Name: ______
Period: ______
DISCUSS
IMAGINE you have been asked to design a poster that will help introduce tourists and newcomers to America. Make a list of images that represent the people and places of America. Include images that symbolize all aspects of the country.
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“I Hear America Singing” (page 532)
1. Notice the cataloging throughout the poem. What rhythmic effect does the poet create with his list of the men and women at work in America?
2. What types of workers does Whitman celebrate in this poem?
3. Why do you think Whitman does not mention wealthy entrepreneurs, prominent leaders or powerful politicians?
“Song of Myself” (page 534)
1. Consider lines 1-13—
- Do you identify with what the speaker says about himself? Why or why not?
- What impression of the speaker do these lines give you?
2. What do you think the grass symbolizes in this poem?
Identify the speaker’s tone throughout the following lines:
TEXT / TONE / Particular words that convey this tone“I loaf and invite my soul,/I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.” (lines 4-5) / quiet and contemplative
“And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves./Tenderly will I use you curling grass,/It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,/It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,/I may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps,/And here you are the mothers’ laps.” (lines 25-30)
“Song of Myself” continued
TEXT / TONE / Particular words that convey this tone“What do you think has become of the young and old men?/And what do you think has become of the women and children?/They are alive and well somewhere, /The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,” (lines 38-41)
“And all goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,/And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.” (lines 44-45)
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,/I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags./I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,/If you want me look again for me under your boot-soles.” (lines 52-55)
“A Noiseless Patient Spider” (page 538)
- What rhetorical device does the speaker use in line 4? What effect does this have?
- Compare the use of parallelism in lines 5 and 8. What similarity does this show between the spider and the speaker?
- What is the overall tone of the poem? What details (text evidence) communicate that tone?
“Beat! Beat! Drums!” (page 539)
In the Civil War, drummers and buglers accompanied army troops. Many of the musicians were mere boys.
The most famous Civil War drummer boy, Johnny Clem, enlisted at age 11.
1. Describe the tone in lines 1-7. What words elicit this tone? Why is it appropriate for the subject matter?
2. Notice the parallel structure in the last line of each stanza. What impact does this device have on the poem’s message?