The purpose of my essay was to bring together the lyrical world of Walt Whitman and the visual world of the Hudson River School. Both Whitman and the painters in the Hudson River School worked in the early-to-mid-eighteen-hundreds, and both created works that captured the hearts of America. The poems that I mainly focused on […]
Author Archive | Joseph
Walt Whitman and The Hudson River School
Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice, Be not dishearten’d, affection shall solve the problems of freedom yet, Those who love each other shall become invincible, They shall yet make Columbia Victorious” Walt Whitman The idea that poetry, or even consciousness, can set one free of the ruins of history and culture is the grand […]
Silence in “Another Nameless Prostitute Says the Man Is Innocent”
One of the most intriguing elements attached to Martin Espada’s “Another Nameless Prostitute Says the Man Is Innocent” is the fact that NPR refused to release the poem due to its subject matter. The poem centers around the story of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist who was “…widely believed to have been framed in the death […]
“I Love Old Whitman So”
In Allen Ginsberg’s “I love Old Whitman So”, we see that he is gripped emotionally by Whitman through the many references to Whitman’s work throughout the poem and we also see Ginsberg attempt to capture Whitman as Whitman did himself to others. In the poem there seems to be moments in which Ginsberg is taking […]
Hope and belief in Langston Hughes’ “I,Too”
I’ve always been familiar with Langston Hughes’ work, but reading him after Whitman has been a very eye-opening experience. His reactions to Whitman as a poet, an American, and a human being are complex due to the ways in which he applies his own personal experience and views in the work. In “I,Too” we read […]
Seeking Help from Nature in “To the Sun-set Breeze”
In “To the Sun-set Breeze” we once again see a Whitman who is frail, tired, and old. As we discussed in class, it seems strange to think that Whitman would write in such a defeated way seeing as his early work expressed vitality, youth, and the ability to fully express ones self. Here, as we’ve […]
Creating a New Narrative, “Prayer of Columbus”
“Prayer of Columbus” is an interesting and somewhat perplexing poem to me due to the fact that Whitman, like he did at times in “Leaves of Grass”, attempts to write as though he understands those outside of himself in much deeper way. It’s interesting to me that Whitman would write a poem where he is […]
Moving Forward in “Reconciliation”
Whitman’s poem “Reconciliation” dwells on death and the end of something while also attempting to move forward by the end. Throughout the poem there are clashing elements in the language, Whitman clashes death with life in this brief poem. He also looks death in the face by the end; literally. My favorite thing about the […]