Body: “I Sing the Body Electric“ ; Poem of Procreation: “A Woman waits for Me“; or the most bizarre one Bunch Poem: “Spontaneous Me“). I have selected “Song of Myself“ as it is widely considered to be Whitman's single most important and most personal poem. In “Song of Myself“ you can find elements of three kinds of sexuality that often appears in Whitman’s poems: heterosexuality as the ‘normal’ sexuality of this time, homosexuality as Whitman is considered to be homosexual and autosexuality which was strictly considered as something abominable and despicable at this time. Due to the huge variety of sexual elements in “Song of Myself“ and the lenght of the poem it is unavoidable to give only some selected examples acting for the others.

Images of sexuality in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself

Images of sexuality in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself PDF Author: Dirk Lepping
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638209636
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 17

Get Book

Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 1999 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0 (A), University of Münster (English Seminar), course: English and American Romantic Poetry, language: English, abstract: This research paper is going to deal with the poem “Song of Myself“ by Walt Whitman, which was published in the collection of poetry Leaves of Grass in 1855 and holds a central place in American literature. Whitman himself is said to be one of the most revolutionary poets in America and besides the most radical transcendentalist. He was a fighter for democracy and especially stood up for the rights of oppressed and disadvantaged people. His poems were an outlet of their suppressed feelings and drives. By using free verse he also broke the conventional meter and introduced a new - more natural - verse form. Therefore I feel a personal interest in this fascinating man and his works. A common subject of many of Whitman’s poems is sexuality. You can find a huge variety of several images and symbols of sexuality in numerous poems like e.g. the famous ‘Calamus-poems’ (“When I heard at the Close of the Day“ or “Trickle Drops“) and also in the so-called ‘Enfans d’Adam (Children of Adam)-poems’ (Poem of the Body: “I Sing the Body Electric“ ; Poem of Procreation: “A Woman waits for Me“; or the most bizarre one Bunch Poem: “Spontaneous Me“). I have selected “Song of Myself“ as it is widely considered to be Whitman's single most important and most personal poem. In “Song of Myself“ you can find elements of three kinds of sexuality that often appears in Whitman’s poems: heterosexuality as the ‘normal’ sexuality of this time, homosexuality as Whitman is considered to be homosexual and autosexuality which was strictly considered as something abominable and despicable at this time. Due to the huge variety of sexual elements in “Song of Myself“ and the lenght of the poem it is unavoidable to give only some selected examples acting for the others.

Song of Myself ...

Song of Myself ... PDF Author: Walt Whitman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description


Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass PDF Author: Walt Whitman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195183428
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
So begins Leaves of Grass, the first great American poem and indeed, to this day, the greatest and most essentially American poem in all our national literature.

What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life

What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life PDF Author: Mark Doty
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324006056
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
“[An] incisive, personal mediation.” —New York Times Book Review Mark Doty has always felt haunted by Walt Whitman’s perennially new American voice, and by his equally radical claims about body and soul. In What Is the Grass, Doty effortlessly blends biography, criticism, and memoir to keep company with Whitman and his Leaves of Grass, tracing the resonances between his own experience and the legendary poet’s life and work.

Walt Whitman in Context

Walt Whitman in Context PDF Author: Joanna Levin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108311474
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 865

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Book Description
Walt Whitman is a poet of contexts. His poetic practice was one of observing, absorbing, and then reflecting the world around him. Walt Whitman in Context provides brief, provocative explorations of thirty-eight different contexts - geographic, literary, cultural, and political - through which to engage Whitman's life and work. Written by distinguished scholars of Whitman and nineteenth-century American literature and culture, this collection synthesizes scholarly and historical sources and brings together new readings and original research.

Walt Whitman's Song of Myself

Walt Whitman's Song of Myself PDF Author: Walt Whitman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134476809
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Since 1855, Walt Whitman's Song of Myself has been enjoyed, debated, parodied and imitated by readers, critics and artists crossing national and linguistic boundaries. Many argue that it is the most influential poem ever written by an American. This sourcebook and critical edition provides easy access to: * information on the contexts of Whitman's work, including biographical details and a chronology * an overview of the critical reception of the poem and extracts from important criticism, reprinted with clear introductory headnotes * key passages from the original 1855 edition, with commentary and annotation * the full 'final' 1881 edition of the poem. Cross-references link the critical, contextual and textual sections of the volume, encouraging an integrated understanding of this creative and controversial text. Complementing a wealth of material with suggestions for further reading, this volume is ideal for readers with no knowledge of the poem, or for those returning anew to a favourite text.

Bloom's How to Write about Walt Whitman

Bloom's How to Write about Walt Whitman PDF Author: Frank D. Casale
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438127685
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Offers advice on writing essays about the poetry of Walt Whitman and lists sample topics.

Whitman's Poetry of the Body

Whitman's Poetry of the Body PDF Author: M. Jimmie Killingsworth
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 9780807843147
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
This book combines literary and historical analysis in a study of sexuality in Walt Whitman's work. Informed by his "new historicist" understanding of the construction of literary texts, Jimmie Killingsworth examines the progression of Whitman's poetry an

Critical Companion to Walt Whitman

Critical Companion to Walt Whitman PDF Author: Charles M. Oliver
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438108583
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
Presents a complete reference to the life and works of Walt Whitman.

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Walt Whitman

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Walt Whitman PDF Author: J.R. LeMaster
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136700706
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 884

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Book Description
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Walt Whitman presents a comprehensive resource complied by over 200 internationally recognized contributors, including such leading Whitman scholars as James E. Miller, Jr., Roger Asselineau, Betsy Erkkila, and Joel Myerson. Now available for the first time in paperback, this volume comprises more than 750 entries arranged in convenient alphabetical format. Coverage includes: biographical information: all names, dates, places, and events important to understanding Whitman's life and careerWhitman's works: essays on all eight editions of Leaves of Grass, major poems and poem clusters, principal essays and prose works, as well as his more than two dozen short stories and the novel, Franklin Evansprominent themes and concepts: essays on such major topics as democracy, slavery, the Civil War, immortality, sexuality, and the women's rights movement.significant forms and techniques: such as prosody, symbolism, free verse, and humourimportant trends and critical approaches in Whitman studies: including new historicist and cultural criticism, psychological explorations, and controversial issues of sexual identitysurveys of Whitman's international impact as well as an assessment of his literary legacy. Useful for students, researchers, librarians, teachers, and Whitman devotees, this volume features extensive cross-references, numerous photographs of the poet, a chronology, a special appendix section tracking the poet's genealogy, and a thorough index. Each entry includes a bibliography for further study.