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What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem? - Lupe Escobedo

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What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem? - Lupe Escobedo

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Many different kinds of figures of speech are used in this poem. The first example of these is personification. Walt uses this kind of figure of speech to truly show the sailors heroism and his ship is wrecked by the storm, "Death chasing it up and down the storm". Another kind of figure of speech in the poem is metaphors. He uses these when writing about different types of heroism. "I am the hounding slave", "I am the mash'd fireman", "I am an old artillerist". All of these statements begin the stanzas that describe the many and very different types of heroism seen everywhere.

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What images does the poet use? How do the images relate to one another? Do these images form a unified pattern (a motif) throughout the poem? - Lupe Escobedo

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What images does the poet use? How do the images relate to one another? Do these images form a unified pattern (a motif) throughout the poem? - Lupe Escobedo

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Walt Whitman uses a great variety of images such as a sailor in a storm, a mother condemned to burn on a stake as a "witch", a beaten runaway slave, a fireman with his "breast-bone broken" in a burning building. All of these images form the motif of heroism. The sailor faces death as the storm worsens. A less traditional form of heroism is shown as a woman dies a martyr, burned on the stake as a witch. A runaways slave is seen as a hero because he is free. a fireman is a hero because he saves the lives of those in danger.

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I understand the large hearts of heroes by Walt Whitman

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I understand the large hearts of heroes by Walt Whitman

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I understand the large hearts of heroes,
The courage of present times and all times,
How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steam-ship, and Death chasing it up and down the storm,
How he knuckled tight and gave not back an inch, and was faithful of days and faithful of nights,
And chalk'd in large letters on a board, Be of good cheer, we will not desert you;
How he follow'd with them and tack'd with them three days and would not give it up,
How he saved the drifting company at last,
How the lank loose-gown'd women look'd when boated from the side of their prepared graves,
How the silent old-faced infants and the lifted sick, and the sharp-lipp'd unshaved men;
All this I swallow, it tastes good, I like it well, it becomes mine,
I am the man, I suffer'd, I was there.

The disdain and calmness of martyrs,
The mother of old, condemn'd for a witch, burnt with dry wood, her children gazing on,
The hounded slave that flags in the race, leans by the fence, blowing, cover'd with sweat,
The twinges that sting like needles his legs and neck, the murderous buckshot and the bullets,
All these I feel or am.

I am the hounded slave, I wince at the bite of the dogs,
Hell and despair are upon me, crack and again crack the marksmen,
I clutch the rails of the fence, my gore dribs, thinn'd with the ooze of my skin,
I fall on the weeds and stones,
The riders spur their unwilling horses, haul close,
Taunt my dizzy ears and beat me violently over the head with whip-stocks.

Agonies are one of my changes of garments,
I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person,
My hurts turn livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe.

I am the mash'd fireman with breast-bone broken,
Tumbling walls buried me in their debris,
Heat and smoke I inspired, I heard the yelling shouts of my comrades,
I heard the distant click of their picks and shovels,
They have clear'd the beams away, they tenderly lift me forth.

I lie in the night air in my red shirt, the pervading hush is for my sake,
Painless after all I lie exhausted but not so unhappy,
White and beautiful are the faces around me, the heads are bared of their fire-caps,
The kneeling crowd fades with the light of the torches.

Distant and dead resuscitate,
They show as the dial or move as the hands of me, I am the clock myself.

I am an old artillerist, I tell of my fort's bombardment,
I am there again.

Again the long roll of the drummers,
Again the attacking cannon, mortars,
Again to my listening ears the cannon responsive.

I take part, I see and hear the whole,
The cries, curses, roar, the plaudits for well-aim'd shots,
The ambulanza slowly passing trailing its red drip,
Workmen searching after damages, making indispensable repairs,
The fall of grenades through the rent roof, the fan-shaped explosion,
The whizz of limbs, heads, stone, wood, iron, high in the air.

Again gurgles the mouth of my dying general, he furiously waves with his hand,
He gasps through the clot Mind not me—mind—the entrenchments.

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Are there any symbols? What do they mean? Are they universal symbols or do they arise from the context of this poem? - Addison Phan

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Are there any symbols? What do they mean? Are they universal symbols or do they arise from the context of this poem? - Addison Phan

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There is one very prominent symbol throughout the poem. The symbol is the heroes he speaks of. These heroes are martyrs, women who were thought to be practicing witchcraft, slaves, and more. The different types of people he refers to are all from different backgrounds, whether it be ethnic or gender, he considers them a hero. "All these I feel or am." refers to these people. These symbols only arise in the context of this poem because no one of his time had seen slaves as equals, much less a hero.

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What is the poem’s tone? Which words reveal this tone? Is the poem ironic? - Addison Phan

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What is the poem’s tone? Which words reveal this tone? Is the poem ironic? - Addison Phan

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The poem's tone is hopeful but dark. "I am the hounded slave, I wince at the bite of the dogs,
Hell and despair are upon me, crack and again crack the marksmen," when Whitman writes about the slave getting beaten it shows that the poem does have some dark elements or experiences. The heroes we view in our day to day life are all people who are honorable and can potentially die for a good cause, but he also considers a slave and "witch" to be a hero as well. The poem shows that he sees light in almost everyone, even if they are the opposite of what society deems them as. The poem is fairly ironic, as it considers people who were at the time considered terrible, as heroes.