The Poetry of Walt Whitman.docx - O’Brien AP...

O’Brien
AP Language/Honors American Literature
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass excerpts
“Song of Myself”
Thematic
Focus
The theme is self-awareness and one’s relationship with Nature and the
Divine
Diction The author’s diction describes the journey of his life and connection to
nature throughout the various stages of life, beginning in his thirties in strong
health and moving into the imagery of war time and loss that comes with
that.
Imagery Whitman uses grass as an imagery of life and how young sprouts are like
children and describes the various scent memories with the word perfume
when thinking back on memories throughout his life.
Central Idea
of the
excerpts