23 pages • 46 minutes read
Walt WhitmanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
1. Consider the first three specific people the speaker observes: the young men, the mother, and the wife. Speculate about the cause of each person’s misery. What kinds of “deeds done” (line 4) might the young men be “at anguish” (3) and “remorseful” (4) about? In what ways has the mother been misused by her children? In what ways may the wife have been misused by her husband? Why might Whitman have left the specific causes of suffering somewhat open to interpretation?
2. Think about the grammatical structure of the poem’s long sentences. How does Whitman connect clauses? Consider punctuation and use of conjunctions as you form your answer. How do the sentence structures emphasize the theme of equality?
3. What is the overall tone of the poem? Choose three words to describe the tone. Although the words you choose will likely be negative, does the poem as a whole offer any kind of positive message? Consider the speaker’s act of recording his observations as you formulate your answer.
4. As a class, watch this 5-minute film, which provides a visual, modern-day interpretation of Whitman’s poem as it is read aloud (Note: the film contains some violent images and mentions of suicide and rape).
By Walt Whitman
A Glimpse
Walt Whitman
America
Walt Whitman
A Noiseless Patient Spider
Walt Whitman
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Walt Whitman
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
Walt Whitman
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Walt Whitman
For You O Democracy
Walt Whitman
Hours Continuing Long
Walt Whitman
I Hear America Singing
Walt Whitman
I Sing the Body Electric
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
Song of Myself
Walt Whitman
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Walt Whitman
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Walt Whitman
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
Walt Whitman