Who impacted E.E. Cummings the most?

by

Who impacted E.E. Cummings the most?

               American writers such as Gertrude Stein, E.E. Cummings, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner aptly portray the disagreements literarily, socially, and morally between the reality and the ideal of life for American citizens of the modernist era. It is perhaps from these authors that citizens of this period received inspiration to shatter the typical American image placed before them by previous generations.

               Many people had an impact on E.E. Cummings and his passion for writing. One of the earliest influences in his life was his father. His father pushed him to be the best he could be and encouraged him to always work toward improving his gift of creativity. After one of his father’s commencement addresses, which pushed modernistic viewpoints, E.E. Cummings decided this would entail which direction his own work would take. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cummings/cummings_life.htm Another influential person in E.E. Cummings life was Gertrude Stein and Amy Lowell. Cummings used their idea of imagistic experiments. His early poems discovered an individualistic way of describing the chaos and immediacy of intense experiences. http://www.daltonstate.edu/faculty-staff/bmurray/EXEMPLAR/exemplar%202004/exemplar2004/exemplar04modernism.html The informal language and lyric form combined with their deliberate simplistic view of the world gave Stein and Lowell the glee and intelligent tone which became a hallmark of Cummings’s work. Love poems, ironic squibs, and descriptive nature poems will always be his favored forms. This video tells more about his type of work. http://video.about.com/poetry/Poet–E–E–Cummings.htm

In my opinion, Cummings had a lot of influence and his dad probably had the biggest influence. Nothing compares to a parent’s motivation and encouragement. Even in my life, there was nothing more rewarding than having my parent or parents supporting and motivating me to be everything that I could be or simply wanted to be.

               E.E. Cummings audaciously and deliberately attacks American capitalism in his work, “Poem, or Beauty Hurts Mr. Vinal.” Just by looking at the picture below and the way he carries himself, you can tell he was very out right and did not care to voice his opinion. 

He mixes patriotic songs with advertisement jingles, and by virtue of the title, asks Americans which evil the sarcasm of his poem or the beauty promised by manufactures will hurt them more. His creative grammar, like that of Gertrude Stein, is also an obvious rebellion at the norm. Cummings begins his work by addressing his readers in a very informal term “kiddo” (Cummings 1). There are no capitalizations in the address, on the beginning word of the poem, or in usual places customary to modern English sentence structure. In one instance, he reserves five stanzas for the word “America” to be spelled. The most rebellious elements of his work, however, are his allusions to an otherwise constipated American society that finds relief in a quick fix.

Who impacted E.E. Cummings the most?

by

Who impacted E.E. Cummings the most?

               American writers such as Gertrude Stein, E.E. Cummings, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner aptly portray the disagreements literarily, socially, and morally between the reality and the ideal of life for American citizens of the modernist era. It is perhaps from these authors that citizens of this period received inspiration to shatter the typical American image placed before them by previous generations.

               Many people had an impact on E.E. Cummings and his passion for writing. One of the earliest influences in his life was his father. His father pushed him to be the best he could be and encouraged him to always work toward improving his gift of creativity. After one of his father’s commencement addresses, which pushed modernistic viewpoints, E.E. Cummings decided this would entail which direction his own work would take. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cummings/cummings_life.htm Another influential person in E.E. Cummings life was Gertrude Stein and Amy Lowell. Cummings used their idea of imagistic experiments. His early poems discovered an individualistic way of describing the chaos and immediacy of intense experiences. http://www.daltonstate.edu/faculty-staff/bmurray/EXEMPLAR/exemplar%202004/exemplar2004/exemplar04modernism.html The informal language and lyric form combined with their deliberate simplistic view of the world gave Stein and Lowell the glee and intelligent tone which became a hallmark of Cummings’s work. Love poems, ironic squibs, and descriptive nature poems will always be his favored forms.

In my opinion, Cummings had a lot of influence and his dad probably had the biggest influence. Nothing compares to a parent’s motivation and encouragement. Even in my life, there was nothing more rewarding than having my parent or parents supporting and motivating me to be everything that I could be or simply wanted to be.

               E.E. Cummings audaciously and deliberately attacks American capitalism in his work, “Poem, or Beauty Hurts Mr. Vinal.” Just by looking at the way he carries himself, you can tell he was very out right and did not care to voice his opinion. 

Who impacted E.E. Cummings the most?

               American writers such as Gertrude Stein, E.E. Cummings, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner aptly portray the disagreements literarily, socially, and morally between the reality and the ideal of life for American citizens of the modernist era. It is perhaps from these authors that citizens of this period received inspiration to shatter the typical American image placed before them by previous generations.

               Many people had an impact on E.E. Cummings and his passion for writing. One of the earliest influences in his life was his father. His father pushed him to be the best he could be and encouraged him to always work toward improving his gift of creativity. After one of his father’s commencement addresses, which pushed modernistic viewpoints, E.E. Cummings decided this would entail which direction his own work would take. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cummings/cummings_life.htm Another influential person in E.E. Cummings life was Gertrude Stein and Amy Lowell. Cummings used their idea of imagistic experiments. His early poems discovered an individualistic way of describing the chaos and immediacy of intense experiences. http://www.daltonstate.edu/faculty-staff/bmurray/EXEMPLAR/exemplar%202004/exemplar2004/exemplar04modernism.html The informal language and lyric form combined with their deliberate simplistic view of the world gave Stein and Lowell the glee and intelligent tone which became a hallmark of Cummings’s work. Love poems, ironic squibs, and descriptive nature poems will always be his favored forms. This video tells more about his type of work. http://video.about.com/poetry/Poet–E–E–Cummings.htm

In my opinion, Cummings had a lot of influence and his dad probably had the biggest influence. Nothing compares to a parent’s motivation and encouragement. Even in my life, there was nothing more rewarding than having my parent or parents supporting and motivating me to be everything that I could be or simply wanted to be.

               E.E. Cummings audaciously and deliberately attacks American capitalism in his work, “Poem, or Beauty Hurts Mr. Vinal.” Just by looking at the picture below and the way he carries himself, you can tell he was very out right and did not care to voice his opinion. 

He mixes patriotic songs with advertisement jingles, and by virtue of the title, asks Americans which evil the sarcasm of his poem or the beauty promised by manufactures will hurt them more. His creative grammar, like that of Gertrude Stein, is also an obvious rebellion at the norm. Cummings begins his work by addressing his readers in a very informal term “kiddo” (Cummings 1). There are no capitalizations in the address, on the beginning word of the poem, or in usual places customary to modern English sentence structure. In one instance, he reserves five stanzas for the word “America” to be spelled. The most rebellious elements of his work, however, are his allusions to an otherwise constipated American society that finds relief in a quick fix.

 

 

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

by

Ernest Hemingway’s The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a short story that centers on the memories of a writer named Harry who is on safari in Africa. In 1952 a motion picture was made to portray this story. Many readers and viewers have different opinions on this movie. I think that the short story was some what betrayed and that the ending was quite different from the literary work Hemingway is trying to create. The way Hemingway originally ended the story was with the Peck character dying from his wounds; producer Darryl F. Zanuck wouldn’t hear of this, he preferred that Peck survive so that the film would have somewhat of a lasting value to the viewers. Other than that, I do not think that the adaptation of this movie was all that bad simply because the moods and themes in the short story and movie were almost the same that if the viewer of the movie had read the short story they would be able to pick up on some of the changes but not enough to say that the story lines were different. http://www.editoreric.com/greatlit/movies/SnowsKilimanjaro.html. Even though this movie was a huge hit and received many awards, to compare it to the short story and say it was just as good would be a complete understatement.

Another film adaptation that comes to my mind when trying to compare a book to a movie is The Hunger Games. I have read the book and watched the movie. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/movie-vs-book-hunger-games-_n_1391437.html. The film version hits several topics right on the head, but other parts that were important in the book were left out completely. The characters in the movie and book were portrayed differently also. I think this is a good comparison to The Snows of Kilimanjaro because the movie, in some cases, does the short story justice. But in other cases it can never compare to the actual writing of the author.

In many cases I think that a film version can be helpful and in other cases it can be harmful to help the reader understand the author’s purpose. It mostly depends on the short story or book that is being filmed. In the two books that I talked about, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Hunger Games, I think that the film was helpful. You could clearly see the emotions and the settings much clearer and most of the themes and motifs were portrayed very well in both films. But, to answer this question for every single film adaptation of a book or story would be hard. I think that the goal of the filmmaker should be to be helpful and try to make the author’s purpose more understandable. Even though there are changes made and the stories or plots do not line up exactly the way the book goes the author’s purpose can still be seen in both of these films. 

 

DD90575NI_US.227x227-75.jpg

 

This video is the trailer for the movie The Snows of Kilimanjaro.

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/245786/Snows-of-Kilimanjaro-The-Original-Trailer-.html

 

A Streetcar Named Desire and Gone With the Wind

by

The lead females of Tennessee Williams’s Streetcar Named Desire and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind are Blanche and Scarlett, respectively. These two southern belles are similar in several ways. http://nostrawmen.com/2000/05/traditionalism-vs-defiance-in-a-streetcar-named-desire/ Both portray the civility and proper behavior of the Southern culture in which they were brought up while harboring lustful desires and feelings that they dare not talk about. Each of these women uses their charm and female “ helplessness” to manipulate men. They both deny the reality of their lives and are constantly looking for ways to get what they want. In both the pictures below the women seem to be swept away by men, but in reality they are in total control of the situation.  Both authors created these characters to make the audience want to empathize with them and their situations. Even though they use and manipulate people they are seen as the victims of their circumstances. http://dropera.blogspot.com/2013/01/echoes-of-scarlett-ohara-bach-and-ward.html Both women have experienced losses. Scarlett lost her mother and later lost her father who suffered from dementia and the process of his death was overwhelming. Blanche is traumatized from the death of both her parents and then later faces the harshness of her husband’s suicide. Reader’s cannot help but admire their strength and perseverance.

Stanley caught up in the desires of Blanche.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=a+streetcar+named+desire+blanche&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=jiV4UonEIe7LsQSE8YDoBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=591#q=a+streetcar+named+desire+blanche&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=HQK929ZkgoX1OM%3A%3BV6NmYVTDWyM_IM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fdidyouseethatone.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F03%252Fstreetcar-named-desire-5.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fdidyouseethatone.com%252F2012%252F03%252F07%252Fa-streetcar-named-desire%252F%3B460%3B276

 

 

                       

 This picture represents Rhett and Scarlett’s tumultuous relationship.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=scarlett+and+rhett&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=tyZ4Us2UGO354APBy4DIBA&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=591#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=GquX39XT_zumnM%3A%3BPXTX16e8UMsc1M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Foberon481.typepad.com%252F.a%252F6a00d8341c4e3853ef0162fe7e99d0970d-pi%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Foberon481.typepad.com%252Foberons_grove%252F2011%252F12%252Frhett-scarlett.html%3B500%3B375

 

This video shows a clip from the movie Gone With The Wind. Scarlett shows how she simply puts off the things of today and the reality of what is happening for another day. This is also the way Blanche does, carefree and pushing away reality.

 

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/281111/Gone-With-The-Wind-Movie-Clip-Frankly-My-Dear-.html

How did Langston Hughes represent the Modern Period in American Literature?

by

          Langston Hughes claimed his biggest influences were Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman. Claude McKay, a radical socialist who also wrote accomplished lyric poetry, was also an influence on Hughes; however, Sandburg, who Hughes later called “my guiding star,” was decisive in leading him toward free verse and a radically democratic modernist aesthetic. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/life.htm Hughes is very well known for his insightful, colorful depiction of the African American life between the twenties and sixties. He wrote novels, short stories, plays, and poetry and even engaged in the world of jazz. Unlike most writers of his time, Langston Hughes diligently refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. Hughes wanted to ensure his stories reflected the true culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83 His devotion to black music led him to novel fusions of jazz and blues with traditional verse in his first two books, The Weary Blues (1926) and Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927). His emphasis on lower-class black life, especially in the latter, led to harsh attacks on him in the black press. With these books, he established himself as a major force of the Harlem Renaissance. In fact, Hughes’s life and works in general greatly impacted the shaping of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. In 1926, in the Nation, he provided the movement with a manifesto when he skillfully argued the need for both race pride and artistic independence in his most memorable essay, ‘The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” Nevertheless, Hughes, more than any other black poet or writer, recorded faithfully the degree of black life and its oppositions. Although Hughes had trouble with both white and black critics, he was the first black American to earn his living solely from his writings and public lectures. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/langston-hughes  Part of the reason he was able to do this was the phenomenal acceptance and love he received from average black people. Hughes always brought a varied and colorful background to his writing and he reached many people with his writings.  Nevertheless, Hughes, more than any other black poet or writer, recorded faithfully the nuances of black life and its frustrations. Although Hughes had trouble with both black and white critics, he was the first black American to earn his living solely from his writing and public lectures. Part of the reason he was able to do this was the phenomenal acceptance and love he received from average black people.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://trcs.wikispaces.com/file/view/QUOTES_Langston_Hughes.jpg/30254971/QUOTES_Langston_Hughes.jpg&imgrefurl=http://trcs.wikispaces.com/Connections%2BOn%2BA%2BDream%2BDeferrred&h=497&w=731&sz=315&tbnid=aej8735hFWH_BM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=132&zoom=1&usg=__3Cq930XUTrcWOOJUkoYrJWxujAA=&docid=PHpmlAdt0-GPYM&sa=X&ei=nq1uUrXwGY6gkQec6YCIAg&ved=0CEUQ9QEwBA

Langston Hughes held fast to his dream and became one of the most renowned writers of his time. This quote is something I can see Hughes saying to encourage someone to keep their determination in order to reach their goal.

 

The following video explains Hughes’s role in the Harlem Renaissance, his different works, and the other people who had an impact in his life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehprXnIP7X0

 

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” – Robert Frost

by

Nothing Gold Can Stay

By: Robert Frost

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=nothing+gold+can+stay&btnG=Search+by+image#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=xaHXaq0A6gxUxM%3A%3BYWza0GUrTdiSTM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fggds.edublogs.org%252Ffiles%252F2013%252F04%252FNGS-uvp09m.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fggds.edublogs.org%252F2013%252F04%252F01%252Fnothing-gold-can-stay%252F%3B1024%3B768

Below is a link to listen to the poem!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hha8E2whFkk

               In my opinion “Nothing Gold Can Stay” implies that things are always changing and nothing ever stays as good as it originally was. He even relates this idea to nature and the fact that a flower eventually fades away. “Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. (Lines 3-4) When reading this I think about what the Bible says about everything only lasts a season.

               One critic says that the title of the poem is very metaphorical and gold represents value and wealth. Frost is illustrating that precious things with great value can never stay forever. Gold symbolizes materialism and gives “fake happiness” that takes years to accumulate and can be washed away in seconds. http://elixirofmemories.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/analysis-of-nothing-gold-can-stay/ The poet has used a lot of figurative language to create vivid imagery. The opening line of the poem has both imagery and alliteration which will appeal to the reader. Alliteration is used throughout the poem, most “S’s”, to give a soft and harmonious tone to the poem.

               Another critic says Robert Frost has a fine talent for putting words into poetry. Words which are normally a simplistic spur to life when he combines them into a whimsical poetic masterpiece. Although short, it drives home a deep point and meaning. Life is such a fragile thing and most of it is taken for granted. The finest, most precious time in life generally passes in what could be the blink of an eye. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” shows just this. Even in such a small poem he describes what would seem an eternity or an entire lifetime in eight simple lines. Change is eminent and will happen to all living things. This is the main point of the poem and is shown consistently throughout the eight lines. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Analysis-Of-Robert-Frost’s-Nothing-Gold-63414.html Not only does Frost depict “the first green” as a part of the season which is known as spring; it can be assumed he means all life and all things are subject to the ravages of time. Mortality is all around us and with it the stages of all life and time pass.

W.E.B. Dubois – Protest Writer

by

                 William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar. Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he grew up. In 1905 Du Bois was a founder and general secretary of the Niagara movement, an African American protest group of scholars and professionals. Du Bois founded and edited the Moon (1906) and the Horizon (1907-1910) as organs for the Niagara movement. In 1909 Du Bois was among the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and from 1910 to 1934 served it as director of publicity and research, a member of the board of directors, and editor of the Crisis, its monthly magazine.  He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95. http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history-w.e.b.-dubois W.E.B. Du Bois was in fact considered one of the most influential black scholar and activist of his time. The Library of America presents his essential writings, covering the full span of a restless life dedicated to the struggle for racial justice. Du Bois’s inspiring essays and speeches span the period from 1890 to 1958. They display his evolving positions on the issues that were prominent during his lifetime which include: education in a segregated society; black history, art, literature, and culture; the fate of black soldiers in the First World War; the appeal of communism to frustrated black Americans; and the elusive promise of an African homeland.

              

http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history-w.e.b.-dubois

               Dusk of Dawn (1940), one of his famous writings, was described by Du Bois as an attempt to clear up the “race problem” in terms of his own experience. It is a description of his childhood in western Massachusetts, his years at Fisk and Harvard universities, his study and travel abroad, his role in founding the NAACP and his long association with it, and his emerging Pan-African consciousness. He called this autobiography his response to an “environing world” that “guided, embittered, illuminated and enshrouded my life.” http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=39#sthash.4TIJJSVE.dpuf

 

Below is a video explaining W.E.B. Dubois’s part in the Niagara Movement.  I thought it would be interesting to know a little more about his involvement.

http://www.biography.com/people/web-du-bois-9279924/videos/web-du-bois-the-niagara-movement-5105219600

Historians View on Race, Gender, and Class

by

There has been an increasing tendency among academic historians to focus their writings on the issues of race, class and gender. This trend can be seen as a result of both the equal rights movements of the 1960s that worked to get rid of oppression, and the emergence on new theoretical frameworks that focus upon human’s social identity. The notion of socially and historically constructed identities has a particular resonance for contemporary academics engaged in the critical study of race. “Although the concept of race invokes biologically based human characteristics, selection of these particular human features for purposes of racial signification is always necessarily a social and historical process.” http://hnn.us/article/3520

 To argue against a biological basis for racial categorization is to say that the concept of race does not play a significant role in the structure of contemporary society. Therefore, the task of the historian who subscribes to the idea of race as a socially constructed category of identity is to discover the historical processes that have contributed to its construction. Although gender is a category more firmly rooted in biological origin, many contemporary theorists view ideas of masculinity and femininity as socially determined and as connected to the workings of power in society. Given the historical oppression of women and people of color, it is often impossible for historians to speak of race and gender without addressing corresponding issues of class difference and economic disparity.

Below is a video describing the time period Robert Charles lived in and the brutality of the people toward African Americans!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVV92pQsMDE

            After reading the story about Charles, I was able to understand how awful and inhumane the African American population was treated. Two black men, Charles and Pierce, were arrested without any probable cause and the local newspaper immediately printed a story without the side of the black men. The article included names such as “the desperate darkies” and “bad negroes” to describe the two black males. Obviously, the article was written from the viewpoint of the Caucasian officers. White men entirely dominated the South and they controlled every move made by the black men and women. Even after slaves were freed, African Americans were never entirely safe from harm. This only goes to show that race plays a significant role in the structure of society.

Baym, Nina, Wayne Franklin, Philip F. Gura, and Arnold Krupat. “Mob Rule in New Orleans”. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8 ed. Vol. 6. New York:  W. W. Norton &, 2007. 838-852.        Print.

This is a picture of the newspaper article written after the two men had been killed.

https://www.google.com/search?q=robert+charles+and+pierce+mob+killing&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Rd1JUt3yHdSw4AO6l4C4Cg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=575&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=6nm1Xbv5BkbjmM%3A%3BpOtaGx_FNXzVSM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252F5%252F5d%252FDaily_Picayune_28_July_1900.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FRobert_Charles_Riots%3B665%3B892

 

Why did Samuel Clemens choose a pen name?

by

Samuel Clemens chose the pen name Mark Twain. But why did he choose this name? Before Clemens received fame as a writer, he was a man of many trades.  His most influential job was piloting a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River. He was licensed as a steamboat pilot in 1859 and worked on the river until the fighting of the Civil war put an end to traffic traveling from north to south. His experiences along the river helped him come up with his pen name. In 1863, when Clemens was 27 (some say 22), he wrote a humorous travel story and decided to sign his name “Mark Twain.”  http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/twain/aa_twain_name_2.html Clemens got this name from something shouted by crewmen on a boat. To test the depth of the water, a crewman shouts “mark twain!” Mark Twain would be Clemens’ pen name for the rest of his life. Although this is the most referred to story, there are other opinions of where he got his name.

Riverboats were a popular way to get around in Mark Twain’s lifetime!

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=575&q=samuel+clemens+steamboat&oq=samuel+clemens+steamboat&gs_l=img.3…9730.35026.0.35099.46.21.9.16.10.0.174.1969.15j6.21.0….0…1ac.1.27.img..18.28.1927.Y5XO7UMx71o#facrc=_&imgrc=EKUCRV720jGfJM%3A%3BolpZBTK7tTh93M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.twainquotes.com%252FSteamboats%252FSSNewFallsCity.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.twainquotes.com%252FSteamboats%252FCubPilot.html%3B450%3B261

 

 

Twain’s version of the story regarding his nom de plume is not without detractors and has been called into question by biographer George Williams III, the Territorial Enterprise newspaper, and Purdue University’s Paul Fatout.These sources claim that “mark twain” refers to a running bar tab that Twain would regularly incur while drinking at John Piper’s saloon in Virginia City, Nevada. http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question99195.html

The video link below will allow you to better understand the roles of steamboats in Mark Twain’s life. Also, it will give you  more information about how he got his pen name and additional information about his life and family!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGnLZ-15rDU

 

How was Walt Whitman viewed?

by

My question: How was Walt Whitman viewed?

               I chose this question because I wanted to know what the outside world thought about Walt Whitman.

Source 1:  http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/212/whitman/whitman_notes.htm

               Although Walt Whitman is considered one of America’s greatest poets of his era, he was also seen as a conceited man. He thought of himself as the “voice of America” and claimed to be a common man who had the same feelings as all other Americans. He was very different than other authors and poets of his time.

Source 2: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/whitman/poet/

               Betsy Erkkila, a literature professor at Northwestern University and author of several books, thought of Whitman as a person who just wanted to make money. Erkkila says he simply hoped to reach the American people. He thought he could in fact reach all levels of society, especially the working class. Erkkila viewed him as a beloved national poet and a poet who is very actively involved in the struggle for democracy.

               After reading, I think Whitmad had a unique way of expressing himself just like any other poet or author. Just because he thought of himself as the “voice of America” did not necessarily make him conceited.  Whitman had a sharp pen and a set of opinions that didn’t always align with his readers.

This video is a short biography on Walt Whitman!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nla-JDEp4jw

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=575&q=walt+whitman&oq=walt+whitman&gs_l=img.3..0l10.119424.121466.0.121852.12.9.0.3.3.1.220.1263.1j7j1.9.0….0…1ac.1.26.img..3.9.788.q83P5MEzmFQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=nRU5H3i1xaAYHM%3A%3BXEYjfSSGqWbz2M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.poetryfoundation.org%252Fuploads%252Fauthors%252Fwalt-whitman%252F448x%252Fwalt-whitman.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.poetryfoundation.org%252Fbio%252Fwalt-whitman%3B448%3B293

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=575&q=walt+whitman&oq=walt+whitman&gs_l=img.3..0l10.119424.121466.0.121852.12.9.0.3.3.1.220.1263.1j7j1.9.0….0…1ac.1.26.img..3.9.788.q83P5MEzmFQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=JexhiX9j-WTDYM%3A%3BWKL01woWXMP7oM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.rugusavay.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2013%252F01%252FWalt-Whitman-Quotes-2.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.rugusavay.com%252Fwalt-whitman-quotes%252F%3B448%3B473