Walt Whitman Poem

For my last blog I have once again read the biography on Walt Whitman. "Walt Whitman found poetry in the lives of everyday Americans. He took daily walks to absorb the sights and sounds of Brooklyn and its people, especially blue-collar workers" (Whitman 340). This was interesting to me because I realized that this poem that I was about to read would be more of Thoreau than of Emerson if anything because Thoreau was more into how people were acting and their behaviors. Another quote that I had found interesting was "Whitman used his experiences as a reporter, teacher, laborer, and Civil War nurse to create his poetry" (Whitman 340). It was interesting to read this because it was cool to see where he might have gotten his writing styles from. It was also cool to learn about what he did before he was a writer and what he did to become one.

I read the poem by Walt Whitman On the Beach at Night. I did like this poem because it had both of the characteristics of Emerson and Thoreau. Here is an example of how Whitman somewhat wrote like Thoreau, "Weep not, child, Weep not, my darling, With these kisses let me remove your tears" (Whitman). This is somewhat like Thoreau's writing because Thoreau had focused on the behavior of people and how people should stick up for themselves and be self-reliant. The other author that we are talking about Emerson, he focused on nature and the setting of this poem is on the beach. Here is a quote to show you that Whitman had put some nature into his writing, "Up through the darkness, While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading, Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky" (Whitman). This quote shows the writings of Emerson also because it talks about the nature that was surrounding this child and her father. This story showed a great deal of both Emerson and Thoreau's writings.

Bibliography

Whitman, Walt. "On the Beach at Night, by Walt Whitman." Poetry Archive. 2002. Web. 11 Mar. 2012.

Whitman, Walt. "Before You Read." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 340. Print.