ENG250Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Atlantic Ocean, The Climax, Wiht
Document Summary
How can private life be politically significant. America has heated discourse about personal character, health of republic depends on private virtues of the citizens. Shift away from self absorption, a real concern with other people. Whitman"s poetry: first word is i, last word is you. Whitman understands own poem as a transactional relationship with the reader. What does it mean to be a man of letters: Emerson: importance of self reliance: something that challenges ideas of inheritance. Importance of inserting yourself in the public sphere and conformity, trust yourself. Most men attach themselves to communities of opinion. Make bridges between communities of opinion, recognize we can"t always reconcile differences. Whitman: emerson and franklin: think about i and you. I celebrate myself the i in the present has to yield to future tense. Completeness betrays incompletness, neither celebrated self or egotism is enough. Form of whitman"s poem: use of questions, why so many quesitons, no one ever answers.
