美国文学-浪漫主义时期.pptVIP

Leaves of Grass Leaves of Grass (1855) is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman. Whitman intended to write a distinctly American epic and used free verse with a cadence based on the Bible. By the time the edition was completed, Leaves of Grass had grown from a small book of 12 poems to a hefty tome of almost 400 poems. Grass, a sign of everlasting life, the most common thing with the greatest vitality, is an image of the poet himself, a symbol of the then rising American nation and an embodiment of Whitmans ideals about democracy and freedom. Leaves of Grass, either in content or in form, is an epoch-making work in American literature: its democratic content marked the shift from Romanticism to Realism, and its free-verse form broke from old poetic conventions to open a new road for American poetry. In Leaves of Grass, Whitmans major concern was to explore, discuss, and celebrate his own self, his individuality and his personality. Second, he wanted to eulogize democracy and the American nation with its achievements and potential. Third, he wanted to give poetical expression to his thoughts on lifes great, enduring mysteries — birth, death, rebirth or resurrection, and reincarnation. Themes in Leaves of Grass The Self To Whitman, the complete self is both physical and spiritual. The self is mans individual identity, his distinct quality and being, which is different from the selves of other men, although it can identify with them. The self is a portion of the one Divine Soul. Whitman is constantly talking about I, but the I is universal, a part of the Divine, and therefore not egotistic. The Body and the Soul Whitman thought that we could comprehend the soul only through the medium of the body. To Whitman, all matter is as divine as the soul; since the body is as sacred and as spiritual as the soul, when he sings of the body or its performances, he is singing a spiritual chant. Nature Whitman shares the Romantic poets relationship with nature. To