Pioneers! O Pioneers! Flashcards
Themes.
- Democracy
- Post-Civil War reconciliation
- Relationship between the individual & the external world
Summary.
- Identifies & celebrates of the role of the “Pioneers”.
- Not just explorers.
- Celebrates the pioneering spirit of all Americans, a “resistless restless race!”.
How does the poem present the theme of democracy?
- It encourages geographical expansion of American terrain.
- Yet on a deeper level, the poem advocates much more than just territorial expansion. It hopes that the American ideal of democracy & equality might extend to other lands & peoples.
How does the poem present the theme of reconciliation?
- “On and on the compact ranks”
- Whitman felt that the goal of expanding America’s terrain was an ideal that could unite both the North & South.
- Instead of fighting each other, they could mend the damaged bonds between them by taking part in the common goal of Westward exploration & expansion.
How does the poem present the relationship between the individual & the external world?
- The subject of the poem shifts from the collective “we” to the individual “I” of the narrator.
- The speaker counts his self, soul & body as a “curious trio”, all of which combine to form the “I” which began the stanza.
- It is common for Whitman’s narrator to shift the focus from the group to the individual, which is a conscientious attempt to analyze the relationship between the group & the individual, inciting us to wonder how an individual member changes once he or she becomes a member of a group. Are there, in fact, opposing groups within an individual person?
Structure.
- consistent stanzaic pattern
- 26 stanzas of 4 lines each
- 1st & 4th lines shorter than the middle 2 lines
- Each 4th line carries the refrain “Pioneers! O pioneers!”.
- The rhythm of the poem is trochaic - stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.
Stanza 1:
Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O Pioneers!
- Opens with a direct address to the pioneers.
- Calls them “children” to instill camaraderie & affection.
- “tan-faced” - suggests experience under the sun & hardship / toil
- Call to prepare weapons hints at challenges ahead
- “pistols” & “axes” - underscores the potential for danger & to be armed to overcome it
Significance of repetition of “Pioneers! O Pioneers!”
- A rallying cry.
- Emphasises their purpose & unity.
Stanza 2:
For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
- “We must […] we must” - anaphoric imperative tone amplifies urgency.
- “Tarry” - implies laziness, the opposite of action needed.
- “darlings” softens the command.
- “brunt of danger” clarifies the reality of the mission.
- “youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend” - stirring the able-bodied to action.
Stanzas 3 & 4:
O you youths, Western youths,
So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,
Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Have the elder races halted?
Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas?
We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
What technique is seen in these 2 stanzas?
- “So impatient, full of action” - criticising their recklessness.
- Juxtaposition of the youths with their elders impels the youth to continue the work of their elders.
- “tramping” - overenthusiasm
- Distant image of the elders “wearied over there beyond the seas” - haunting.
Stanzas 5 & 6:
All the past we leave behind,
We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world,
Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
We detachments steady throwing,
Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,
Conquering, holding, daring, venturing as we go the unknown ways,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
What lexis & techniques are seen?
- “newer & mightier” & “Fresh & strong” - lexis of strength & victory - speaker encourages the pioneers to move forward.
- “the edges […] the passes […] the mountain steep” - challenges are characterised through the descriptions of hazardous geographical landscape.
- “Conquering, holding, daring, venturing” - asyndetic listing of the actions propels the pioneers to action.
Overall message of stanzas 7 to 9:
We primeval forests felling,
We the rivers stemming, vexing we and piercing deep the mines within,
We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Colorado men are we,
From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and the high plateaus,
From the mine and from the gully, from the hunting trail we come,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
From Nebraska, from Arkansas,
Central inland race are we, from Missouri, with the continental blood intervein’d,
All the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
The physical exploration of the land through various activities is noted. The vast territory traversed by the men who explore the land is presented through the different locations in America.
“primeval forests felling”
- fricatives /f/
- letting go of old grudges that prevented progress
“We primeval forests felling,
We the rivers stemming, vexing we & piercing deep the mines within,”
contains what techniques?
- anaphora “We” - draws focus to a united front
- homophone “mines” (“minds”) - suggestive of a paradigm shift
“We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving” is an example of what technique?
- parallel structure
- image of clearing the land - preparing for growth
