Voices and Visions: Walt Whitman.

 

Go http://www.learner.org/resources/series57.html.

 

Click here.                                                                 

 

 

On the page that comes up next, scroll down to Walt Whitman. Click on this same icon to the right of his name. (You will need to enable pop-ups).  View the video and answer the questions below.   

 

 

  1. What did Leaves of Grass change when it appeared for the first time in 1855?
  2. What does Ginsberg remember about Whitman from his school days?
  3. What does Galway Kinnell say “you can’t imagine in any other country”?
  4. What does Donald Hall say about his reading of Whitman?
  5. What do we learn about the first, 1855, edition of Leaves of Grass?
  6. How is the “reporter” described here?
  7. What does Justin Kaplan tell us about Whitman’s education?
  8. How did Leaves of Grass differ from conventional poetry that came before it?
  9. Why does Kinnell describe Poe as “blind”?
  10. What do we learn about Whitman’s style, the influences on his prosody, etc.?
  11. At what point do we really begin to see American poetry moving froth from Whitman, according to Kinnell?
  12. How did the political issues of his day influence Whitman’s writing?
  13. What do we learn about Whitman’s “cosmic vision”?
  14. How was the person Walt Whitman probably very different from the poetic voice Walt Whitman?
  15. What does Harold Bloom have to say about Whitman’s relationships with other people?

What does Kinnell have to say?

What does Ginsberg say?

How about Kaplan?

Is there any agreement when it comes to Whitman’s sexuality/relationships?

  1. What is Donald Hall’s favorite Whitman poem?
  2. Who was Peter Doyle, and how does the voice-over describe Whitman’s relationship with him?
  3. What is said about section 5 of “Song of Myself”?
  4. According to Donald hall, what did Emerson ask Whitman to do?
  5. What does Kinnell say was Whitman’s overriding ambition?
  6. In general, what was America’s reaction to the early editions of Leaves of Grass?
  7. How did the Civil War change Whitman and his work?
  8. What was his role in the war?
  9. What was Whitman’s response to Lincoln’s death?
  10. What was Whitman’s priority after the war?
  11. What was his attitude towards death?