WW Theme-specific Critics Flashcards
Mahdieh Boostani; “In Whitman’s view, death is…”
“In Whitman’s view, death is manifested as part and the cycle of life…He emphasized the immortality of the soul and body after death.”
Walt Whitman; the artist & “It is a beautiful truth that all men…”
“It is a beautiful truth that all men contain something of the artist in them. And perhaps it is the case that the greatest artists live and die, the world and themselves alike ignorant what they possess.”
Gerald Bullett; how Whitman felt about his democracy.
“Whitman…a man full-blooded and brotherly, unselfconscious in his democracy and genuinely at ease with all kinds and classes.”
Franz Kafka; Whitman + nature + human beings + life & death + art.
“He combined the contemplation of nature and of civilization…into a single intoxicating vision of life, because he always had sight of the transitoriness of all phenomena…I admire in him the reconciliation of art and nature.”
Rob Riemen; life & themes of body & soul & “Whitman’s masterpiece,…”
“Whitman’s masterpiece, his whole vision, is exactly about this: life as a quest for truth, love, beauty, goodness, and freedom; life as the art of becoming human through the cultivation of the human soul.”
Norman Foerster; nature.
“Whitman combined … a love of both the gentler and the wilder aspects of nature.”
Paul Lauter; democracy + men & women.
“ideal evolves from his desire to reduce as far as possible the barrier between the sexes, the barrier which so continuously troubled him.”
Jane Bennett; sympathy (can be used for most poems about war, e.g. The Wound-Dresser).
“Whitman presents sympathy as not only a moral sentiment but also a more-than-human natural force that draws bodies together.”
Ezra Greenspan; individuality.
“Whitman overtly meant to indicate that it is always the indwelling spirit that constitutes essential identity, & not external features & manners.”
Margaret H. Duggar; individuality when connecting with others.
“The individual consciousness created through the union of body and soul,…produces a prototypical personality that is spiritually prepared for union with other similar personalities.”
Maria Popova; art and life and poetry.
“Whitman contemplates how art feeds life so that life itself becomes a victual of the poetic.”
M. Wynn Thomas; how Whitman tried to portray suffering.
(Poem: “The Wound-Dresser”)
“[Whitman] tried whenever possible to set potentially demeaning & humanly devastating suffering in a redeeming context, emphasizing the transfiguring courage of the sufferer”
M. Jimmie Killingsworth; reality of war.
(Poem: “The Wound-Dresser”)
“war becomes a matter not of struggle & glory on the field of battle…but rather the struggle of the body to live & adjust to injuries, illness & death itself.”
David S. Reynolds; presentation of the meaning of life.
(Poem: “O Me! O Life!”)
“the meaning of life [is]…universally confusing & elusive…Whitman offers a democratic explanation rather than a solution, allowing the…meaning of life to be equally as perplexing to people from all walks of life.”
Charles M. Oliver; what the poet suggests.
(Poem: “O Me! O Life!”)
“The poet suggests that with occasional moments of self-pity or depression, life is worth living.”
