WaltWhitman简介.ppt

Walt Whitman Emily Dickinson  (1819---1892) (1830---1886) Whitman was honored on a?Famous Americans Series?Postal issue, in 1940 One of the great innovators in American literature He gave American its first genuine epic poem: Leaves of Grass. * Walt Whitman Life story Major works Special features of works * Biographical Introduction Born on May 31, 1819, the second son of a house-builder Largely self-taught, acquainted with the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible. In 1836, as a teacher in the one-room school houses of Long Island Continuing to teach until 1841, then turning to journalism as a full-time career. * A democrat An individualist A nationalist A pantheist(泛神论） An American free verse poet Biographical Introduction * An individualist tried to find a way to express his unique feelings about himself, the nation, and the cosmos. created a style and language of his own. greatly influenced by Emerson, the transcendental（先验论的） master. but not self-exclusion. Instead, he thinks that many people could realize a community while remaining individuals. Biographical Introduction * Major Works Leaves of Grass A collection of Whitman’s poems, his lifelong achievement. Consisting of 12 poems when first published in 1855. over the next 37 years it appeared in five revised editions and three reissues. The most famous pieces----Song of Myself, There Was a Child Went Forth, Pioneers! Pioneers! etc. With new poetic form of free verse and oral language, Leaves of Grass has become a landmark in American literary history, which represents the poet, the people, and the nation in the 19th century America and celebrates the future of the nation and the ideals of equality and democracy. * (2) Democratic Vistas (1871) The main themes are the ideals of democracy and individualism, which the author considers to be compatible. Whitman outlines a new culture order for the U.S. He condemns the degra