33 Walt Whitmanlhy.docx

33 Walt Whitmanlhy.docx

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33WaltWhitmanlhy

WaltWhitman

•OneofthegreatinnovatorsinAmericanliterature

•HegaveAmericaitsfirstgenuineepicpoem:

LeavesofGrass

WalterWhitman（May31,1819-March26,1892）wasanAmericanpoet,essayist,journalist,andhumanist.Proclaimedthe"greatestofallAmericanpoets"bymanyforeignobserversamerefouryearsafterhisdeath,heisviewedasthefirsturbanpoet.HewasapartofthetransitionbetweenTranscendentalismandRealism,incorporatingbothviewsinhisworks.Hisworkshavebeentranslatedintomorethantwenty-fivelanguages.WhitmanisamongthemostinfluentialandcontroversialpoetsintheAmericancanon.Hisworkhasbeendescribedasa"rudeshock"and"themostaudaciousanddebatablecontributionyetmadetoAmericanliterature."·

ABridgebetweenRomanticismandRealism

⏹LifeandCareer

⏹IntroductiontoLeavesofGrass

⏹Whitman’sPoetry

⏹AnalysisofSongofMyself

⏹AppreciatingIHearAmericaSinging

⏹O’Captain!

MyCaptain!

Whitman’sContributionandInfluence

⏹Americanpoet,essayist,journalist,andhumanist

⏹ApartofthetransitionbetweenTranscendentalismandRealism

⏹Thefatheroffreeverse

⏹Freeverseisaformofpoetrythatrefrainsfrommeterpatterns,rhyme,oranyothermusicalpattern.

⏹Althoughfreeverserequiresnometer,rhyme,orothertraditionalpoetictechniques,apoetcanstillutilizethemtocreatesomesenseofstructure.

⏹Forexample,WaltWhitmanrepeatscertainphrasesandusescommastocreatebotharhythmandstructure.

Lifeandcareer:

Bornin1819onLongIsland,NewYork

Poor&Semiliterate（半文盲的）parents,only5-6yearsformaleducation,self-educated

Workedasofficeboy,printingworker,schoolteacher（1836）,free-lancewriter

In1842hewaseditoroftheAurora[ɔ:

'rɔ:

rə]andfrom1846to1848hewaseditoroftheBrooklynEagle

Supportedslaveryabolishing,dismissedfromhisjob

ServedasavolunteernurseduringtheCivilWar

Diedin1892,unmarriedallhislife

MajorWorksofWhitman

⏹LeavesofGrass草叶集

⏹Drum-Taps桴鼓集

⏹SongofMyself自我之歌

⏹ISitandLookOut坐观世间

⏹OCaptain,MyCaptain!

船长，我的船长

⏹WhenLilacsLastintheDooryardBloom’d最近紫丁香在庭院里开放的时候

⏹IhearAmericaSinging我听见美国在歌唱

LeavesofGrass草叶集Thetitle“LeavesofGrass”ItissignificantthatWhitmanentitledhisbookLeavesofGrass.Hesaidthatwherethereisearth,wherethereiswater,thereisgrass.Grass,themostcommonthingwiththegreatestvitality,isanimageofthepoethimself,asymbolofthethenrisingAmericannationandanembodimentofhisidealsaboutdemocracyandfreedom.1855年7月，美国诗歌史上的第一声春雷炸响了——惠特曼出版了《草叶集》。

《草叶集》第一版只有薄薄的94页，包括12首诗作。

1891年惠特曼逝世前，《草叶集》已出版了第九版，其中的诗歌篇目已增加到372首。

草叶：

随处生长,最富有生命力。

1、象征普通人；2、象征发展中的美国；3、象征自己关于民主、自由的理想和希望。

《草叶集》的地位

《草叶集》从第一版到第九版，经历了坎坷的历程，其中充满了激烈的争论。

这种争论在诗人逝世后100多年的时间里仍然在延续。

19世纪后叶至20世纪全世界所有文学大师几乎无一例外地都在一生中的某个时刻向惠特曼的《草叶集》行过注目礼。

在惠特曼从事诗歌创作的年代，控制美国诗坛的是所谓“高雅派”诗人，他们一味以模仿英国诗歌为能事，而当时的英国诗歌也浪漫主义的末流，这种诗风在美国产生的只能是等而下之的仿制品。

惠特曼来了，带着手脚上的泥土和草叶，带着汗珠和露水，从码头、田野、矿山、街市走来，放开嗓门，大胆高歌，带着开天辟地的一个崭新的“人的姿态”——他一开口就是一个崭新的文明的声音----这就是“新兴的美国文明”的声音。

惠特曼主张为了描述宇宙万物的规律以及它们的创造力和丰富性，必须避免传统的诗艺常规，即押韵、格律等。

于是他创造了一种空前自由的诗体。

所以“自由”是《草叶集》的一大特点。

在惠特曼看来，“最好的诗就是具有最完善的美的东西——对耳朵的美，对大脑的美，对心灵的美，对时间与地点的美。

”在美国文学史上，《草叶集》成了一个源头，成为20世纪美国现代主义诗歌运动的先驱。

1.AsymbolofWhitman’spoems

2.AmanifestationofWhitman’sdemocraticideas

3.AsymbolofnewAmericanswiththeirAmericanspirit

ØFirstpublishedin1855withonly12poems

ØNineeditionsandlasteditionincludesmorethan400poems

ØCelebratestheidealsofequality,democracy,thedignity,self-reliantspiritandjoyofcommonpeople

ØGrass—themostcommonthingwiththegreatestvitality,asasymboloftherisingAmerican

Øwritteninanewkindofversificationcalledfreeverse.Freeverse:

poemswithoutafixedbeatorregularrhymescheme.

Øimmodestlypraisedthehumanbodyandglorifiedthesenses

1）Heextolstheidealsofequalityanddemocracyandcelebratesthedignity,theself-reliantspiritandthejoyofthecommonman.

2）majortopics—man&nature

3）themes—individualfreedom;equality;democracy

4）employing“freeverse”astheformofhispoemswithtwocharacteristics:

parallelismandphoneticrecurrence

5）franknessofthecommonplaceandtheuglysidesinhumanlife

6）direct,plainandevenvulgarlanguage

7）“untoldlatencies”（hispoetrysuggestsratherthantells）

8）greatinfluenceonthe20thcenturyAmericanpoets

ReceptionofLeavesofGrass

⏹Receivedharshcriticismbecauseofbreakingthepoeticconventionanditssexualityandexoticandvulgarlanguage

⏹（“noxiousweeds;”“poetryofbarbarism;”“amassofstupidfilth;”Whittierthrowitintofire.）

⏹WelcomedbyEmerson/“themostextraordinarypieceofwitandwisdomthatanAmericanhasyetcontributed.”

⏹Withappearanceofthe5thedition,WhitmanbeganreceivedrecognitioninAmericaandEngland.

MajorThemesinHisPoetry

•Equalityofthingsandbeings

•Divinityofeverything

•Multiplicityofnature

•Self-reliantspirit

•Death,beautyofdeath

•ExpansionofAmerica

•Brotherhoodandsocialsolidarity（unityofnationsintheworld）

•Pursuitofloveandhappiness

ThethemesinWhitman'spoetry

Hispoetryisfilledwithoptimisticexpectationandenthusiasmaboutnewthingsandnewepoch.Whitmanbelievedthatpoetrycouldplayavitalpartintheprocessofcreatinganewnation.ItcouldenableAmericanstocelebratetheirreleasefromtheOldWorldandthecolonialrule.Anditcouldalsohelpthemunderstandtheirnewstatusandtodefinethemselvesinthenewworldofpossibilities.Hence,theabundanceofthemesinhispoetryvoicesfreshness.

（l）Heshowsconcernforthewholehard-workingpeopleandtheburgeoninglifeofcities.ToWhitman,thefastgrowthofindustryandwealthincitiesindicatedalivelyfutureofthenation,

despitethecrowded,noisy,andsqualidconditionsandtheslacknessinmorality.

（2）Headvocatestherealizationoftheindividualvalue.MostofthepoemsinLeavesofGrasssingofthe"en-masse"andtheselfaswell.

（3）Pursuitofloveandhappinessisapprovedofrepeatedlyandaffectionatelyinhislines.Sexuallove,arathertabootopicofthetime,isdisplayedcandidlyassomethingadorable.Theindividualpersonandhisdesiresmustberespected.

（4）SomeofWhitman'spoemsarepoliticallycommitted.BeforeandduringtheCivilWar,Whitmanexpressedmuchmourningforthesufferingsoftheyounglivesinthebattlefieldandshowedadeterminationtocarryonthefightingdauntlesslyuntilthefinalvictory,asinpoemslike"CavalryCrossingaFord."Later,hewrotedownagreatmanypoemstoairhissorrowoverthedeathofLincoln,andoneofthefamousis"WhenLilacsLastintheDooryardBloom'd."WaltWhitmanisapoetwithastrongsenseofmission,havingdevotedallhislifetothecreationofthe"single"poem,LeavesofGrass.

FeaturesofWhitman’spoetry

1.Theuseofacertainpronoun“I”

2.Twoprinciples

•Parallelismorarhymeofthought

•Phoneticrecurrence（therepetitionofwordsorphrasesatthebeginningoftheline,inthemiddleorattheend）

E.g.Icelebratemyself,andsingmyself,

AndwhatIassumeyoushallassume,

Foreveryatombelongingtomeasgoodbelongstoyou

3.Theadoptof“freeverse”---poetrywithoutafixedbeatorregularrhymescheme

4.Theuseofcolorfulwordsandvividimages（example）

WaltWhitman’sContribution

•HebelievestheAmericanpoetswouldcreatebothnewformsandnewsubjectsmatterforpoetry.

•Intermsofpoeticform,headvocatedacompletelynewandcompletelyAmericanformofexpression----freeverse.

•Intermsofcontents,mostofhispoemsareaboutmanandnature,especiallycommonpeopleandordinaryAmericans.Hewantedhispoetrytobeforthecommonpeople

AnalysisofSongofMyself

“Songofmyself”,consistingof1345lines,isthelongestpoeminLeavesofGrass.Thepoettakesforgrantedtheselfasthemostcrucialelementoftheworldandthussetsforthtwoofhisprincipalbeliefs:

first,atheoryofuniversality;second,allthingsareequalinvalue.　

SongofMyself

1ICELEBRATEmyself,andsingmyself,

AndwhatIassumeyoushallassume,

Foreveryatombelongingtomeasgoodbelongstoyou.

自我之歌

我赞美我自己，歌唱我自己，

我所承担的一切你也得承担起来，

因为属于我的每一个原子都同样属于你。

Line1celebrate:

praise;honor.

Line2assume:

admit;perceive;undertakeaduty.WhatwordsIhaveusedtopraisemyselfwoulddothesametoyou.

Line3atom:

theleastportionofathing

Eachofusisapartofnature,thus,wehavethesamestructure.

Iloafeandinvitemysoul,

Ileanandloafeatmyeaseobservingaspearofsummergrass.

我闲游，邀请我的灵魂一起，

我悠闲地俯身观察一片夏天的草叶。

loafe:

（=loaf）wander;movefreely.

WhileIamloafing,Iinvitedmysoultogotogether,sincebotharefree.

aspearof:

anarrowpieceof（grassleave）

Ileanandloafe:

Inmywandering,Istoppedandstooped（beingattractedbysomething）

Mytongue,everyatomofmyblood,form'dfromthissoil,thisair,

Bornhereofparentsbornherefromparentsthesame,andtheirparentsthesame,

I,nowthirty-sevenyearsoldinperfecthealthbegin,

Hopingtoceasenottilldeath.

我的舌头，我血液中的每个原子，都由这泥土这空气所构成，

我生在这里，我的父母生在这里，他们的父母也生在这里，

我如今三十七岁，身体完全健康，开始歌唱，

希望不停地唱下去，直到死亡。

form’dfrom:

（be）createdfrom.

thisair:

…wascreatedororiginatedfromtheair.

Iwasbornhere;myparentswerebornhere.

fromparentsthesame:

…fromtheparentswhowere

bornfromthesamesoilandusedtotakethesameair.

begin:

soIbegin.

Iamnowstrongandhealthy,Ibegintohopemysingingofmyselfwillnotstoptillmydeath.

Creedsandschoolsinabeyance,

Retiringbackawhilesufficedatwhattheyare,butneverforgotten,

Iharborforgoodorbad,Ipermitto