tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33440386963479719262024-03-04T21:28:46.905-08:00Walt WhitmanZoha Bhatihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12556712133478483598noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3344038696347971926.post-76646055266434818362013-01-10T03:36:00.002-08:002013-01-10T03:48:02.586-08:00Poem: The Voice of the Rain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8ZDbXWhe_idaqFVRA4yfz9-s5-826m0us-SAQCt1GrqSAmD3IJhPQrTN_RYsQrv2DgW7KaKNRPse3voqcz5dWR2RYBn6GbnSWi5NhsA6_OA4APV6j3lOBXyxrWkBl7_Mdg7OQQrSic6y/s1600/Voice-of-the-Rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8ZDbXWhe_idaqFVRA4yfz9-s5-826m0us-SAQCt1GrqSAmD3IJhPQrTN_RYsQrv2DgW7KaKNRPse3voqcz5dWR2RYBn6GbnSWi5NhsA6_OA4APV6j3lOBXyxrWkBl7_Mdg7OQQrSic6y/s400/Voice-of-the-Rain.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 24pt;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 24pt;">The Voice of the Rain</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 24pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 12.25pt;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">And
who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,</span></i></div>
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:</span></i></i></div>
<i>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"></span></i>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,</span></i></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">yet the same,</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">and make pure and beautify it;</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering,</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Reck'd or unreck'd, duly with love returns.)</span></i></div>
</span></i><br />
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></b>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
poet Walt Whitman writes of a conversation he once had with the rain as it
dropped gently from the heavens. 'Who are you?' the poet asked. Strangely, the
raindrops replied and the poet translates its answer for the readers.</span></i></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'I am the poem of the earth,' said the rain. The rain adds that it is born in
the form of invisible and intangible vapours that rise eternally from the
earth's land and deep water bodies. It then reaches heaven (the sky) and
changes its appearance complete to form clouds of abstract, changeable shapes.
Yet, at its core, it remains the same as it was at birth.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
It then returns to earth as little droplets which wash away the dust and rejuvenate
the drought-ridden, dry land. New plants find life which would have otherwise
remained hidden and unborn inside the land as mere seeds. Thus, this perpetual
cyclic lifestyle ensures that the rain retunes to its origin, the earth, giving
it life, and making it pure and beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
The poet realises that the rain's life is similar to that of any song. A song's
birth place is the poet's heart. Once complete, it is passed on (wanders) from
one person to another. It may change (reck'd) or remain the same (unreck'd) as
it travels, but one day, it returns to the poet with all due love of the
listeners.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">The poem is written
from the point of view of someone who asked the rain who it was and was
answered, it saying "I am the poem of the Earth", then proceeding to
tell how it comes from the earth, only to return once again to wash it and
nourish it...that if it were not for the rain, seeds would remain seeds and not
flower into their full potential...giving back life to its origin. Then the
poem's "turn" uses this story as a segway to show how "song,
issuing from its birth-place, after fulfillment, wandering, Reck'd or unreck'd,
duly with love returns." Meaning that songs come from the soul and after
they've been heard, and thought good or bad, return with love. Just as rain
rises and falls back again, so do poems, songs and other forms of beauty from
the soul.</span></i></b></div>
</div>
</div>
Zoha Bhatihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12556712133478483598noreply@blogger.com54tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3344038696347971926.post-19834906706326867642013-01-10T03:32:00.002-08:002013-01-10T03:46:16.865-08:00Poem: Adieu to a Soldier<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTONRdHOTb_2kVkbJmAD9ihrMVV9H1AS_9WqMAG2wcHaxBdhYlbU8dtwkBdjWtCaHWUZa1fuX2ejHi84IMi4P5UHfe4-4ssHY8MdXq7S7mm4YeDTOdFf_SxCSv3hutnUMvqiOHhLt6JYc_/s1600/monument.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTONRdHOTb_2kVkbJmAD9ihrMVV9H1AS_9WqMAG2wcHaxBdhYlbU8dtwkBdjWtCaHWUZa1fuX2ejHi84IMi4P5UHfe4-4ssHY8MdXq7S7mm4YeDTOdFf_SxCSv3hutnUMvqiOHhLt6JYc_/s400/monument.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 112%;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 112%;">Adieu To A Solider</span></i></b></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 14.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 8.15pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
</div>
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="text-align: justify;"></i><br />
<div style="display: inline !important; text-align: center;">
<i style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">ADIEU, O soldier!</span></i></i></div>
<i style="text-align: justify;">
</i></div>
<i></i><br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">You of the rude campaigning, (which we shared,)</span></i></i></div>
<i>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The rapid march, the life of the camp,</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The hot contention of opposing fronts--the long manoeuver,</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Red battles with their slaughter,--the stimulus--the strong, terrific</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">game,</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Spell of all brave and manly hearts--the trains of Time through you,</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">and like of you, all fill'd,</span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">With war, and war's expression.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Adieu, dear comrade!</span></i></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Your mission is fulfill'd--but I, more warlike,</span></i></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Myself, and this contentious soul of mine, 10</span></i></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Still on our own campaigning bound,</span></i></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Through untried roads, with ambushes, opponents lined,</span></i></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Through many a sharp defeat and many a crisis--often baffled,</span></i></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Here marching, ever marching on, a war fight out--aye here,</span></i></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">To fiercer, weightier battles give expression.</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></i></div>
</span></i><br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Walt Whitman's Adieu to a Soldier is the exploration of
himself and a soldier fighting on opposite sides of a war. The poem portrays
Whitman as being the perseverant soldier contrary to his fellow comrade
fighting in the trenches. Through ambushes, muddy roads, and many crises the
soldiers trudge on for the good of their country. The speaker is a soldier
himself talking about his experiences on the "Opposing fronts", and
"Red [bloody] battles (line 3,4)." This poem is a dedication to the
warriors on the front lines their battle heroines of their nation.</span><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">The poem can also have the symbolic underlying layers of the
battlefield representing life. The one who passes away has a new more
peaceful journey than the living who must stay on earth and often be uncertain
of why life leads them on the twists and turns that it does.</span><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">On a literary level, Whitman used a common technique of his
known as cataloging. With this device, Whitman will refer to long catalogues of
lists. In this case, it was the vivid descriptions of battle life and what it
is like to fight on. </span></i></b><b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Whitman has a varied line length, some of which are quite
long while others may have a single word, which gives it more emphasis. Whitman
uses repetition with the word “adieu." The word “adieu” itself has
an effect on the poem, as it is a more formal, formal expression than using the
more casual word “goodbye”. There is no rhyme scheme or set form as it is
a free verse poem.</span></i></b></div>
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt;">
<b><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 8.15pt 0in 14.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Whitman’s
poem “Adieu to a Soldier” is on first sight a fairly simple poem, but when it
is read and analyzed, it is clearly an artistic and thoughtful portrayal of the
ironic role of soldiers, the image of one dying on the battlefield contrasted
with the one who lives only to have to continue to fight and kill.</span></i></b></div>
</div>
</div>
Zoha Bhatihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12556712133478483598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3344038696347971926.post-63750692679330994312013-01-10T03:25:00.002-08:002013-01-10T03:56:58.684-08:00Poem: A Clear Midnight<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGIEvBJIzVOTuG0yP1tRDTCROy2LNQsLnVGGYfPjevyYApYjDPaKAfGBAci5zpWvDRNSxnwhCcw4p9tUBBeEwf0qGHJUt72dsQet0LCvd4R9wGbXOcWKctZn4oPN-0A30bw7iN9wFR6Hq/s1600/night_stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGIEvBJIzVOTuG0yP1tRDTCROy2LNQsLnVGGYfPjevyYApYjDPaKAfGBAci5zpWvDRNSxnwhCcw4p9tUBBeEwf0qGHJUt72dsQet0LCvd4R9wGbXOcWKctZn4oPN-0A30bw7iN9wFR6Hq/s400/night_stars.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 28.55pt 0in 8.15pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 112%;">A Clear Midnight<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 14.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 8.15pt;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">THIS is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into
the wordless,</span></i></div>
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,</span></i></i></div>
<i>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"></span></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou</span></i></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">
</span></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">lovest best.</span></i></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">
</span></i>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Night, sleep, and the stars.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Walt Whitman’s poem,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“A Clear Midnight”, is the final poem
in the section “From Noon to Starry Night” in the seventh edition of Leaves of
Grass (1881). The poem is brief by Whitman’s standards – a single sentence
comprised of only forty-two words. </span></i></b><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">It is only four
lines long: one quatrain. And yet it enacts a threshold experience, a visionary
crossing, an incantation that delivers a sense of overpowering spiritual immensity.</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 6.8pt 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Midnight
is the moment of transition from one day to the next. Whitman uses this
moment as a metaphor for the transition from corporal existence to spiritual
existence. The midnight described by Whitman is more than a mere moment of
transition – the poet shows us a clear moment. Nothing is hidden, nothing
impairs the passage; there is nothing to fear. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Whitman's poem
exemplifies the correspondence between our inner and outer worlds. It is all
about transport, about the imagination in cooperation and harmony with the
universe. Whitman seems to address his soul to achieve that harmony. This is a
dramatic utterance, but it is also a conjuration. Whitman is playing a magician
to his own soul on our behalf. The real addressee of the incantation is the
reader who exists on the distant horizon of the poem. I cannot help but feel
that one part of the poem’s meaning is that the reader, too, has an
imperishable soul. The poem wants to trigger that soul to dwell on the eternal.
It would release something wordless and equivalent into any of us who read it.</span></i></b><b><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">“A Clear Midnight” is above all a
comforting poem, depicting a natural transition from corporeal existence to
spiritual existence. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Zoha Bhatihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12556712133478483598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3344038696347971926.post-88494361500261327082013-01-10T03:15:00.001-08:002013-01-10T03:55:33.496-08:00His time....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-fteA0DqalLrS_v-yjp6WpxgSagBkpDlfMDjApc7Gl44qGVB-NGgx40EOWkDcDep6d6x0aMsMrb3whjqIozf8SEEGw3leIQTBBlCzbkHhsS1zRu7CsWkafYMtuskzCOHENNOsr1_16Jd/s1600/416GEM9x9oL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-fteA0DqalLrS_v-yjp6WpxgSagBkpDlfMDjApc7Gl44qGVB-NGgx40EOWkDcDep6d6x0aMsMrb3whjqIozf8SEEGw3leIQTBBlCzbkHhsS1zRu7CsWkafYMtuskzCOHENNOsr1_16Jd/s320/416GEM9x9oL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
<i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif;"><br /></span></b></span></i>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">The great poet of the nineteenth
century, Walt Whitman, once said that "democracy can never prove itself
beyond cavil, until it founds and luxuriantly grows its own forms of art,
poems, schools, theology, displacing all that exists, or that has been produced
anywhere...". Walt Whitman did just that during his many years of life by
producing<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b><b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">poetry<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and essays that changed the way Americans thought. His
words were the influential keystone that gave the Americans hope during the
Civil War, and after its conclusion. He aided the sick, gave the common man
hope, and showed<span class="apple-converted-space"> dreams of democracy and a land free of turmoil and sectionalism. Throughout Whitman's life, there were many things that influenced his character and ideas but his biggest achievement was his role in the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War, both physically and mentally.</span></span><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Whitman's style of writing can be
clearly correlated to his childhood, and his free spiritedness and
individualism was a main factor is his writing. Whitman had a very unique and
controversial style of writing, especially for his time, and his views and
ideas did not always match up with the social structure of America. In many of his writings, the theme of sex is readily seen and he was not ashamed to discuss his dreams, despite living in a time of secrecy and humbleness. He was never afraid to express his accomplishments or ideals in his work and he wrote like a strong American, which was what the United States needed at that time.</span><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<b><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Civil War was a long, arduous war
that dragged out for many years. It was very bloody and many of its soldiers
died in combat. After Civil War, a glorious period of rebuilding, known as the
Reconstruction Era, began, and many people chose to help out in their own
unique way. Walt Whitman was no exception, and throughout the Civil War and
Reconstruction Era he helped the American citizens get their life back on the
track to success, with his works and pieces of literature. His essays and poems
created a tremendous picture of democracy, and they gave the Americans hope
that their country could be rebuilt into the strong nation that it once was.</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Zoha Bhatihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12556712133478483598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3344038696347971926.post-21202754266644228362013-01-10T03:07:00.000-08:002013-01-10T03:39:49.004-08:00The Legend: Walt Whitman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD91rjGd82h9gbWuKHjgkSGsl2KD8SpduOszW15kmQ4Oul1nd3taVdgcUOzCtXpB8S9BHluY7lvsLpT4zyb48BwbKnxK5ZZHuDyfbPaAcXFpxtICmOGkoBijbhUocWX0SfNu_m9cUyc4IY/s1600/walt-whitman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD91rjGd82h9gbWuKHjgkSGsl2KD8SpduOszW15kmQ4Oul1nd3taVdgcUOzCtXpB8S9BHluY7lvsLpT4zyb48BwbKnxK5ZZHuDyfbPaAcXFpxtICmOGkoBijbhUocWX0SfNu_m9cUyc4IY/s400/walt-whitman.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<strong><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Walter Whitman</span></i></strong><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, was born on the 31st of May, 1819 in
Long Island, New York, US. He was an essayist, poet and journalist, as well as
a volunteer nurse in the course of the American Civil War (1861–65). Walt
Whitman participated in the shift from transcendentalism towards realism, and
both views are present in his works. Walt Whitman, being one of the most
influential American poets, is often referred to as "the father of the
free verse".<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Walt Whitman was
the second of nine children and received his nickname, "Walt". Walt Whitman's childhood was usually
described by himself as unhappy, mainly due to the economic struggles of his
family. After concluding his formal schooling at the age of 11, Walt Whitman
searched for jobs, first as an office boy and later as an apprentice for a
newspaper, so as to help with the family income. In the end of the 30s, Whitman
left for New York where he published many poems, short stories and a novel,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b><em><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Franklin Evans, or the Inebriate</span></em><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, all works considered unremarkable. Also in
this period Whitman made use of a constructed persona for writing a series of
essays called<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b><em><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sun-Down Papers—From the Desk of a Schoolmaster</span></em><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, a skill that he employed many times
throughout his career. In 1940 he was accused of having homosexual relations
with some of his students at the Locust Grove School in New York. In 1948 he
lost his position at the Brooklyn Eagle for siding politically in opposition
with the conservative newspaper owner.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Walt Whitman’s writings, specifically<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b><em><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Leaves of Grass</span></em><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, a collection of poems, were often highly controversial for what
was seen as an obscene and excessively sexual language.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b><em><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Leaves of Grass </span></em><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">was first published with Whitman's own money in 1855 and was
described by himself to be an attempt at reaching the common person through an
American epic. Inside as well as outside his poetry, Walt Whitman exposed his
views on the abolition of slavery, an egalitarian view on races, even if later
in his life he saw abolition as a potential threat to democracy. <span style="background: white;">Whitman received little money with the first edition
of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>Leaves of Grass, but he did
receive some attention, including a letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson. The second
edition in 1860 with the "Calamus" poems and the third edition of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Leaves<span class="apple-converted-space"> created controversy for readers, but
the Civil War turned all eyes on the battlefields.</span></span><br />
</i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Walt Whitman is
claimed to be the first American "poet of democracy", referring to
his singularly American style and use of common people as subject matter. Many
critics pointed to the close relation between the America of this period and
his poetry. Walt Whitman himself conceptualized poetry as being in a symbiotic
relationship with society. The literary critic Harold Bloom wrote that Walt
Whitman's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b><em><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Leaves of Grass</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i></b></span><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">is perhaps the highest candidate for
being the “secular scripture of the United States”, beatings works by<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Ralph Waldo Emerson,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Herman Melville, and Mark Twain. His
poetry was also used in music by great many composers. The house where Walt
Whitman spent the last years of his life, in Camden, New Jersey, US, is open to
the public and known as the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b><em><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Walt Whitman House</span></em><b><i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Zoha Bhatihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12556712133478483598noreply@blogger.com0