Biographie Walt Whitman & introduction Starting from Paumanok PDF

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Biographie Walt Whitman & introduction Starting from Paumanok...

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3.9 Poésie Américaine

21 90 80 78

Question 1: Walt Whitman is a famous American poet born in 1819 on Long Island. He lived near the sea almost all his life. Even though he wasn't close to his father, he was still greatly influenced by him during his formative years. Indeed, a lot of his religious and political beliefs came from friends of his fathers, authors that his father liked to read, or simply his father's view. For example, he was influenced by the radical branch of the Quakers' movement and some of their beliefs like the belief that all human beings were equal. It is also thanks to him that he became really invested in democracy and greatly empathize with the working middle-class. Another person who greatly influenced him was Emerson and his idea that the American poets needed to emancipate themselves from the European convention, to create their own style. He started working in a printing office at 12 years old and continue to work in the journalism world for a long time, he even created his own newspaper. Thanks to his work, he was able to travel a lot and had the luck or bad luck of seeing slavery with his own eyes which greatly impact his poems. Walt Whitman also loved Opera and more particularly Verdi and his depiction of the Italians struggle to free themselves from foreigner occupation. He also worked for the government in the Bureau of Indian Affair which we know is part of his fascination for the Indians. Whitman also witnessed the horror of the war by being a volunteer army nurse during the civil war. He suffered a stroke and ended up paralyzed which forced him to go live with his brother. He finally bought a house of his own and continue to write until his death in 1892. Personality wise he was a determined man who didn’t deviates from his goal. He was a really driven person who fought for the freedom of thought and actions. An important theme of his poetry was the democracy which he often depicted as a way of life in his poem. There is also the transcendentalism power of love and companionship as well as the theme of the cycle of growth and death. Nature also has an important place in his poem through its regenerative power which goes with the cycle of growth. Other themes are his proclamation against slavery or again, his passion for the Indian's life as seen in “Starting from Paumanok”. However, the most important themes are those of autobiographical vein and of the selfhood, of the individual, of the poet as a representative of men, of unity.

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3.9 Poésie Américaine

21 90 80 78

Question 2: “Starting from Paumanok” is a free verse poem as its stanzas and lines' length is also irregular. Moreover, there is no ending rhythm scheme. There is no predetermine rhythm or meter in this poem. The poet used enjambement and enumeration.

Question 3 Walt Whitman is a famous American poet born in Long Island, also named Paumanok in Indian. Even though he traveled a lot and lived-in different places like Manthan for example, he still considered Paumanok as his home. He is famous for his free-verse poem dealing with democratic themes, selfhood and autobiographical vein. The poem « Starting from Paumanok » is a famous poem of Leaves of Grass. It was first published in 1860 under the title of "Proto-Leaf" before being rewritten and given a new name in 1867. It had since then been subject to many revisions until 1881. This poem can be interpreted as a political and informative poem since it gives information on the poet and paves the way to the poems following it. Today we are going to analyze an excerpt of the poem that is the first stanza of the poem. It has been one of the first poems of Leaves of Grass which makes us wonder what this poem has that the others do not. Walt Whitman had been researching a way to create a new style. We are going to look through this new style by analyzing the verse, rhythm, and meter of the poem. We will also study its autobiographical vein that we will be contrasting to the poet's life like "Paumanok where I was born" l.1. To finish, we will also look at the fact that even though he uses pronouns like "I" and "my", it is before anything a poem on otherness as he becomes more than himself and represents others, "a miner" l.5 for example.

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