LITR 5535: American Romanticism

Student Presentation on Reading Selections 2006

Monday 6 November: Walt Whitman, N 985-989, 1061-1066 (“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”), 1074-1080 (“When Lilacs . . . “); “There Was a Child Went Forth“ (handout). Carl Sandburg, N 1916-1919. Allen Ginsberg, N 2730-2740. Thomas Wolfe, “The Lost Boy” (handout).

selection reader / discussion leader: Kristen Bird

 

     Walt Whitman 1819-1892

 

Walt Whitman holding a butterfly on his finger.

 

VERY Brief Bio

  • Born the second child and grew up in a family of seven other surviving children
  • Lived in the northeast throughout his life - much of his writing is located in this part of America
  • Worked in various professions including teaching, journalism, politics and even carpentry
  • His most well-known contribution to literature is his book of poetry Leaves of Grass.  He employed elements such as free verse and was a primary forerunner of American contemporary poetry, but he also had aspects of American Romanticism embedded in his poetry.

 

Whitman's Poetry

QUESTION 1

"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" each offer numerous depictions of nature. 

 

  • How are these references to nature similar to or different from descriptions of nature from authors such as Cooper and Edwards?

 

Examples

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

(3)

"I too many and many a time cross'd the river of old,

Watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls, saw them high in the air floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies,

Saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies and left the rest in strong shadow,

Saw the slow-wheeling circles and the gradual edging toward the south,

Saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water,

Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams,

Look'd at the fine centrifugal spokes of light round the shape of my head in the sunlit water,

Look'd on the haze on the hills southward and south-westward,

Look'd on the vapor as it flew in fleeces tinged with violet,

Look'd toward the lower bay to notice the vessels arriving..."

Page 1062

 

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd

(3)

"In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash'd palings,

Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,

With many a pointed blossom rising delivate, with the perfume strong I love,

With every leaf a miracle - and from this bush in the dooryard,

With delivate-color'd blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,

A sprig with its flower I break."

Page 1075

QUESTION 2

"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard  Bloomed" is from "Memories of President Lincoln" and details a type of journey through grief.  The author moves from remembering his love for the assassinated president in stanza one to anger in the middle stanzas to acceptance in the final two stanzas. 

 

  • How does the portrayal of death develop and change throughout the poem?
  • There are obvious elements of the gothic in these phrases, but are there also perhaps elements of the sublime within the images?

 

A few examples:

(1)

"When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd,

And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night,

I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring."

Page 1074

 

(7)

"All over bouquets of roses,

O death, I cover you over with roses and early lilies,

But mostly and now the lilac that blooms the first..."

Page 1076

 

(11)

"O what shall I hang on the chamber walls?

And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls,

To adorn the burial-house of him I love?"

Page 1077

 

(14) (The song of the bird, speaking as if to death)

"Dark mother always gliding near with soft feet,

Have none chanted for thee a chant of fullest welcome?

Then I chant it for thee, I glorify thee above all,

I bring thee a song that when thou must indeed come, come unfalteringly."

Page 1079

 

QUESTION 3

Carl Sandburg cites Whitman as one of his mentor-type figures.  His poem "Grass" is similar to Whitman's writing, in that it overlaps nature and the gothic.  Sandburg's poetry also conveys a simple, distinct idea.  His poem "Grass" on page 1918 is an example of this. 

 

  • Why do you think Whitman and Sandburg deliberately overlapped the nature and the gothic?

 

 

A FINAL QUESTION

  • How or why is Whitman recognized as one of the founders of contemporary American poetry while still remaining classified under American Romanticism?

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman

http://www.whitmanarchive.org/

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/whitman/index.html

http://www.cancersurvivors.org/Coping/end%20term/stages.htm