1. How History Influences Texts
American Masters:
Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson

2. Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892)
One of the most influential poets in the American canon
Called “the father of free verse,” but he did not invent it
Concerned with politics, opposed to slavery

3. Free Verse TWPS (Think Write Pair Share)
On your own, describe what you think “free verse” might mean…

4. Free Verse
Verse composed of variable, usually unrhymed lines having no fixed metrical pattern.
Follows the natural pattern of speaking.

5. Philosophical / Political Assumptions
Whitman’s Poetry . . .
Presents all humans as brothers and sisters (an egalitarian view of the races)
Celebrates America’s democratic spirit and the heroism within common Americans
Has a distinctly American voice (he is called America’s first “poet of democracy”)

6. What is egalitarian?
Adjective: Affirming, promoting, or characterized by belief in equal political, economic, social, and civil rights for all people.

7. Style Breaks the boundaries of poetic form and is generally prose-like
Includes unusual images and symbols, such as rotting leaves, tufts of straw, and debris
“Taboo” subjects such as death and sexuality are discussed openly

8. How is the symbolism similar and different to the Romantics? TPWS

9. Whitman’s Poetic Elements
Cadence – the natural, rhythmic rise and fall of language as it is normally spoken
Catalog poem – a list of things, people, events or ideas
Free verse – poetry without rhyme or meter
Repetition – repeating words, sounds, syllables, or other elements

10. Catalog Poem: Use one of the following words to write a catalog poem of 7-10 lines:
School
Obama
Twitter
Nature

11. Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)
Published only seven poems during her lifetime, and even these were significantly altered by publishers to bring them in line with conventional poetic rules of the time
Most of her remaining poems (nearly 1800 of them) discovered in attic after her death
Editors and critics were skeptical of her talent during her lifetime and into the early 20th century
Now considered to be a major American poet

12. Philosophical / Political Assumptions
Left no formal statement of her aesthetic intentions
Her work does not conveniently fit into any one genre
Her poetry often deals with themes of death and immortality

13. Style No titles Short lines Slant rhymes
Unconventional capitalization & punctuation
Extensive use of dashes
Idiosyncratic vocabulary and imagery

14. Types of poems
Flower / Garden: in these poems, flowers are often symbols of emotions or actions
Master (or Signor): many poems address an unnamed “Master,” “Sir,” or “Signor,” who she calls her “lover for all eternity”
Morbidity: numerous poems reveal fascination with illness, dying, and death
Gospel: poems addressed to Christ or concerned with his teachings
Landscape of the Spirit: poems describe conversations with her own soul or visits to an imaginary landscape where her soul or spirit reside

15. Dickinson’s Poetic Elements
Analogy – A comparison made between two things to show how they are alike
Irony – A discrepancy between appearances and reality
Slant rhyme – A rhyming sound that is not exact

16. Common Poetic Elements
Imagery – the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, thing, place, or experience
Symbol – A person, place, thing or event that has meaning in itself and also stands for something more than itself
Metaphor – A figure of speech that compares two unlike things without using like, as, than or resembles
Simile – A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using like, as, than, or resembles
Personification – A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

17. Quick Write
Of American Masters, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, which one are you most looking forward to reading ? Explain why.