AMERICAN LITERATURE ASSIGNMENT 2

Read Walt Whitman’s “Song of the Open Road” and answer the questions below using your own ideas. Do not exceed the sentence limit!

Deadline: 13 April 2015.

1/ What is the poem about? (up to 5 sentences)

The poem presents the road as the central thing in the community: “Home to the houses of men and women”. It shares peoples’ feelings of being loved, sad or baffled. The poem concentrates on the things that people have in common like sensations or experiences which they share with each other in the central place which is the road. The road is also a great place for meditation and inspiration – people may fill up themselves with an excitement; the sense of being ready to do great things and ability to cross their limits.

2/ What meaning does it convey in your opinion? (up to 8 sentences)

In my opinion, the road may have several symbolic meanings. The first one may be literally the road although important but common and unnoticeable thing. It can also symbolize the human’s life as the road throughout different stages, new experiences and feelings. People have to tend to gain knowledge and wisdom by discovering surrounding world. For the poet, the road is a source of inspiration – he finds it a place where many new opportunities can be found whereas for others: for example, for travellers it is a part of their journey. The author compares the indoor world with the outdoor one – which is the road. He favours the latter over the former because: “Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticism, strong and content I travel the open road.”

3/ Comment on the form of the poem. (up to 5 sentences)

The form of the poem, as the title suggest, has many characteristics of song: for example, musical rhythm; but is lacks clear rhymes. The author addresses the road directly: “You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all that is here”. The author uses many personifications, like: “The earth expanding right hand and left hand”; “I believe you have imparted to yourselves, and now would impart the same secretly to me”. In majority of parts of the poem is written in the form of the lists of enumerations: for example, “You air […]You objects […] You light […] You paths…” ; “The earth […], The picture […], The music […], The cheerful voice”. The author repeats someexclamation phrases many times, like: “Allons!”

4/ Does the poem refer to the transcendentalists’ views in any way? If so, how? (up to 8 sentences)

From the transcendental point of view the poem partially fits to some aspects. Transcendentalists claimed that being close to nature results in gaining new experiences, as so does the author says using words: “Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first, Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d, I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.” Another characteristic is the condemnation of tradition and custom, which in “Song of the Open Road” is said in lines: “All religion, all solid things, arts, governments—all that was or is apparent upon this globe or any globe, falls into niches and corners before the procession of souls along the grand roads of the universe”. The importance of believing in the future and the individualism in discovering the world are also shown. Furthermore, emphasised need of spiritual living is present in the poem: “Now I re-examine philosophies and religions, They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds and along the landscape and flowing currents”. The spiritual life is also the one of the personal importance.

5/ Is the poem typical of Whitman’s output? (up to 5 sentences)

Whitman’s poetry consists of many issues and scenes. The Song of the Open Road also brings up matters of: religion, individual, soul, nature or poetry. He doesn’t trust historians and poets from the past which is also shown in the Song of Myself. The author admires himself both in the Song of Myself: “And I know the spirit of God is the brother of my own” and in The Song of the Open Road: “Whoever denies me it shall not trouble me, Whoever accepts me he or she shall be blessed and shall bless me”.

6/ Compare and contrast the poem with Emily Dickinson’s poem no 74. (up to 15 sentences)

The Emily Dickinson’s poetry concentrates on the subjects like life and death. The poem 74 is also a description of the life, which isn’t endlessness. Beauty of the ladies and gentlemen’s is as fading as the most wonderful seasons of the year – summer. Everything started and will end up with the dust. Comparing this poem to Whitman’s Song of the Open Road, although different, we can find some similarities. As far as the differences, the most obvious one is the length of the poems: Whitman’s full of details - Dickinson’s concise. Another thing that differentiates the two is the structure and form: Song of the Open Road lacks clear rhymes, while Poem 74 we can find some rhythmical system: girls-curls; Bees-these. Dickinson uses a lot of Capital Letters to emphasise the importance of words, which is not present in Whitman’s writings. If mentioning similarities, it should be said that both authors use personification: Whitman personifies the road and Dickinson the mansion which ceases. What is more, they share the same subject: the nature being the part of human lives.