Preface to Leaves of Grass
Song of Myself
I Hear America Singing/O Captain! My Captain!
Vocabulary
Literary Terms
100

How does Whitman believe America views the past?

Whitman believes that America does not "repel the past" but instead views the past as a way to learn from its mistakes. 

100

What seems to happen to Whitman at the end of the poem?

Whitman dies and is buried himself. 

100

What types of jobs does Whitman highlight in "I Hear America Singing?"

manual laborers
100

more abundant

What is ampler?

100

 A writing technique that uses words that relate to the five senses to create vivid descriptions and evoke emotions in the reader.

What is sensory diction?

200

Why does Whitman view America as the greatest country?

America despite being so diverse and containing multitudes of races, cultures, and perspectives, comes together as a united nation.
200

What Whitman's views on death in "Song of Myself" 

Walt Whitman's poetry on death includes a variety of ideas, including the belief that death is a part of life's cycle, that the soul is immortal, and that death is a time of rebirth in the form of grass.

200

What is the allegory in "I Hear America Singing?"

The varied carols represent the diversity of the different roles that America's  unappreciated workers fulfill. 

200

Something that is full to the brim and everywhere

What is teeming?

200

A literary device that involves placing two or more things side by side to highlight their differences or similarities.

What is juxtaposition?

300

What does Whitman mean when he mentions, "the new life of the new forms?"

America is free from past traditions, and embraces a new way of living per generation.

300

The main theme of the poem

All human life should be celebrated because he believed in the equality of all individuals. 

300

Who is the captain in O Captain! My Captain!

Abe Lincoln

300

Something that is abundant

What is prolific?

300

is a collection of people, objects, ideas, and other elements in list form within poetry or prose

What is catalogue? 

400

What does Whitman compare America to?

A poem

400

What does Whitman mean when he says to "put creeds and schools in abeyance?"

We should acknowledge religious teachings and education but learn to think on our own.

"I harbor for good or bad. I permit to speak at every hazard. Nature without check with original energy."

400

What are the two behaviors being contrasted with each other in "O Captain! My Captain!"

The crowd's exulting and the speaker's devastation towards Lincoln's death.

400

wide range; expansive

What is breadth?

400

A type of figurative language where a word actually looks or sounds like the sound it is intended to make.

What is onomatopoeia?

500

What quality does Whitman believe makes America has that makes it a hero?

Its hospitality

500

Meaning of the following lines:
"These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me, / If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing. . . . "

Whitman's poetry and thoughts are those in which mankind from every time period and part of the planet thinks about. 

500

A large number of people or things

What is multitude?

500

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences

What is anaphora?