Background
Through his poetry, what did Whitman try to celebrate?
Options: America, human dignity, American values, individuality, democracy, nature, empathy for others.
Which of Whitman's poems is an elegy, honoring Abraham Lincoln?
"O Captain! My Captain!"
What is Whitman's most famous book?
Leaves of Grass
This movement began and ended in years?
The Romantic period started around 1820-30 and ended around 1865-70.
Whitman and Dickinson lived during what century?
The 19th century.
Whitman traveled down the Mississippi meeting many different American: farmers, soldiers, laborers. He included these people in what poem?
"I Hear America Singing"
What was Whitman's stance on slavery and the abolitionist movement?
He rejected slavery and supported the abolitionists.
Who is the important literary figure who praised Whitman's poetry?
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What about the literature from the 1700s didn't the Romantic writers like?
They thought it was too mechanical, impersonal and artificial.
Romanticism was a reaction to the strict beliefs of whom?
The Puritans.
What sort of education did Whitman have?
He was largely self-taught.
At the outbreak of the war, what sort of life did Whitman vow to live?
He vowed to live a "purged" and "cleansed" life.
What is free verse?
Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter.
What did the Romantics emphasize in their literature?
Options: Beauty, nature, and the goodness of humans.
What did some people NOT like about Whitman's poetry?
Options: the form, style and subject matter
Whitman lived in poverty most of his life but finally earned enough money from sales of Leaves of Grass to purchase what (near the end of his life)?
A home.
Where did Whitman work during the war in an effort to help soldiers?
He worked in a hospital caring for injured soldiers.
Why did Whitman write in first person?
To represent his voice--as well as the voice of other humans/Americans.
What form of Romantic literature what considered the highest embodiment of imagination?
Poetry.
Romanticism refers to a 19th century American movement that pertains to what?
Art, literature and music.
Whitman had many jobs throughout his life. Name three of them.
Options include: printer, editor, poet, nurse/doctor's helper, teacher.
In 1862 Whitman traveled to Washington DC to do what?
He cared for his brother who had been injured in the war.
How many poems were in Whitman's first and last editions of Leaves of Grass?
12 poems in the first edition; almost 400 poems in the last edition.
What are the 5 'I's' that characterize Romanticism?
Imagination Intuition Idealism Inspiration Individuality
Dickinson and Whitman's poetry is often placed together because of what similar style?
They both limit use of traditional/true rhyme and both use parallel structure.