Questions After Whitman

Yikes!  I want to make sure that I send out my questions to you while I'm online this afternoon.  Also, if you haven't done so already, be sure to fill out the survey for this class.  The link will be gone on Sunday:

https://mc.simplyvoting.com/

Yesterday we finished our readings with Whitman's poetry.  I hope that you enjoyed our brief look at his work.

Tomorrow and Friday we will review for Wednesday's exam.  Going over your notes, the whiteboard pictures at MyMC, and your journal will help you to review.  Our exam will follow the same format as the midterm did.

Here are some questions for you.

-- How did the presentations help you understand American literature a little better?

-- How did Fatu's presentation on Liberian folklore help you understand race relations in the 1800s and/or the Native American folklore?

-- How did Orlando's presentation on American Romanticism help you understand our readings in the second half of class, especially Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, and Whitman?

-- Here are links to some elegies to Lincoln:

http://www.classroomelectric.org/volume2/belasco/elegies/melville.html

http://www.classroomelectric.org/volume2/belasco/elegies/bryant.html

http://www.classroomelectric.org/volume2/belasco/elegies/aldrich.html

These are some lines of John Milton's "Lycidas":

http://www.classroomelectric.org/volume2/belasco/elegies/milton.html

How do they compare to Whitman's "When Lilacs Last..." and perhaps "O Captain! My Captain!"?  How are they different?  Note that an elegy is often written to honor a dead hero.

-- Prof. Helen Vendler maintains that "When Lilacs Last..." is "not an intimate elegy."  What do you think?  Here is a link to her argument:  http://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_documents/a-to-z/v/Vendler_01.pdf

Note that she also mentions that Whitman writes from the perspective of others.

-- Sociologist Daniel Levinson and psychologist Erik Erikson have each formulated an interesting theory of human development:

http://humangrowth.tripod.com/id3.html

http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/erik/sum.html

How might these theories apply to Whitman in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" and "When Lilacs Last..."?  How might they apply to the characters in the stories we've read?

-- How does Whitman write about race?  about gender?  

-- Here are some links about Whitman and sexual identity:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/2933958

http://www.whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_49.html

http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1500&context=wwqr&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fstart%3D30%26q%3Dwalt%2Bwhitman%2Bhomosexuality%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D1%2C21%26as_vis%3D1#search=%22walt%20whitman%20homosexuality%22

How might these help you understand his work more?

-- How does Whitman conclude American Literature I?

I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing what you have to say!