Walt Whitman presents a piece of literature through his poem “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer”. Through this poem Walt Whitman shares his experience at what seems to be an astronomer event of some sort. Walt goes on to explain how the astronomer whose presenting his speech receives praise from claps and numerous cheers from the crowds. Walt mentions his lecture consisted of charts and diagrams as they were shown before him to divide, add and measure them. However, Walt found these attributes of his speech of less importance. As, he mentions further on that he becomes sick and tired. So sick and tired in fact he leaves and began to wonder off. He found himself going out into the night and gazing at the stars as he found perfect silence; There was many ways to interpret this poem which I feel is the best part of this piece of literature. I took this poem in a more literal aspect where Walt went and began too actually free his mind by letting his mind wonder off looking into the sky. Walt may have just wanted his mind to be free instead of putting the other astronomers’ boundaries and restrictions with his diagrams and charts etc on his mind. Letting that go allowed his mind to be to be at piece as he looked up at the stars. Another reader may approach this poem with the notion that Walt was trying to express the way he chose to go his own path. Instead of applauding and cheering like others did Walt decided to go his own route and exercise his own brain by letting his mind wonder as he appreciates the stars and in return bring him silence.
Category Archives: Posts
Blog Post #3
- I personally found the point found under the subheading “Language and thought” to be quite significant. “The language[s] we speak determines what we think” (Culler 60). There are words and phrases in some languages that simply cannot be translated with the exact definition, connotation, or emotion. The example Culler gave is the Hopi Indians’ perception of time that cannot be properly explained in English, which leaves us quite unsatisfied. I feel that many multilingual people can relate to such frustration when trying to find the right words to explain something; it is like there isn’t enough of them! Two translations of the same poem have vastly different meanings because language influences the way we think. I had felt deeply touched by a poem I read in Polish, but reading it in English does not invoke the same emotion. Each word has trained us to have a different feeling. Each word has trained us to have a specific thought process. Therefore, in a sense, each word determines what we think.
2. Culler mentions many poetic and rhetorical devices in Chapter 5, those of which include: alliteration, apostrophe, assonance, metaphor, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Countee Cullen only applies two of those devices in “Yet Do I Marvel,” namely metaphors and irony.Being that metaphors are spoken about quite often, irony will be the main focus. Culler defines irony as a device used to “juxtapose appearance and reality” (Culler 73). One very obvious point of irony is Cullen’s poem is in line four, which states, “Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die.” God created humans in his own image, with love and splendor. Why then, does he allow his dear creations to return to dust? This is what the author’s use of irony questioned. The appearance, or rather assumption, made by the reader is that because God loves his creation, he would rid them of any pain, sorrow, and death. The reality, however, is that God is rather inscrutable, and allows for unfortunate things to happen.
Blog post #3
- One idea from this chapter that striked me as interesting was the idea that language is nothing, rather than just words that help us share things we already know. On page 59 culler says “At one extreme is the common sense view that language just provides names for thoughts that exist independently, language offers ways of expressing pre-existing thought’s”. This quote really caught my attention because it’s something I have thought of before. It also makes me think deeper on the concept of language because if what he said really is the truth, Are there things we know but just don’t know how to say?
Blog post #3
- One idea from “Literature, Meaning and Interpretation” strikes me as interesting, important or significant regarding language and meaning is the theory of Saussure that ” That it is one rather than the other” Jonathan gave an example that he was sitting on a chair but it could be called anything else. Culler also said how certain objects he may see may be said a certain way in his language but differ in someone else’s. This interests me because for some reason i’ve always thought about that- The idea that we could have called certain objects anything else but we stuck with a certain name, and how they are called other things in different languages. To think about that is just interesting to me.
- In “Yet Do I Marvel” by Countee Cullen he says “Inscrutable His ways are, and immune to catechism by a mind too strewn.” From this we can say that one of the poetic techniques that he uses from Jonathan Cullers ‘Literary Theory’ is rhythmic words by Cullen rhyming words such as “Immune” and “strewn” he’s creating a rhythmical pattern and the reason why I find that interesting is because of the rhythmical pattern you create when rhyming words.
Blog Post #1
Literature is convoluted and ambiguous. Determining whether a piece of writing is literature is a journey of analyzing, questioning, and theorizing. “I Sing Body Electric” is one of many of Walt Whitman’s infamous poems that can be classified as literature. The organization and the themes provide a deep and thought-provoking meaning, making it literature.
This poem is like a quaternion, but as opposed to four divided sections, there are nine (a nanonion?). Each section has its own central idea. The first section is about the narrator’s love and admiration for the human body, expressing how it should not be judged or harmed. However, in the second section, he begins listing random people and their routines or whereabouts. In the third section, he honed down on one specific individual: a farmer who fathers five sons and an unknown amount of daughters, who all love and adore him dearly. He finishes the section wishing how he could meet this man, how anyone would be enamoured by his presence. The fourth section continues this theme of joy and contentment when surrounded by people and their touch, expressing how that is all he truly wants. The fifth section is about the narrator’s very graphic adoration of the female body, whereas the sixth section discusses his respect for male-kind. Both the seventh and eight section where about a slave-auction he attended, despite his hatred for this repulsive and dehumanizing market. He speaks about how all people are people, and should be treated with love and respect. The ninth section holds the conclusion of his panegyrics of human soul and body love. The division of these nine sections are very intentional and well-thought through. The narrator begins by stating what can be interpreted as the topic of the poem: human soul and body should be loved and strike people with awe. He continues by giving examples of the lives of others, and then “zooms in” to one particular common farmer. The joy and love in his family touches his heart, furthering his love for mankind. He specifies the qualities he loved about women and men, which then led to the conversation of the enslaved men and women at the auction. All sections when read at face value seem unrelated to each other, but with thorough analysis, it can be seen that Whitman’s purpose of this poem is to show how humans are all related to each other, and should all be respected.
Blog Post #2
I found the “literature as intertextual or self-reflective construct” angle most interesting because it seems as though there is a paradox. This perspective argues that “works are made of other works”, whether that is from other writings or concepts, like traditions (Culler 34). A poem written by author A is really a reiteration of an idea author B had. Stories and plays are written, sometimes unintentionally, based on culture or preexisting biases. Literature is the transformation, progression, reform, or renewal of present or past literature. However, this begs the questions: What was the first piece of literature, and if we can define it, how can we be so sure? How would we know if it was not a continuation of an idea posed by someone or something else?
Blog post #2
In Culler’s “What is Literature and Does it Matter?” The section titled ” The nature of literature” He defines literature from several angles. The angle I find most interesting is “Literature as aesthetic object.” Jonathan Culler talks about the debates of beauty being an objective property in works of art or a subjective response of viewers. He talks about Immanuel Kant (the primary theorist of modern Western) theory of literary work being and aesthetic object because it shows urges readers to tell the similarities between form and content. This really interest me because of the theory because beauty can be an objective property but sometimes I feel (especially with thr internet giving you so much access to personally opinions) could be a subjective response of the viewers so the artist or creator may fix what they made. This also makes me think about aesthetics and beauty in literature- I’ve never actually thought too much about it but when we read and the writers tell us what’s there we imagine the setting in our mind and they might tell us the objects in our surroundings or use certain words that make the setting seem beautiful.
Blog Post #1
Without literature there is no self-expression and creativity. We would not be able to appreciate the power of words and make deep connections within them. The poem “The Brain—is wider than the Sky—,” written by Emily Dickinson is a form of literature that compares the brain to earth surfaces and God. She uses one giant metaphor to state how powerful the brain is and the infinite capability of the human mind. When she compares the brain being wider than the sky she is expressing how the mind is a boundless place for imaginations and ideas vaster than the sky. She also compares how the mind has the ability to grasp never-ending amounts of information just like a sponge has the capacity to absorb a whole bucket of water. Lastly, the brain is compared to the weight of God, referring that the brain almost has the same importance and power as God. It compares the human brain to syllables and God’s energy and power to sound. The poet uses figurative language to make comparisons on how the brain is limitless unlike the sky, sea and the weight of God. This poem very-well expresses how the mind is powerful and capable of creating and perceiving things. Every mind is intellectually unique in its own way, but not everyone is aware of how much power they can consume; it is built throughout time. The mind is filled with an infinite amount of intelligence and imaginations “wider than a sky.” Without literature, the poet would not be able to make expressive connections like these. Literature allows the writer to paint a work of art while the audience (reader) can create different kinds of visions and perspectives just from their imagination. Literature is powerful and interesting. Without literature the mind would just become boring.
Blog Post #1
Blog Post #1: “The Brain – is wider than the sky-” by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson”s poetry titled ” The Brain – is wider than the sky-“. In the first stanza it compares the human brain with the sky. Which suggests that the brain is wider than the sky. This portrays that the mind has the power to think and imagine beyond anything. Also I think that the meaning of the first stanza of this poetry is that the brain has no limit . This is why the speaker compares the brain with the sky because even though the sky is high and very wide, the brain is wider because it has the power to do almost anything with you on the side. On the second and third stanza of this poetry it talks about the brain being deeper than the sea and the brain just being the weight of god. In these last two stanza I think the significance is the brain can absorb anything . For example, the brain can absorb any kind of information , images that the eyes sees and the brain captures or any sounds that you hear the brain will absorb just like a sponge or a bucket does. The brain being just the weight of god means that the brain in all can be very powerful and great as god is but not infinite. Overall, what makes this piece of writing literature is that it describes the brain and compares with things of nature like the sky, the sea and god . Is like the writer of this poetry is trying to express that the brain is a very beautiful thing like the sea and was made to perceive the great things created while you on the side. The way the writer expresses herself about the brain is in a very artistic way and so this is why i think this piece of writing is literature.
Blog Post #1 “I Sing the Body Electric” by Walt Whitman
In this poem, Whitman explores the physicality of the human body and how it does just as much as the soul. He talks about how his version of a well-made man does not only express himself through facial expression but in the way he carries himself in whole. The way he walks, the flex of his waist and knees and the way he may talk. Whitman talks about how his clothes can’t hide him and he can still see who is through the clothing. Whitman then describes women- their shapes, styles, the contour of their shapes and other people and what those people do and how they do it-the narrator is explaining in detail the beauty of the body. The narrator talks about a farmer he knew, he describes what he looked like and how tall he was and he talks about the farmers sons and daughters and how they loved him with personal love he talked about how his grandsons loved him and that if you knew him you’d love him to and would wish to sit by him. Whitman was expressing the thoughts of being surrounded by beautiful bodies and how he takes in the details of men, women, babies. The narrator discusses how the female body is a gate for the soul touching on the topic of reproduction and the female form, Whitman talks about the beauty in the male form and how he takes his part in “power and action” saying that both female and male bodies are holy. Whitman talks about the a man being sold at a slave auction and a auctioneer who doesn’t know what he is doing and the people at the auction who can’t afford the males body because its worth more than money, Whitman describes how this man has dreams and aspirations, how he has senses, arms and legs, and that he has the same blood as everyone else and that he’s not just one man. He talks about a woman being sold in auction and how she’s not just one woman and how she is a mother and she will have daughters who will be mothers. Whitman talks about how the human bodies are all connected in one way or another using a christian belief.
