The And Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking By Walt Whitman

Mortality The theme mortality was expressed in similar manners but had opposite meanings in â€Å"When I have fears that I may cease to be† by John Keats and â€Å"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking† by Walt Whitman. Bits and pieces of nature were used to personify mortality. Additional historical context showed that the poems are reflections of their respective authors’ view on mortality. The interpreted meanings of the theme from the poems were greatly different. Despite being written four decades apart, similarities between the poems were rampant. Poets used nature as a colour palette to paint a theme in their works. Mortality’s two faces of living and dying were exhibited through metaphors and imageries. In â€Å"When I have fears that I may cease to be,† the first quatrain (Keats 2-4) produced images of agriculture. His thoughts were compared to crops, thus, the author himself was a farm. A farm was full of life, containing lush greenery and a wildlife that roamed around. It is a breathing living thing. The phrase â€Å".. on the shore† (Keats 12) was an interesting word choice given for a person on the brink of death. It gave the image that life was a state between nature elements of land and water. The last words â€Å" .. to nothingness do sink† (Keats 14) compared dying to diving into an ocean of oblivion. It gave the reader an image of afterlife as a vast unknown. These word choices picked from nature made the reader feel emotions of fear and mystery which were closely associated withShow MoreRelatedDeath and Love in Walt Whitman’s â€Å"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking† and Emily Dickinson’s â€Å"Because I Could Not Stop for Death†1111 Words   |  5 PagesDeath and Love in Walt Whitman’s â€Å"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking† and Emily Dickinson’s â€Å"Because I Could Not Stop For Death† According to Sigmund Freud’s theories, all of human instincts, energies, and motivations derive from two drives, the sexual and the death drives. 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Whitmans anaphora invokes Biblical cadences while writing about the self, as in Whitmans Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking: Out of the cradle endlessly rocking, Out of the mocking-birds throat, the musical shuttle, Out of the Ninth-month midnight†¦ (Whitman lines 1-3) This is an effective way to structure the otherwise structureless flow of free verse, and it is not surprising that Morales uses precisely the same means as Whitman to structure ChildRead MoreEssay on Walt Whitmans Use of the Theme of Death in His Poetry742 Words   |  3 PagesWalt Whitmans Use of the Theme of Death in His Poetry Walt Whitman uses the theme of death in his poetry. Whitmans use of death is unlike any other poets. He draws upon his own experiences with death and this makes his poetry real. Whitman spent time as a wound-dresser during the Civil War. During this time, Whitman learned and saw so much. The death that he saw during this time provided him with inspiration in his poetry and ideas and thoughts about death. Throughout WhitmansRead MoreLeaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Essay1248 Words   |  5 PagesLeaves of Grass by Walt Whitman In the twentieth century, the name Walt Whitman has been synonymous with poetry. Whitmans most celebrated work, Leaves of Grass, was the only book he ever wrote, and he took a lifetime to write it. A large assortment of poems, it is one of the most widely criticized works in literature, and one of the most loved works as well. Whitman was unmarried and childless, and it has been noted that Leaves of Grass consumed him greatly; James E. Miller Jr. writes: #8230;heRead More Walt Whitman Biography1967 Words   |  8 PagesIt is rare for the observer as it is for the writer. The Walt Whitman poem â€Å"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking† is looked at by most as just that. It is a documentation, of sorts, of his own paradigm shift. The realities of the world have therein matured his conceptual frameworks. In line 147 we read â€Å"Now in a moment I know what I am for, I awake.† This awakening is at the same time a death. The naivetà © of the speaker (I will assume Whitman) is destroyed. Through his summer long observation, theRead More Comparing Poe and Whittman Essay1619 Words   |  7 PagesAmericans produced compositions of unequal quality. Their styles and the way they approach the reader are different from those followed by other writers. These original and witty authors that have intrigued so many of their followers are Poe and Whitman. The following lines compare their unique styles with the purpose of highlightin g their similarities and differences, but above all stressing their originality and expertise. Edgar Allan Poe intrigued many with his often irrational and pessimistic