Poetry

If I were alive during the same time period as Emily dickinson and walt whitman I would probably listen or read Whitmans poems more than Emily Dickinson's poems. I would probably readd both of them if I read poetry at all though I do not think I would read poetry as I truly despise poetry and even if i lived in their time I do not think that I would like poetry still. I think it is boring and there is to many ways to interept a poem i prefer to know things not the try and interperet things. Though if I had to choose i would probably listen to whitman more because his poems in my opinion have a different feel to them as emily dickinson's poems do. He has I think better literature and better feel for poetry. Plus I really dislke Emily Dickinson, I think she should not write about life when all she did was observe other people lving it. Who is she to write about love and God when she has not experienced either becasue all she did was sit inside her hous and stare outside. Though to be honest I really doubrt that I would listen or read poetry anyway. I really do hate poetry because i think it is pointless and to touchy feely for me. Whitman is I suppsoe the lesser of two evils when it comes to poetry though and that is why I would probaly listen to or read his poems more than I would emily dickinsons but I wouldnt listen or read wither of them unless forced to, by my teachers...

Emily Dickinson Criticism

Emily Dickinson was an eccentric lady who for the majority of her life was a recluse. She never went outside or talked to people but rather she stayed bottled up. Most of the poetry Dickinson wrote was about her observations on human life. She could not right about what she did or felt because she stayed in side so much, so rather than a poem about talking to a man she writes about watching a man and woman talk. This fact gives her poems a very distinct personality to them, they are pretty unique in how they are written. The poem He ate and drank the precious words is poem written by Emily Dickinson. The poem HE ate and drank the precious words is a poem about a man who presume listen to a speaker, maybe a patriot or maybe a clergymen. The man is overcome by the words of the speaker. He forgets his troubles, he is poor and frail, "He danced along the dingy days,"(Dickinson) as the story says. "And this bequest of wings
Was but a book. What liberty
A loosened spirit brings!"(Dickinson) This last sentence makes me think that the man is more taken by a reverend or a pastor than by like a patriotic person. Dickinson says " Was but a book..."(Dickinson) Whenever I think of something having a life changing event and there is a book involved I assume the Bible. Especially at the time that Dickinson wrote this the country was greatly religious. Everyone went to church and prayed. There was no Bloom's Criticism on this poem so I do not have much to compare my criticism too. Dickinson used really good imagery, when she wrote "He danced along the dingy days," (Dickinson) I can imagine the person who is always happy and go-lucky even when the day for you or I is supper crummy. That person who can always see the silver lining to any cloud. I suppose you could also think that the poem is a man getting drunk. Since Dickinson mentions spirits so many times as well as how he ate and drank them. The man could be forgetting his troubles just as easy with liquor in his hand as he could by becoming motivated and captivated by a cause form a speaker. Though in my opinion this poem was meant to be taken more literal and really does not have a hidden meaning like some other poets poems always seemed to *cough* Whitman *cough* Dickinson was a very straight foreword poet who just liked to write about her little observations that she made from his window. Dickinson had some pretty cool poems and pretty interesting observations about people and human nature from how she saw the people react with each other.

Dickinson, Emily. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown, 1924; Bartleby.com, 2000. www.bartleby.com/113/. [March 23, 2011].

The Heart asks Pleasure First

Emily Dickinson was a crazy old lady who wrote poems about things she observed from people who passed by here. Though in my opinion some one can not really write about life and stuff about it when their own life is nothing but watching other people. How do you write about life when she really is not even living her own life. Anyway, this poem is about human nature, the first line "the heart asks pleasure first" means exactly what it says. The most important thing to people is them having pleasure like how drug addicts only care about being high. The second line "And then, excuse from pain;" the second line is straightforward too. It just means that pain is the thing we all strive to avoid because we do not want to hurt. the third line "And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering;" Is a little trickier because anodynes means medicine that help to alleviate pain but obviously deaden people are people who do not need medicine to alleviate any pain because they are dead. SO I think it means they need medicine to help their dead self or soul so not a real dead personjj

An Army Corps on the March

An Army Corps on the March is a poem by Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman was a poet during the civil war era who greatly changed the way poetry was viewed, used, and even thought about. Whitman was a revolutionary idealist who covered a broad range of topics from war to God to even his own homosexuality. The section in his book Leaves of Grass called Drum-Taps can mean a lot of things but for the most part the section and the poems inside of it focus on war and Lincoln, a man whom Whitman revered greatly. In the Drum-Taps section the poem I chose to analyze is An Army Corps on The Move. Just from the title, which is also the first line we already know that on the surface this poem is about an Army moving, presumably on the warpath. Knowing Whitman was in the Civil War and on the Union side we can assume that the army is a Union army and is going to fight a confederate army. The second line "With now the sound of a single shot snapping like a whip, and now an irregular volley," (Whitman.) This line brings to mind the long lines of men firing in to another long line of men, the most common civil war tactic. The part that says "With now the sound of a single shot snapping" (Whitman). Is meant to bring to mind the idea of a single man firing the first shot in a battle. Then " and now an irregular volley" (Whitman). This part is to represent how everyone starts to fire at each other after the first shot. On the surface this poem represents a war and a battle more specifically but in my opinion it represents the world as a whole too. The first line really represents like the idea of a trend. if on person does something then everyone does that too. Like clothes or an accessory ideas like that will sweep the globe as fast as people may start shooting at each other in a battle. The criticism I read was pretty stupid and did not really talk about a meaning and just sort of said "Yeah it is about soldiers and how they are getting shot at" so I can not really make any comparisons or contrasts from my views and the criticisms views since it did not have any. I thought this poem was pretty cool and I liked the meaning behind it. I thought Whitman did a really good job of giving the poem a double meaning, with it signifying not only soldiers in battle but also each and every on of the people that might read his poem as well.


Oliver, Charles M. "'An Army Corps on the March'." Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWW023&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 10, 2011).

Whitman, Walt. "AN ARMY CORPS ON TWaltHE MARCH. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. .

Ages and Ages

Walth Whitmman, to borrow from the movie Toy Story was one sad strange little man. Of course it is pretty well known Whitman was a bit eccentric the poem Ages and Ages Returning at Intervals REALLY shows how strange he was. The line "
Lusty, phallic, with the potent original loins, perfectly sweet,

I, chanter of Adamic songs, " (Whitman) Is a good example of how strang Whit man really was. Just that line is enough to make almost any person sstop and have a giant what the eff moment. Jokes aside, the poem is a bit weird but does have a kind of cool meaning. As said by Blooms Literary reference "

The Adam of the Garden of Eden is, for the poet, "immortal": "Ages and ages returning at intervals, / Undestroy'd, wandering immortal." And sexual: "Lusty, phallic, with the potent original loins, perfectly sweet." And Adam has been reborn in America.

The poet reminds the reader that he himself is the "chanter of Adamic songs" for "the new garden the West." He sings the song of America and of its growing significance for the mid-19th century world. And he turns the sex act into a time of purification, a metaphor for a cleansing in the new garden from the stains of the Old World. "Bathing myself," he says, "bathing my songs in Sex."" ( Oliver).

The Bloom's analysis really hit the nail on the head hear. Whitman is talking about how we are all sons of Adam and he thinks that America is the new Garden of Eden and we need to enjoy it. Towards the end of the poem whitman also talks about how "

Bathing myself, bathing my songs in Sex,

Offspring of my loins." (Whitman) What he means by this line is that the poems he writes are the offspring of his. Like children they represent him and what he is.

He thinks of his poems are little representations of himself. This is sort of how God thinks of humans are offsprings of himself and little pieces of himself in each person there is. Whitman says that it is a sin to suppress our sexual urges more than it could ever be a sin to have sex. Blooms says "For Whitman, here as in other Children of Adam poems, it is the suppression of sexual intercourse that is the sin, not the act itself. The act becomes a rebirth into a life free of sin." (Whitman). I thought this poem was pretty interesting if not a bit oddly worded and made to seem generally strange tot he reader as if they were reading a sort of sexual journal by Whitman. I had to read it several times before the what in world idea about the poem finally wore off and I could figure out what in the world the poem could mean. It certainly is not a poem that would sound harmless if it were taken out of context, no this poem could easily seem crazy and homosexual to anyone who did not understand the reasong behind the poem or hidden meanigns in it.

Oliver, Charles M. "'Ages and Ages Returning at Intervals'."Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWW010&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 3, 2011)

Whitman, Walt. "AGES AND AGES RETURNING AT INTERVALS.. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

Bardic Poem

Whitman is a supposed classic American poet. In reality most of his poems are not nearly as good as people pretend they are and he does not even use proper form and stuff for his poems. Everyone makes a big deal out of his writing when in reality most of his poems are not that deep. There is so much confusion about Whitman's poems because he had a few really good deep poems so naturally everyone assumes the idea that every single one of his poems is deep and has meaning when in reality some times there is not a deeper meaning about things. He just wanted to write a poem on it. Not everything can or should be related to God or Self or anything like that. When people start looking to much into things most of the meaning they come up with is different and that is what confuses them. If they look at the poem as a poem first and a hidden subterfuge of literation second they would be a lot better off. For example if I were to say roses are violets are blue i am dumb so are you. If Walt Whitman were to write the same poem then the roses and violets would represent the earth and all of its colors. The I am dumb part represents the world population and their stupidity. Finally the and so are you part represents our views on everyone and how we think they are dumb when in reality so are we. Then people would argue about how the poem also represents God and Whitman and his self. I have always thought that people often over react to poetry and I think it is dumb. No one just reads the poems to enjoy them they want to just analyze them even when some times there is nothing for the critics to analyze. Walt whitman was a good poet but I am turned off his work by the critics

Savantism

Walt Whitman was an american icon who wrote hundreds of poems in his life. Some of these poems are still read today and cherished. Savantism is NOT one of these poems. I have never even heard of this poem much less is it popular. Blooms literary reference guide has under 200 words on Savantism, which is odd because even though it is a short odd little poem I interpreted quite a bit from it.Bloom's criticism interpreted the poem as being about wise a trusted people. Blooms said the line " Thither we also, I with my leaves and songs, trustful, admirant,
As a father to his father going takes his children along with him." (Whitman). Meant that Whitman wanted his poems to be remembered as being wise and truthful and honest poems. He wanted all of his poetry to be remember favorable basically. I do not agree with Blooms reference on this poem. In my own opinion, the poem is about baggage. How he is talking about how everything goes with everything. When Whitman write's the line "Thither we also, I with my leaves and songs, trustful, admirant,
As a father to his father going takes his children along with him.
" (Whitman) He is really saying that like a father brings his son a long with him to different places Whitman brings his poetry a long with him wherever he goes. he can't escape it, it is always there. Blooms think the poem means "The poet wants his "leaves and songs [to be] trustful, admirant"—poems to be trusted as truthful and, therefore, admired." (Oliver). I do not think they really analysed the meaning of the poem as much as they did the meaning of the words. For instance when Whitman says "
THITHER as I look I see each result and glory retracing itself and
nestling close, always obligated,
Thither hours, months, years—thither trades, compacts, establish-
ments, even the most minute, " (Whitman). He is talking about how everything we do, every last second of our life is obligated to us. Rather it is bound to us, it becomes us. We can't escape what we do with our life because it is us. I think the Blooms criticism fell short of this poem dramatically and I strongly disagree with it. I think me disagreeing with it so much really has to do with how little into the poem the author of the criticism read. He clearly just took it at face value which you can never ever do for a poem. He looked up the meaning of a word, related it some how to the poem and called it done. Had he really read in to the poem, especially the last line. He would have seen that the poems are more like something following him rather than something he hopes will become successful. I was actually pretty surprised by how interesting this poem was because it was so short and nobody ever talks about ti being so interesting but I thought it was a pretty cool poem


Oliver, Charles M. "'Savantism'." Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWW407&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 2, 2011).

Whitman, Walt. "SAVANTISM. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 02 Mar. 2011.