This document provides biographical information about Walt Whitman and discusses his most famous work, Leaves of Grass. It notes that Whitman had little formal education but was well-read, worked as a printer and newspaper writer, and was fired from a job for his anti-slavery views. His book Leaves of Grass featured free verse poems and went through several revisions, capturing the diversity of American people. The document also discusses Whitman's innovations with free verse form and use of catalogs and parallelism in his writing.
2. 1819-1892
No formal
education, but well
read
Trained to be a printer
Also did some
newspaper writing
Became editor, fired
for position against
slavery
3. Wrote about America and the common man
Did not write in the traditional structure
Most famous work: Leaves of Grass
Continually revised and republished 1855-1892
383 poems in final edition
Captures diversity of American people and
describes energy and intensity of all life forms
4. Free verse: irregular meter and line length
Written to sound like natural speech
Whitman = First American poet to use free verse
Diction: word choice and arrangement
Whitman uses catalogs and parallelism
Catalogs: long lists
Parallelism: repetition of sentences with similar
meanings
5. 1. Summarize each stanza.
2. Overall tone?
3. Whitman’s message/belief(s)?
1. Comparing himself to what?
2. How are they alike?
3. What is Whitman’s “barbaric yawp”?
4. Where is Whitman coaxed (called to)?
5. Summarize last 3 stanzas.
