瓦尔特惠特曼 Walt Whitman.ppt

Walt Whitman (1819 –1892) Introduction to Walt Whitman(1819 –1892) American poet, essayist ,journalist, and humanist A part of the transition between Transcendentalism（超验主义，先验论） and Realism The father of free verse Born in 1819 on Long Island, New York Poor Semiliterate(半文盲的） parents, only 5-6 years formal education, self-educated Worked as an office boy, printing worker, school teacher(1836), free-lance writer In 1842 he was an editor of the Aurora [ɔ:rɔ:rə] and from 1846 to 1848 he was editor of the Brooklyn Eagle Supported slavery abolishing, dismissed from his job Served as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War Died in 1892, unmarried all his life Whitman’s Major Works Leaves of Grass «草叶集» a collection of poems 9 editions (1855, 1856, 1867, 1871, 1876 ） 2 volumes: Leaves of Grass， Two Rivulets 《两条小河》, 1881, 1889, 1891-1892 (or the “Deathbed Edition” 《临终版本》) 12 poems over400 poems Including “Song of Myself” 《自我之歌》 “There Was a Child Went Forth” 《有个小孩走过来》 “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” 《过布鲁克林渡口》 “Democratic Vistas” 《民主的前景》 “Passage to India” 《向印度行进》 Features of Whitman’s poetry The use of a certain pronoun “I” Two principles Parallelism or a rhyme of thought Phonetic recurrence ( the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of the line, in the middle or at the end) E.g. I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you 3. The adopt of “free verse”---poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme 4. The use of colorful words and vivid images Language 1.strong tendency to use oral English 2. vocabulary – powerful, colourful, rarely-used words, words of foreign origins, sometimes even wrong words Major Themes in His Poetry Equality of things and beings Divinity of everything Multiplicity of nature Self-reliant spirit Death, beauty of death Expansion of America Brotherhood and social solidarity (unity of nations in the world) Pursuit of love and happiness Significa