jan 1, 1819 - Walt Whitman is born

Description:

Revolutionised American poetry by inventing a NEW POETIC FORM.

BIO:
- New York.
- Parents of modest means, 7 siblings.
- Started working from a young age.
- Self-taught and voracious reader.
Throughout his life worked as many jobs: journalist, teacher, editor,...
- Influenced by transcendentalists but also by America and American folk.
- Strong ideas concerned with women's land rights, immigration, slavery.
- Had a stroke, paralysed.
-Greately Admired President Lincoln- saw him as a symbol of goodness.

LEAVES OF GRASS: Over his lifetime he continued editing the book. He wrote 7 editions of it. His poetry style broke with literary conventions and was considered a landmark in the history of American literature. Yet, it wasn't until his later years that his poetry was acknowledged as such.

- POETRY STYLE:
1. Free verse (the message is more important than form)
2. Encyclopedic lists of names and nouns.
3. Plain language (so that ordinary people could read him. Not organized in stanzas but in ordinari sentences)
4. Notion of universal brotherhood: optimistic approach.


- SUBJECT MATTER of Leaves of Grass:

1. AMERICA & AMERICANS - celebrating the ordinary man, from farmers tu builders.

2. DETAILS OF EVERYDAY LIFE: all senses are described(smell, taste, life itself)

3. REALITY AS A CONTINUOUS FLOW: there's no beginning and no end.

4. TRANSCENDENTAL IDEA OF SELF: The divine notion of self (Song to Myself- starts celebrating oneself building it up to a celebration of life, nature, humanity and community)

5. SEX: detailed and erotic imagery, exploration of sexuality and sexual attraction, celebration of love - Shoked the audience (taboo at that time)

6. NATURE: The power of nature to regenerate the soul "saw into the heart of things". Influenced by the Romantic Movement.

7. CIVIL WAR:Strong supporter of the Union. Helped wounded soldiers in different camps. Influenced his poems and writings: "The wounded" , "Hymn of Death Soldiers" - pity, disturbing realisation of the meaning of war.

8. DEMOCRATIC VALUES: great admirer of Lincoln- symbol of goodness of mankind. After Lincoln's assassination he wrote: "oh capitan! My Capitan!" "Whan Lilacs Last in the Dooryard bloomed"

He gained popularity for his enthusiasm for democracy, and even today appeals with his way of expressing the relations of man with: NATURE & LIBERATING POETRY to express ideas in new ways.

Added to timeline:

Date:

Images: