Excerpt from Leaves of Grass, a poem written by Walt Whitman
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death….
I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,
Stuff’d with the stuff that is course and stuff’d with the stuff that is fine,
One of the Nation of many nations, the smallest the same
and the largest the same.
A Southerner soon as a Northerner, a planter nonchalant
and hospitable down by the Oconee I live,
A Yankee bound by my own way ready for trade, my joints the
limberest joints on earth and the sternest joints on earth,
A Kentuckian walking the vale of the Elkhorn in my deer-skin
leggings, a Louisianan or Georgian,
A boatsman over lakes or bays or along coasts, a Hoosier,
Badger, or Buckeye….
These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands,
they are not original with me,
If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or
next to nothing….
This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is,
This is the common air that bathes the globe.
7. This poem is considered an epic poem, and like most epic poems, it focuses on a “hero” (which can be a person or thing). Who or what is the hero in this poem?
Question 7 options:
Walt Whitman
The narrator
Democracy
A Yankee
Question 8 (4 points)
What is the name of the poetic style in which this poem is written, which was considered innovative in its time?
Question 8 options:
Elegy
Free Verse
Lyric
Prose Poem
Question 9 (4 points)
Which of the following statements best summarizes Whitman’s view of society as demonstrated in the poem?
Question 9 options:
People are innately different, which causes friction and prejudice in society.
Our differences and diversity should be celebrated, because, in the end, we are not so different after all.
Individuality is overrated, and society should remember that differences are appalling.
Some people in society play a role that is far more important than the role of others, and people need to remember their place.
