Turning points in American Literature

1. Turning points in American Literature • The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Hawthorne • Moby Dick (1851) by Melville • Walden (1854) by Thoreau • Leaves of Grass (1855) by Whitman

2. Walt Whitman & Emily Dickinson Bridges between Romanticism And Realism

3. Walt Whitman • 1819-1892 • Born and raised in New York (Manhattan) • His poetry broke every rule of traditional poetry

4. Walt Whitman • Mixed reaction to his poetry • Emerson & Lincoln loved it • Whittier hated it—threw it in the fire • Themes: Nature, Democracy, Common Man • Introduced Free Verse to America • Many critics believe he’s America’s greatest poet • Along with Dickinson, the major forerunner to modern poetry

5. Walt Whitman • Greatly influenced by the writing of Emerson and Thoreau • Believed that the poet is a representative spokesman for all men“I celebrate myself, and sing myself And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” • Respected President Lincoln because he represented, for Whitman, a shining example of an advocate of democracy and a lover of humanity.

6. Walt Whitman • Characteristics of his poetry • free verse • wrote about any and all subjects • used vivid language • catalogs • parallelism • Affectionate nicknames • “The Good Gray Poet” • “Poet of Democracy” • Leaves of Grass – book of twelve poems published in 1855

7. “O Captain, My Captain” & “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” • Written after Lincoln’s assassination • Considered elegy • Relies on symbolism and metaphors • Whitman, in his grief, speaks not only for himself, but for the whole nation

8. “O Captain…” • Captain & Father = Lincoln • Commander in Chief of the war/military • Father of our nation • Ship = Civil War • Victor ship = winning of the Civil War… • Joy turns into mourning… = joy of the end of the Civil War but mourning over Lincoln’s death

9. Whitman’s Poetry • Catalog—series of images or a list of things, people, or events • Parallelism—using same grammatical structure • Other Devices • Alliteration • Onomatopoeia • Repetition • Imagery

10. Emily Dickinson • Born December 10, 1830 in Amherst, MA. • Never married; lived in her father’s home • Lived in an era that had little palpable impact on her poetry • One of greatest lyric poets of all times • A forerunner to modern poetry • Wrote approximately 1,800 poems, most published posthumously • Slightly eccentric and assumed a recluse • Almost always wore white • Wrote about suffering, death, and immortality

11. Emily Dickinson • Characteristics of her style: simple yet passionate and powerful • Strong images and metaphors • Frequent use of personification • Unique points of view • Reflections on the minutia of life • Unconventional punctuation (dash) • Unconventional syntax • Unconventional diction • Unconventional capitalization • Brevity of lines and stanza • (quatrains with two – four rhyme and slant rhyme)

12. I’m Nobody… I'm nobody! Who are you?Are you nobody, too?Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody!How public, like a frogTo tell your name the livelong dayTo an admiring bog!

13. There Is No Frigate There is no frigate like bookTo take us lands away,Nor any coursers like a pageof prancing poetry. This traverse may the poorest takeWithout oppress of toll;How frugal is the chariotThat bears the human soul !

14. Hope Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune--without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.

15. More Poems… • Success is…(558) • Tell all the truth…(556) • Stop for death…(561) • My life closed twice…(570)