Why Walt Whitman is a great controversial poet2
walt Whitman 歌唱自我中体现出民主的句子
walt Whitman 歌唱自我中体现出民主的句子沃尔特·惠特曼（Walt Whitman）在《我自己的歌》一诗的开头写道:我赞美我自己，歌唱我自己，我承担的你也将承担，因为属于我的每一个原子也同样属于你。
在这首诗的最后一节，诗人又是这样写的:如果你一时找不到我，请不要灰心丧气，一处找不到再到别处去找，我总在某个地方等候着你。
全诗以“我”开篇，又以“你”结尾，这种写法有其独特的艺术魅力。
纵观全诗，尽管这个“我”总是以叙事者的身份在诗中占据主导地位，但是这个“你”却始终伴随着“我”歌唱着《我自己的歌》。
在惠特曼之前，从未有哪一个美国诗人像他这样如此重视过读者的作用。
与19世纪许多浪漫派诗人一样，惠特曼也怀着一种强烈的自我意识，在诗歌创作中用第一人称“我”为主人公，抒发诗人个人的情感。
“我”和“你”在某种意义上说可以是代表同一人，或同一种思想，因为作者所要体现的是“我”和“你”的统一，是一种水乳交融的关系。
沃尔特·惠特曼(Walt Whitman, 1819-1892)是一位世界著名的美国民主主义诗人，是美国文学史上的革新派代表。
他创作的诗歌体被后人称为自由体，因为惠特曼认为民主之音不能被传统的诗歌形式所束缚。
1855年他首次出版了他的著名诗集《草叶集》。
《草叶集》第一版问世时，共收诗12首，最后出第9版时共收诗383首，其中最长的一首《自我之歌》共1336行。
这首诗的内容几乎包括了作者毕生的主要思想，是作者最重要的诗歌之一。
惠特曼诗歌的风格和传统的诗体大不相同。
他一生热爱意大利歌剧、演讲术和大海的滔滔浪声。
西方学者指出这是惠特曼诗歌的音律的主要来源。
他的诗歌从语言和题材上深刻地影响了20世纪的美国诗歌。
《草叶集》问世后，评论家们议论纷纷，毁誉参半，争论焦点就是《自我之歌》。
尽管当时美国文坛的盟主爱默生独具慧眼，读完诗集以后赞赏有加，并写信给惠特曼，称赞“它是美国出版过的最出色的，富有才智和智慧的诗篇”，但是由于其异于常规的风格而受到绝大多数作家和批评家包括费罗、罗威尔的猛烈攻击。
WHALT WHITMAN
Free verse(自由诗体 blank verse(无韵 自由诗体)/ 自由诗体 无韵 体或素体诗) 体或素体诗
Blank verse: unrhyming iambic pentameter Free verse: portry in which the meter varies, rhythmical but non metrical, non-rhyming lines. These may have a deliberate rhythm but seem to disappoint the reader’s expectation for a formal meter.
The title Leaves of Grass was a pun. "Grass" was a term given by publishers to works of minor value and "leaves" is another name for the pages on which they were printed. “This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is, This the common air that bathes the globe”.— “The Song of Myself” Symbol of optimism/individualism
RELIGION POLITICS DEMPCRACY SLAVERY ABOLITION INDIVIDUALITY SEXUALITY
Leaves of Grass
Leaves of Grass has its genesis in an essay called The Poet by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published in 1845, which expressed the need for the United States to have its own new and unique poet to write about the new country's virtues and vices. Whitman, reading the essay, consciously set out to answer Emerson's call as he began work on the first edition of Leaves of Grass. Whitman, however, downplayed Emerson's influence, stating, "I was simmering, simmering, simmering; Emerson brought me to a boil".
赏析Walt Whitman
Walt WhitmanBorn on May 31, 1819, Walt Whitman was the second son of Walter Whitman, a house builder. The family, which consisted of nine children, lived in Brooklyn and Long Island in the 1820s and 1830s.At the age of twelve, Whitman began to learn the printer's trade, and fell in love with the written word. Largely self-taught, he read crazily, becoming acquainted with the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible.Whitman worked as a printer in New York City until a devastating fire in the printing district demolished the industry. In 1836, at the age of 17, he began his career as teacher in theone-room school houses of Long Island. He continued to teach until 1841, when he turned to journalism as a full-time career.He founded a weekly newspaper, Long-Islander, and later edited a number of Brooklyn and New York papers. In 1848, Whitman left the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to become editor of the New Orleans Crescent. It was in New Orleans that he experienced at first hand the viciousness of slavery in the slave markets of that city. On his return to Brooklyn in the fall of 1848, he founded a "free soil" newspaper, the Brooklyn Freeman, and continued to develop the unique style of poetry that later so astonished Ralph Waldo Emerson.In 1855, Whitman took out a copyright on the first edition of Leaves of Grass, which consisted of twelve untitled poems and a preface. He published the volume himself, and sent a copy to Emerson in July of 1855. Whitman released a second edition of the book in 1856, containing thirty-three poems, a letter from Emerson praising the first edition, and a long open letter by Whitman in response. During his subsequent career, Whitman continued to refine the volume, publishing several more editions of the book.At the outbreak of the Civil War, Whitman vowed to live a "cleansed" life. He wrote freelance journalism and visited the wounded at New York-area hospitals. He then traveled to Washington, D.C. in December 1862 to care for his brother who had been wounded in the war.Overcome by the suffering of the many wounded in Washington, Whitman decided to stay and work in the hospitals and stayed in the city for eleven years. He took a job as a clerk for the Department of the Interior, which ended when the Secretary of the Interior, JamesHarlan, discovered that Whitman was the author of Leaves of Grass, which Harlan found offensive. Harlan fired the poet.Whitman struggled to support himself through most of his life. In Washington, he lived on a clerk's salary and modest royalties, and spent any excess money, including gifts from friends, to buy supplies for the patients he nursed. He had also been sending money to his widowed mother and an invalid brother. From time to time writers both in the states and in England sent him "purses" of money so that he could get by.In the early 1870s, Whitman settled in Camden, NJ, where he had come to visit his dying mother at his brother's house. However, after suffering a stroke, Whitman found it impossible to return to Washington. He stayed with his brother until the 1882 publication of Leaves of Grass gave Whitman enough money to buy a home in Camden.In the simple two-story clapboard house, Whitman spent his declining years working on additions and revisions to a new edition of the book and preparing his final volume of poems and prose,Good-Bye, My Fancy (1891). After his death on March 26, 1892, Whitman was buried in a tomb he designed and had built on a lot in Harleigh Cemetery.He has written a lot of quotations, and I enjoy most of them.1.A great city is that which has the greatest men and women.2.A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than themetaphysics of books.3.After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics,conviviality, and so on –have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear – what remains? Nature remains.4.All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor.5.And your very flesh shall be a great poem.6.Behold I do not give lecture or a little charity, when I give I givemyself.7.Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.8.Have you heard that it was good to gain the day? I also say it isgood to fall; battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.9.Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, andwere tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you and disputed passage with you?10.Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune.11.How beggarly appear arguments before a defiant deed!12.I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.13.I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deservedmy friends.14.I say to mankind, be not curious about God. For I, who am curiousabout each, am not curious about God- I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least.15.If any thing is sacred the human body is sacred.16.Nothing endures but personal qualities.17.Other lands have their vitality in a few, a class, but we have it inthe bulk of our people.18.The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the lightof letters, is simplicity.19.The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.20.The poet judges not as judge judges but as the sun falling arounda helpless thing.21.There is no trade or employment but the young man following itmay become a hero.22.To the real artist in humanity, what are called bad manners areoften the most picturesque and significant of all.23.Wisdom is not finally tested in the schools; wisdom cannot bepassed from one having it to another not having it, wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, and is its own proof.24.You must not know too much or be too precise or scientific aboutbirds and trees and flowers and watercraft; a certain free margin, and even vagueness- ignorance, credulity-helps your enjoyment of these things.25.Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is togrow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.To be honest, I often copied some beautiful English sentences from Internet which are similar to those quotations above. After that, I read them again and again as long as I was free. I love these sentences because they make me lose in thought. I do enjoy the feeling. They just like the lighthouse, which can guide me to the bright future.。
美国文学习题集1
美国文学习题集（含答案）12012-10-15 19:10点击次数：141 Basic Literary KnowledgeⅠ. Fill in the blanks1. iambic foot, stressed2. repetition3. symbol4. couplet, heroic couplet5. trochaic1. The _____is the most commonly used foot in English poetry, in which an unstressed syllable comes first, followed by a ______syllable.2. Rhyme is the _____of sounds in two or more words or phrases that usually appear close to each other in a poem. For example: we/thee, man/can, and gold/hold.3. A _____is a sign that suggests more than its literal meaning.4. The two-line stanza form is called the _____, the best-known being the _____which is written in iambic pentameter with an end rhyme.5. The _____foot, which is the reverse of the iambic foot, also consists of one stressed and one unstressed syllables, but with the stressed one coming first.6. unstressed7. Washington Irving8. Edgar Allan Poe9. Bret Hart6. An anapestic foot is made up of two _____and one stressed syllables, with the two unstressed in front.7. American achievements in the short story have demanded international respect and admiration for more from ______in the early 19th century.poetics of the short stories.9. There were two other American writers who had made significant contributions to the literary form of short story: ______, with his stories of early life in California, started a vogue of local color stories and made the short story seem completely at home in the US, and Henry James, brought to the form a careful writing that made his stories models.10. In the 20th century, there have been many who have won fame abroad as well as in the US for their stories: ______, _______, _______, ________, and dozens of others.11. As you read from writer to writer, f rom ______‟s Rip Van Winkle to ______‟s A Good Man is Hard to Find, you will see the coming of a short story age, growing from an entertaining tale into a store which probes deep into human souls.12. Modern literary fiction has been dominated by two forms: _______13. Washing Irving, the father of American literature, developed the _____as a genre in American literature.14. ______is usually acknowledged as the originator of detective stories. He is also credited with developing many of the standardfeatures of detective fiction. His detective M August Dupin of Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter is the forerunner of a long line of fictional detectives who are eccentric and brilliant.16. stressed, unstressed17. stanza18. final consonant16. A dactylic foot is made up of one ______ and two _______syllables, with the stressed in front.17. The _____is a structured division of a poem, consisting of a series of verse lines which usually comprise a recurring pattern of meter and rhyme. In traditional English poetry, there are various forms containing two, there, four, five, six, seven, eight or nine lines.18. Consonance is the repetition of _____but with different preceding vowels e.g. heart/light, flag/plug. Unlike alliteration and assonance, consonance can serve as end rhythm.1-5 BDCBDⅡ. Multiple Choices1. Edgar Allan Poe wrote poems which are marvels of beauty and craftsmanship such as ________.A. I Hear America SingingB. The RavenC. To a WaterfowlD. The Fall of the House of Usher2. Which writer is not a poet?A. Michael WigglesworthB. Anne BradstreetC. Edward TaylorD. Thomas Hooker.3. The common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the _______A. RevolutionismB. ReasonC. IndividualismD. Rationalism4. In American literature, the 18th century was the age of Enlightenment, ______was the dominant spirit.A. HumanismB. RationalismC. RevolutionD. Evolution5. Who was considered as the“poet of American revolution”?A. Michael WigglesworthB. Edward TaylorC. Anne BradstreetD. Philip Freneau6-10 BCADB6. Thomas Jefferson‟s attitude, that is, a firm belief in progress, and the pur suit of happiness, is typical of the period we now call _______.A. Age of EvolutionB. Age of ReasonC. Age of RomanticismD. Age of Regionalism7. Howells defined realism as “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material”, and he best exemplified his theories in three novels: The Modern Instance, The Rise of Silas Laphan, and ______.A. White FangB. The last of the MohicansC. A Hazard of New FortunesD. The Prince and the Pauper8．Mark twain created, in ______, a masterpiece of American realism that is also one of the great books of world literature.A. Huckleberry FinnB. Tom SawyerC. The Man That Corrupted HadleyburyD. The Gilded Age9. The pessimism and deterministic ideas of naturalism pervaded the works of such American writers as ______.A. Mark TwainB. Francis Scott FitzgeraldC. Wait WhitmanD. Stephen Crane10. Although realism and naturalism were products of the 19th century, their final triumph came in the 20th century, with the popular and critical successes of such writers as Edwin Arlington, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, William Faulkner, and _____A. Edgar Allan PoeB. Sherwood AndersonC. Washington IrvingD. Ralph Ellison11-15 CAACA11. American literature produced only one female poet during the 19th century. She was ______.A. Anne BradstreetB. Jane AustenC. Emily DickensonD. Harriet Beecher12. Choose the well-known short stories written by William Sidney Porter.A. The Gift of the MagiB. Self-RelianceC. The Red Badge of CourageD. The Minister‟s Black Veil13. In 1900, Jack London published his first collection of short stories, named _____A. The Son of the WolfB. The Sea WolfC. The Law of LifeD. White Fang14. With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the scene, _______become the major trend in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century.A. sentimentalismB. romanticismC. realismD. naturalism15. Choose from the following writers a staunch advocate of 19th century American realism.A. Mark TwainB. Washington IrvingC. Stephen CraneD. Jack London16-20 DDECC16. Which writer has naturalist tendency?A. Frank NorrisB. William Dean HowellsC. Theodore DreiserD. Both A and B17. Early in the 20th century, ______published works that would change the nature of American poetry.A. Ezra PoundB. T. S. EliotC. Robert FrostD. Both A and B18. The American “Thirties” lasted from the Crash, though the ensuing Great Depression, until the outbreak of the Second Worl d WAR 1939. THIS WAS a period of “_______”A. PovertyB. BleaknessC. Important social movementsD.A new social consciousness19. The imagist writers followed three principles. They respectively are direct treatment, economy of expression and _______.A. local colorB. ironyC. clear rhythmD. blank verse20. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” This is the shortest written by ______.A. T. S. EliotB. Robert FrostC. Ezra PoundD. E .E. Cummings21-25 CEEDB21. Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy are good examples of Arlington Robinson‟s_______ attitude.A. romanticB. fantasticC. realismD. materialistic22. Frost is famous for his lyric poems. Which of the following lyric poems was not written by Frost?A. BirchesB. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningC. After Apple-PickingD. The Road Not TakenE. Richard Cory23. As a poet, Sandburg was associated with the Imagists and wrote well=known Imagist poems such as _______.A. FogB. LostC. MonotoneD. The HarborE. all of the above24. Sandburg had also taken interest in folk songs which he tried to collect and sing during his travels. These folk songs appeared eventually in print in his well-known _______.A. Good Morning, AmericaB. The People, YesC. In Rechless EcstasyD. The American Songbag25. ______, one of the essays in The Sacred Wood, is the earliest statement of T. S. Eliot‟s aesthetics, which provided a useful instrument for modern criticism.A. Sweeny AgonistesB. Tradition and the Individual TalentC. A Primer of Modern HeresyD. Gerontion26-30 AADCE26. T. S. Eliot‟s used a form, that is, the orc hestration of related themes in successive movements, in such works as ________.A. The Waste LandB. A Rose for EmilyC. The Scarlet LetterD. The Egg27. Eliot‟s first major poem (1917) _______ has been called the first m asterpiece of modernism in English.A. The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. The Waste LandC. Four QuartetsD. Preludes28. Choose the collections of short stories written by Fitzgerald.A. Flappers and PhilosophersB. Tales of the Jazz AgeC. All the Sad Yong MenD. All of the above29. The three poets Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot and ______opened the way to Modern poetry.A. O. HenryB. Henry David ThoreauC. E. E. CummingsD. Robert Frost30. In Paris, Hemingway, along with _______, accomplished a revolution in literary style and language.A. Gertrude SteinB. Ezra PoundC. T. S. EliotD. James Joyce31. In 1954, _______ was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for his “mastery of the art of modern narration”.A. T. S. EliotB. Earnest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. William Faulkner31-33 BAE32. William Faulkner is one of the most important southern writer in the United States. ______, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom are works that ambitious critics tend to admire.A. The Sound and the FuryB. The Invisible ManC. A Good Man Is Hard to FindD. The Wrath of the Grapes33. Most of the important 20th American poets were related with Imagist movement, including _______.A. Ezra PoundB. Wallace StevensC. E. E. CummingsD. Carl SandburgE. all of the aboveⅢ. IdentificationⅢ. Identification.1. the American Crisis2. Thomas Paine3. Philip Freneau4. To a Caty-Did5. According to Freneau‟s note, a Caty-Did is a well-known insect. When full grown, it is about two inches in length, and of the exact color of a green leaf. It can sing such a song as Caty-Did in the evening toward autumn.6. Song of Myself7. Walt Whitman8. free verse9. Emily Dickinson 10. C11. C 12. Sister Carries13. Theodore DreiserPassage 1These are the times that try men‟s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, i n this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain toocheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but” to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER,” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.Questions:1. Which book is this passage taken from?2. Who is the author of the book?1. the American Crisis2. Thomas PainePassage 2But you would have uttered moreHad you known of nature‟s power;From the world when you retreat,And a leaf‟s your winding sheet,Long before your spirit fled,Who can tell but nature said,Live again, my Caty-did!Live, and chatter Caty-did.Questions:3. Who is the writer of these verses?4. What is the title of this lyrical poem?5. What is Caty-did?3. Philip Freneau4. To a Caty-Did5. According to Freneau‟s note, a Caty-Did is a well-known insect. When full grown, it is about two inches in length, and of the exact color of a green leaf. It can sing such a song as Caty-Did in the evening toward autumn.Passage 3I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.I loafe and invite my soul,I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.My tongue, every atom of my blood, form‟d from this soil, this air,Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,Hoping to cease not till death.Creeds and schools in abeyance,Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,Nature without check with original energy.Questions:6. This is the first two stanzas in the first section of a long poem entitled______.7. The name of the poet is _____.8. What is the verse structure?6. Song of Myself7. Walt Whitman8. free versePassage 4Because I could not stop for death,He kindly stopped for me;The carriage held but just ourselvesAnd immortality.We slowly drove, he knew no haste,And I had put awayMy labor and my leisure too,For his civility.We passed the school where children played,Their lessons scarcely done;We passed the fields of gazing grain,We passed the setting sun.We paused before a house that seemedA swelling of the ground;The roof was scarcely visible,The cornice but a mound.Since then ‟t is centuries; but eachFeels shorter than the dayI first surmised the hors es‟ headsWere toward eternity.Questions:9. Who is the writer of the lines?10. In which category would you place this poem?A. narrativeB. dramaticC. lyric9. Emily Dickinson 10. C11. The poet is noted for her uses of _____to achieve special effects.A. perfect rhymeB. exact rhymeC. slant rhymePassage 5When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human tempter. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human.The gleam of a thousand lights is often as effective as the persuasive light in a wooing and fascinating eye. Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman. A blare of sound, a roar of life, vast array of human hives, appeal to the astonished senses in equivocal terms. Without a counselor at hand to whisper cautious interpretations, what falsehoods may not these things breathe into the unguarded ear! Unrecognized for what they are, their beauty, like music, too often relaxes, then weakens, then perverts the simpler human perceptions.Questions:12. From which novel is this paragraph taken?13. Who is the author of the novel?12. Sister Carries13. Theodore DreiserⅣ. Literary Terms1. Satire 12. Irony2. short story 13. Plot3. Stanza 14. Nonfiction4. Subtext 15. Narration5. tall story/tall tale 16. Imagery6. Verse 17. Simile and metaphor7. Rhythm 18. Character8. Foot 19. Surrealism9. Meter 20. Theatre of Absurdity10. Sonnet 21. Deconstructionism11. LyricⅤ. Questions and Answers1. How do you understand Mark Twain‟s use of Local Color in his writing?2. Discuss the reflection of realistic and naturalistic tendencies on the American 19th-century novels.3. Discuss the concept of Wasteland in relation to he works of those writers in the 20th century American literature.Ⅵ. Analysis of Literary WorksRip Van WinkleAt the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried the light smoke curling up from a village, whose shingle-roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints of the upland melt away into the fresh green of the nearer landscape. It is a little of great antiquity, having been founded by some of the Dutch colonists, in the early times of the province, just about the beginning ofthe government of the good Peter Stuyvesant, (may he rest in peace!) and there were some of the house of the original settlers standing within a few years, built of small yellow bricks brought from Holland, having latticed windows and gable fronts, surmounted with weather-cocks.In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which, to tell the precise truth, was sadly time-worn and weather-beaten), there lived many years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple good-natured fellow of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a descendant of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantly in the chivalrous days of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege of Fort Christina. He inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-natured husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home. Their tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant and malleable in the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation; and a curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. A termagant wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.Questions:1.Try to explain the setting by making reference to the above passage selected from Rip Van Winkle.1. By the setting of a story we mean its time and place-its geography, era, reason, and society. Most writers invoke particular places and particular times, and their stories establish these settings precisely. Precise setting helps to establish the truth of the story, to persuade the reader of the validity of the take. In “Rip Van Winkle”, by a detailed description of a remove, isolated “little village of great antiquity”, Irving creates a quiet, tranquil, ante-bellum social aura, which may betray his personal dislike of change, revolution and war; on the other hand, this setting prepares readers for the following exotic experience of Rip.Setting can give us information vital to plot and theme. Often, setting and character will reveal each other. At the start of A Rose for Emily, Faulkner depicts Emily Grierson‟s house, once handsome but now “an eyesore among eyesores” surrounded by a gas station. Still standing refusing to yield its old-time horse-and-buggy splendor to the age of the automobile, the house in “its stubborn and coquettish decay” embodies the character of its owner.In some stories, a writer will see to draw a setting mainly to evoke atmosphere. The atmosphere is the aura or mood, or the general pervasive feeling aroused by the work which shares the reader‟s attitudes and expectations. Gothic fiction and Edgar Allan Poe‟s horror stories abound with settings of this kind.2.Daisy MillerWinterbourne, who had returned to Geneva the day after his excursion to Chillon, went to Rome toward the end of January. His aunt had been established there for several weeks, and he had received a couple of letters from her.” Those people you were s o devoted to last summer at Vesey have turned up here, courier and all,” she wrote.” They seem to have made several acquaintances, but the courier continues to be the most in time. The young lady, however, is also very intimate with some third-rate Italians, with whom she packets about in a way that makes much talk. Bring of that pretty novel of Cherbuliez‟s---Paule-- Mere-and don‟t come later than the 23rd.”In the natural course of events, Winterbourne, on arriving in Rome, would presently have ascertained Mrs. Miller‟s address at the Am erican banker‟s and have gone to pay his compliments to Miss Daisy.” After what happened at Vevey, I think I May certainly call upon them,” he said to Mrs. Costello.“If, after what happens---at Vevey--- and everywhere-you desire to keep up the acquaintance, you are very welcome. Of course aman may know everyone. Men are welcome to the privilege!”“Pray what is it that happens-here, for instance?” Winterbourne demanded.”The girl goes about alone with her foreigners. As to what happens further, you must apply elsewhere for information .She has picked up half a dozen of the regular Roman fortune hunters, and she takes them about to people‟s houses. When she comes to a party she brings with her a gentleman with a good deal of manner and a wonderful mustache.”“And where is the mother?”“I haven‟t the least idea. They are very dreadful people.”Winterbourne meditated a moment.” They are very ignorant-very innocent only. Depend upon it they are not bad.”“They are hopelessly vulgar,” said Mrs. Costello. “Whether or on being hopelessly vulgar is being …bad‟ is a question for the metaphysicians. They are bad enough to dislike, at any rate; and for this short life that is quite enough.”The news that Dairy Miller was surrounded by half a dozen wonderful mustache s checked Winterbourne‟s impulse to in straightway to see her. He had, perhaps, not definitely flattered himself that he had made an ineffaceable impression upon her heart, but he was annoyed at hearing of a state of affairs so little in harmony with an image that had lately flitted in and out of his own meditations” the image of a very pretty girl looking out of an old Roman window and asking herself urgently when Mr. Winterbourne would arrive. If, however, he determined to wait a little before reminding Miss Miller of his claims to her consideration, he went very soon to call upon two or three other friends. One of these friends was an American lady who had spent several winters at Geneva, where she had placed her children at school. She was a very accomplished woman, and she lived in the Via Gregoriana. Winterbourne found her in a little crimson drawing room on a third floor; the room was filled with southern sunshine. He had not been there ten minutes when the servant came in, announcing” Madame Mila!” Th is announcement was presently followed by the entrance of little Randolph Miller, who stopped in the middle of the room and stood staring at Winterbourne. An instant later his pretty sister crossed the threshold; and then, after a considerable interval, Mrs. Miller slowly advanced.Questions:2. In his whole writing career James is concerned with “point of view”, which is at the centre of his aesthetic of the novel. Comment on the “point of view” in this story.2. The method of “point of view” as James term ed means observing events and people through the consciousness of his characters. In Daisy Miller Winterbourne is the objective spectator, through whose eyes James reveals the conflicts between Mrs. Walker and Dairy, through whose mind James illustrates the situation and characters clearly.3. Daisy defies European conventions and falls a victim to her own innocence. Discuss the character of Daisy.3. She is fresh, pure, brave, honest, and enthusiastic. She represents American independent spirit. She likes freedom and dares to challenge old European convention and tradition. But somehow she is not well-cultured or well-refined.4. In his story Winterbourne shows contradictory attitudes toward Daisy. He tries to decide whether she is a flirt or a native girl. Illustrate his attitude by citing some examples from the reading.4. “They‟re very ignorant-very innocent only, and utterly uncivilized. Depend on it they‟re not bad.” “The poor girl‟s only fault is her complete lack of education.”5. In this selected reading, when Daisy is taking a walk with Winterbourne and Giovanelli, Mrs. Walker gets there and tries to “rescue” her from her indiscretions. But Daisy refuses her. As an American Living in Europe, what do you think Mrs. Walker represents?5. She represents European conventional opinions. As an American living too long in Europe, she is overwhelmed by European over-refined, degenerated, and artificial sophistication.6. James‟ fame largely rested on his handing “the international theme”----American innocence in contrast with European sophistication. What is James‟s attitude towards the difference in morality of Daisy Miller from that of the Old World?6. James enjoys juxtaposing American moral innocence with the somber decadence of Europe and presenting the superiority of at least some of American values to those of the Old World. However, the final death of Dairy in Some indicates that European values are strong and overwhelming.To HelenHelen, thy beauty is to meLike those Nicean barks of yore,That ge ntly, o‟er a perfumed sea,The weary, wayworn wanderer boreTo his own native shore.Om desperate seas long wont to roam,Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face.Thy Naiad airs have brought me homeTo the glory that was GreeceAnd the grandeur that was Rome.Lo! In yon brilliant window-nicheHow statue-like I see thee standThe agate lamp within thy hand!Ah, Psyche, from the regions whichAre Holy Land!Questions:7. “To take sound away from poetry”, said one poet “is like tearing the wings from a bird”. Poets, like musicians, are sensitive to the effects of sounds. Analyze the lines from To Helen and explain the device of alliteration in your own words.O Captain! My Captain!O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done;The ship has weather‟d every rack, the prize we sought is won;The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:But O heart! heart! heart!O the bleeding drops of red,Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.O Captain! My captain! Rise up and hear the bells:Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;For you bouquets and ribbon‟d wreaths---for you the shores a-crowding;Here Captain! Dear father!This arm beneath your head;It is some dream that on the deck,You‟ve fallen cold and dead.My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;My father does not feel my arm; he has no pulse nor will;The ship is anchor‟d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!But I, with mournful tread,Walk the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.Questions:8. Read the poem lyrics of O Captain! My Captain! By Walt Whitman and analyze it terms of free verse.Invisible manXXV. The Hunting of the Invisible ManFor a space Kemp was too inarticulate to make Adye understand the swift things that had just happened. The tow men stood on the landing, Kemp speaking swiftly, the grasp something of the situation.“He‟s mad,” said Kemp; “inhuman. He is pure selfishness. He thinks of nothing but his own advantage, his own safety. I have listened to such a story this morning of brutal self-seeking! He has wounded men. He will kill them unless we can prevent him. He will create a panic. Nothing can stop him. He is going out now-furious!”“He must be caught,” said Adye. “That is certain.”“But how?” cried Kemp, and suddenly become full of ideas. “You must begin at once. You must set e very available man to work. You must prevent his leaving this district. Once he gets away he may go through the countryside as he wills, killing and maiming. He dreams of a reign of terror! A reign of terror, I tell you. You must set a watch on trains and roads and shipping. The garrison must help. You must write for help. The only thing that may keep him here is the thought of recovering some books of notes he counts of value. I will tell you of that! There is a man in your police station—Marvel.”“I know,” said Adye,” I know. Those books—yes.”“And you must prevent him from eating or sleeping; day and night the country must be astir for him. Food must be locked up and secured, all food, so that he will have to break his way to it. The houses everywhere must be barred against him. Heaven send。
Walt_Whitman
(4) Some of Whitman's poems are politically committed. Before and during the Civil War, Whitman expressed much mourning for the sufferings of the young lives in the battlefield and showed a determination to carry on the fighting dauntlessly until the final victory, as in poems like "Cavalry Crossing a Ford." Later, he wrote down a great many poems to air his sorrow over the death of Lincoln, and one of the famous is "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd."
The themes in Whitman's poetry
His poetry is filled with optimistic expectation and enthusiasm about new things and new epoch. Whitman believed that poetry could play a vital part in the process of creating a new nation. It could enable Americans to celebrate their release from the Old World and the colonial rule. And it could also help them understand their new status and to define themselves in the new world of possibilities. Hence, the abundance of themes in his poetry voices freshness.
美国文学练习问答题
Questions For American LiteratureWeek 1. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)1. Is Franklin a man of religiousprinciples? Why does he stop attending public service?2. Explain 13 virtues Franklinchooses for his moral improvement.3. What is Franklin’s attitudetowards moral perfection?4. What are significance of themoralistic self- discipline, according to Franklin?5. What virtues does Franklinthink he has never achieved?6. Comment on the Criticism that some authors made on Franklin, such as Hawthorn, Lawrence. (History p.53-54)Week 2: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)1.What does “whim”mean in the“Self-reliance”? and why doesEmerson call consistency“foolish”?2.What is an acrostic orAlexandrian stanza characterlike, according to theSelf-relaince?3.Explain “to talk of reliance is apoor external way of speaking.Speak rather of that which relies, because it works and is.”andthe context that gives rise tothis statement in theSelf-reliance.4.What are Emerson’s commentson Jesus Christ in “The DivinitySchool Address”? Pleasecompare it with Thomas Paine’sin The Age of Reason.Week Three：Henry David Thoreau (1817--1862)1.What is the analogy betweenthat striped snake lying on thebottom of the pond and the manin the early spring? How is astray goose like the spirit of thefog?2.What is Thoreau’s understandingof the beauty of an architecture?And what does he think of thearchitectural ornaments? Inwhat cases will a “carpenter”be a “coffin-maker”?3.Why does Thoreau say “Thosethings for which the most moneyis demanded are never thethings which the student mostwants”? What is your commenton Thoreau’s idea of higher education?4.Is Thoreau a quietist or a hermitin the woods of Walden? Why or why not?Week four: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864):1.What did the boy, at nightfall,hear when he was playing with the scattered fragments of marble? And how did he respond?2.What does author compare thekiln with?3.What question struck EthanBrand’s mind on that p ortentous night 18 years ago? Did he find the answer to it after 18-year-wandering in the world?What is it?4.What kind of person is EthanBrand in his youth hood? What causes his transformation? What is the end of his life?5.How does the old dog’s pursuitof his tail parallel Ethan Brand’s search for the Unpardonable Sin?6.What is your understanding ofthe little boy Joe? What virtues does he stand for?Week Five: Herman Melville (1819-1891)1.How did Ahab respond whenMoby-Dick appear before him in the last day of the chasing Moby-Dick? And how did he respond in the last two days before ? Do you think Ahab’s attitudes towards Moby-Dick undergo any changes? Why?2.What are the Fedallah’sprophecy about Ahab’s death?Does it come true? And how? I 3.Who is the only survivor of thePequod? And how?4.What are the symbolic meaningsof Moby-Dick and Captain Ahab?And also the symbolic meaning of the death of the bird of heaven at the end of the novel?5.How do you understand theending sentence: “and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.”?Week 6 Walt Whitman （1819-1892）1.What does Whitman’s “self”refer to? Why is Whitman’s “myself”different from the narrow egotism?2.Why does Whitman call his life’swork Leaves of Grass? What does “a leaf of grass’’ mean to you?T o Whitman?3.What is the ending of Song ofMyself? And how will you respond to Whitman’s invitation?Week 7 Emily Dickinson （1830-1886）1.Dickinson is well-known for herpoetic meditations on dying anddeath. What is so moving and touching in her death meditations? Do you think the speak fears of death? Discuss your understanding with the help of her poems.2.What images does the poetessintroduce in the “Hope”, and how do they work as the metaphors of the idea ---HOPE?3.How does the triumphing humanspirit permeate through Dickinson’s poetry of human suffering? Illustrate your ideas with her specific poems.Week 8 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) 1.How many times is the word“nevermore”repeated? And what inquiries that “I”raised incites the raven to respond to with “Nevermore’?2.Besides “nevermore”, what is(are) the other word or words that you find highly repeated?Why?3.How do Poe’s poems and storiescorrespond to the literary principals he raised in his “Poetic Principles”and “The Philosophy of Composition”?Discuss with Poe’s poems andstories as example.。
惠特曼英文简介
惠特曼英文简介沃尔特·惠特曼，美国著名诗人、人文主义者，他创造了诗歌的自由体，下面是店铺为你整理的惠特曼英文简介，希望对你有用!沃尔特·惠特曼简介Walt Whitman (Walt Whitman, May 31, 1819 - March 26, 1892) was born in Long Island, New York, a famous American poet, humanist, who created the free body of poetry ), Its representative works are poems "grass leaves set".沃尔特·惠特曼生平简介BornPoet. May 31, 1819 was born in Long Island. The father was farming, and the poor moved to Brooklyn, working as a carpenter and building a house. He was interested in the imagination of the socialist thinker and the composer of the democratic thinker, Paine. Whitman studied in public schools, served as rural teachers; childhood also had a messenger, learned typography. Later in the newspaper work, has become editor. He likes to wander, meditate, and enjoy the beauty of nature; but he prefers the city and the streets, like opera, dance, speech, like reading Homer, Greek tragedy and Dante, Shakespeare's works. From February 1846 to January 1848, he was editor of the "Brooklyn Eagle". In 1848 went to New Orleans to edit the newspaper and soon returned to Brooklyn. After five or six years, he helped the old father to build a house, operating a small bookstore, a small printing factory, free to loose, free to wander; and teenager, enjoy and boatman, navigator, coachman, mechanic, fisherman , Handyman, etc. make friends.Grass set1855 "grass leaves set" the first version of the advent of atotal of 12 poems, and finally out of the 9th edition of a total of 383 poems. One of the longest one, that is later known as the "song of their own" that poem. A total of 1336 lines. The content of this poem almost includes the author's main thought of his life, is one of the most important poems of the author. The poem has repeatedly mentioned the grass leaves: grass leaves symbolize all ordinary, ordinary things and ordinary ordinary people. This epic poetry is universally cold, and only Emerson wrote a warm letter to the poet. Whitman received great encouragement from this letter."Grass set" is the most important work of Whitman poetry, named after the concentration of such a poem: "Where there is soil, where there is water, where the long grass." Poems in the poems like the United States The earth's grass, vibrant and exudes attractive aroma. They are world famous masterpiece, created a new era of American national poetry. The author has bold innovation in the form of poetry, created the "free body" of the poetic form, breaking the traditional poetry of the law, to break the sentence as the basis of rhythm, the rhythm of free and unrestrained, Wang Yang unrestrained, Shu volume freely, with blew of momentum and no Not the capacity of the package.1856, the second edition of "grass leaves set" published a total of 32 poems. "All the way through the Brooklyn ferry" is one of the poet's best works. In addition, "the song", "song of the road" is also famous.In 1859, "Saturday Weekly" published on the Christmas number of Whitman's excellent lyrics "from the never-ending swing in the cradle", this is a love and death of the carol. The next year should be a publication of Boston, please print the "grass leaves set" version 3, this poem is the first "official publication".There are 124 new poems, including "from the never-ending swing cradle" and three groups were named "song of democracy", "Adam's descendants", "reed" poetry.War eraDuring the Civil War, Whitman, as a firm democratic fighter, showed his deep humanitarian character. When the war intensified, he took the initiative to Washington to serve as a nurse, all day care and injury of the soldiers, resulting in serious damage to health. His life is very hard, by copying the date, the money saved in the sick and wounded. He served as a nurse for nearly two years, approaching about 100,000 soldiers, and many later kept in touch with him.Postwar lifeAfter the war, Whitman was appointed as a small staff member of the Indian Affairs Office of the Ministry of the Interior. Soon the minister found that he was the author of the "Grass Leaf Set" and dismissed him; he later served in the office of the Minister of Justice for eight years. As a result of the exercise in the civil war, increased experience, political thought has also been improved, his creation has entered a new stage. In 1865, Whitman in New York at their own expense printed his poems in the late civil war "桴 drum set", which received a total of 53 new poems. A few months later he published a sequel, including the memorial Lincoln's famous "recently lilac in the courtyard when the open."沃尔特·惠特曼作品出版情况In 1867 the "grass leaves set" fourth edition only eight new poems, but the income of the "drum set" and its sequel. It is worth noting that the long article published in 1871 "democratic vision", it summed up the author's literary and political ideas.The fifth edition of the "Grass Leaf Set" was printed once in 1871 and 1872.The first income of 13 new poems, the second income general critics recognized as the poet's last important long poem "Road to India" and a few new poems. In January 1873 Whitman was suffering from paralysis, writing ability from also depressed. But his optimism, love and sensitivity to life, his ideal of democracy, or so to death. His old age depressed unsuccessful, in addition to the preparation of several versions, and occasionally write some poetry. In 1876, the 6th edition of the "Grass Leaves" was published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This is a collection of essays, including the two volumes, the first volume of the fifth edition of the content, the second volume he named "two streams", including prose, 18 new poems, "leading to India Road "and poems, poems tend to abstract. The text of the seventh edition (1881-1882) of the "Grass Leaf Set", the title of each poem and the order of the arrangement, have been finalized, and this edition has received 20 new poems. Whitman continued to write poetry until his death in 1892.In 1882 the poet published his essay collection "Typical Days", which included the "democratic vision" article. Published in 1888, "November", the income of 62 new poems and some articles, concentrated poems later income "grass leaves set" 8th edition (1889), and become "poem". In 1891 Philadelphia's publisher published Whitman's new work "Goodbye, my fantasy", where the poem became "grass leaves" and "poem". "9" (1892), including "poem", "seventy years" and "attached poem two" "goodbye, my fantasy." Poet after the death of the poem "Elderly echo", as "with poetry". See 1897 to 1898 published collection,after the collection of the whole collection also income. After 1898 the universal collection, is the so-called "dying version", that is published in 1892 edition 9."Flying in freedom and strength" was incorporated into the second edition of the first semester of the seventh edition of the seventh edition.。
18-19版：(步步高)(全国)Grammar—Revise Noun Clauses(as the
Grammar—Revise Noun Clauses(as the Subject，Object and Predicative)Ⅰ.阅读理解AWalt Whitman was born in 1819 in Long Island，New York.Whitman received most of his education outside of the classroom.At the age of eleven，he worked in a law office as an office boy where he became interested in reading.He was soon reading the works of famous authors like William Shakespeare and Homer，and was well on his way to becoming one of America’s most well-known poets.By the time Whitman was seventeen years old，he had already worked as a printer’s learner，a worker，and a teacher.Though he disliked teaching，he excelled in the profession，developing a friendly relationship with his students; he even allowed them to address him by his first name.He also developed fresh teaching techniques and learning games to help his students with spelling and maths.In his early twenties，however，he gave up teaching to pursue(追求) a full-time career as a journalist and poet.When Walt Whitman first appeared as a poet，his arrival onto the American literary scene was met with controversy.His first collection of poems，Lea v es of Grass，was so unusual that no commercial publisher would print the work.In 1855 Whitman published，at his own expense，the first edition of his collection of twelve poems.Whitman’s poetic style was uncommon in the sense that he wrote poems in a form called parallelism(对句法)，in which his goal was to copy the flow of the sea and the quickly-passing nature of human emotion.A common theme in Whitman’s poetry is self-realization.In his work，Whitman moves from conventional patterns of rhyme to create a unique rhythm and a multi-layered，but truly American voice.“Although Whitman was considered a revolutionary by many，there is little doubt he loved his country deeply.” In his writing，he used slang(俚语) and various images，or voices，to create a sense of national unity.For Whitman，the “proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it”.Whitman has undoubtedly become a part of the cultural history and image of America.语篇解读本文介绍了Walt Whitman作为诗人所做出的贡献。
美国文学-Walt Whitman
• He has been compared to a mountain in American literary history. • His innovations in diction and versification, his frankness about sex, his inclusion of the commonplace and the ugly and his censure of the weakness of the American democratic practice—these paved his way to a share of immortality in American Literature.
poetry anthology
• Through out Whitman’s life, Leaves of Grass went through 9 editions: 1855, 1856, 1860, 1867, 1871, 1876, 1881, 1889, 1891-92. • The first edition of Leaves of grass contained 12 poems, not sell well but it made a stir on the American literary scene. Because it broke with the poetic convention and expressed the pleasures of sex and the sensuality of the body, it was criticized as “noxious weeds”, “poetry of barbarism”.
Song of Myself(节选) by Walt Whitman Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself. 我不能，其他任何人也不能替你走那条路， 你必须自己走。 It is not far, it is within reach, Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not know, Perhaps it is everywhere on water and on land. 它并不遥远，它是可以到达的。 也许你一出生就已在那条路上了，不自知而为之， 或许这路在水中、于陆上，处处都有。
006040000英美文学选读课程考试说明
006040000 英美文学选读课程考试说明一、本课程使用的教材、大纲英美文学选读课程指定使用的教材为《英美文学选读》（附大纲），全国高等教育自学考试指导委员会组编，张伯香主编，外语教学与研究出版社，1999年版。
二、本课程的试卷题型及试题难易程度1.试卷题型结构表2.试卷分别针对识记、领会、简单应用、综合应用四个认知及能力层次命制试题，四个层次在试卷中所占的比例大致为识记占20%，领会占30%，简单应用占30%，综合应用占20%。
3.试卷难易度大致可分为容易、中等偏易、中等偏难、难四个等级，试卷中不同难易度试题所占的分数比例，大致为容易占20%，中等偏易占30%，中等偏难占30%，难占20%。
三、各章内容分数的大致分布根据自学考试大纲的要求，试卷在命题内容的分布上，兼顾考核的覆盖面和课程重点，力求点面结合。
教材具体各章所占分值情况如下：四、考核重点及难点上篇英国文学第一章文艺复兴时期（1）文艺复兴运动概述；（2）文艺复兴时期的文学；（3）文艺复兴时期的主要作家：埃德蒙·斯宾塞；克里斯托夫·马洛；威廉·莎士比亚；弗兰西斯·培根；约翰·邓恩；约翰·弥尔顿。
第二章新古典主义时期（1）启蒙运动；（2）新古典主义；（3）新古典主义时期的启蒙文学。
（4）新古典主义时期的主要作家：约翰·班扬；亚历山大·蒲伯；丹尼尔·笛福；乔纳森·斯威夫特；亨利·菲尔丁；塞缪尔·约翰逊；理查德·比·谢立丹；托马斯·格雷。
第三章浪漫主义时期（1）浪漫主义时期概述；（2）浪漫主义时期的主要作家：威廉·布莱克；威廉·华兹华斯；塞·特·柯勒律治；乔治·戈登·拜伦；珀·比·雪莱；约翰·济慈；简·奥斯汀。
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09 英语 7班张吉林 092010070050
Why Walt Whitman is a great controversial poet?
Walt Whitman(May 31, 1819 –March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse.[1]His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.
Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and – in addition to publishing his poetry – was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. After a stroke towards the end of his life, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. He died at age 72 and his funeral became a public spectacle.
Whitman's sexuality is often discussed alongside his poetry. Though biographers continue to debate his sexuality, he is usually described as either homosexual or bisexual in his feelings and attractions.[4] However, there is disagreement among biographers as to whether Whitman had actual sexual experiences with men.[5] Whitman was concerned with politics throughout his life. He supported the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the extension of slavery generally. His poetry presented an egalitarian view of the races, and at one point he called for the abolition of slavery, but later he saw the abolitionist movement as a threat to democracy.
Sexuality
Whitman was believed to have had an intimate relationship Whitman's sexuality is generally assumed to be homosexual or bisexual based on his poetry, though that has been at times disputed.[4] His poetry depicts love and sexuality in a more earthy, individualistic way common in American culture before the medicalization of sexuality in the late 19th century.[121] Though Leaves of Grass was often labeled pornographic or obscene, only one critic remarked on its author's presumed sexual activity: in a November 1855 review, Rufus Wilmot
Griswold suggested Whitman was guilty of "that horrible sin not to be mentioned among Christians"Whitman had intense friendships with many men and boys throughout his life. Some biographers have claimed that he may not have actually engaged in sexual relationships with maleswhile others cite letters, journal entries and other sources which they claim as proof of the sexual nature of some of his relationships.
The above reasons indicate that Walt Whitman is a contronvisal poet.。