惠特曼的草叶集简介(英文).ppt

Leaves of Grass On July 4, 2005, we celebrated the 150th anniversary of what is possibly the greatest book of American poetry ever written Leaves of Grass Well-known poems in the 1855 edition include Song of Myself, a long poem in fifty-two sections, which is considered by many to be his masterpiece. It contains such notable lines as I am large, I contain multitudes and I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, / If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. Leaves of Grass Upon publication, he sent a copy to Ralph Waldo Emerson. The letter from Emerson included the now famous line: I greet you at the beginning of a great career.“ Leaves of Grass grew through its five subsequent versions in eight editions into a hefty book of 389 poems, in fourteen sprawling sections: Each section is self-contained, as if it were a book in itself. Leaves of Grass Reactions to Whitman have been at both extremes: his book has been banned for sensuality one decade, and then praised as the cornerstone of American poetics the next. With the upcoming 150th anniversary, Americas poets and critics have found unmediated love for our most American poet, the man who came to shape their ideas of nationhood, democracy, and freedom. It is unlikely to become a buried masterpiece again. Leaves of Grass: Subjects and Style Whitmans great subject was America, but he wrote on an expansive variety of smaller subjects to accomplish the task of capturing the essence of this country. Some of his many subjects included slavery, democracy, the various occupations and types of work, the American landscape, the sea, the natural world, the Civil War, education, aging, death and immortality, poverty, romantic love, spirituality, and social change. Leaves of Grass: Subjects and Style Whitmans poetry is democratic in both its subject matter and its language. We see Whitman breaking new ground in both subject matter and diction. Subjects: the new America; himself The stated mis