“Song of Myself”

Walt Whitman

1819-1892No formal

education, but well read

Trained to be a printerAlso did some

newspaper writingBecame editor,

fired for position against slavery

Walt Whitman

Wrote about America and the common man

Did not write in the traditional structure

Most famous work: Leaves of GrassContinually revised and republished 1855-

1892383 poems in final editionCaptures diversity of American people and

describes energy and intensity of all life forms

Whitman’s Writing

Free verse: irregular meter and line lengthWritten to sound like natural speechWhitman = First American poet to use free

verse

Diction: word choice and arrangementWhitman uses catalogs and parallelism

Catalogs: long listsParallelism: repetition of sentences with

similar meanings

Whitman’s Poetry

1. Summarize each stanza.2. Overall tone?3. Whitman’s message/belief(s)?

6

521. 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.