"A Child said What is the Grass?" - Walt Whitman by Tanya Vu (Student FVHS)

"A Child said What is the Grass?" - Walt Whitman by Tanya Vu (Student FVHS) https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd Made by: Tanya Vu and Ann Huynh en-us 2022-02-16 16:36:30 UTC 2025-10-07 00:44:20 UTC hello@padlet.com "A child said what is the grass?" - Walt Whitman hvhuynh101 https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2051323457 A child said, What is the grass? Fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child?. . . .I do not know what it is any more than he.

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped, Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose?

Or I guess the grass is itself a child. . . .the produced babe of the vegetation.

Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
Growing among black folks as among white,
Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same.

And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.

]]> 2022-02-16 16:46:23 UTC https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2051323457 tqvu107 https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053537602 2022-02-17 16:08:22 UTC https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053537602 3. 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? - Tanya Vu tqvu107 https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053583559 The images in this poem portray the image of death and new life. Throughout this poem a person describes to a kid about death. For example, "and now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves." This shows the main idea and imagery of the poem. The speaker wants to set death in a positive way by describing grass as something that dies, but eventually go back to the ecosystem and will rebirth into something else like an animal, new plants, and maybe a new life. The speaker shows a motif of showing a new way of looking at death to give the kid a constructive and helpful view on death. I learned there is a pattern throughout this poem, when speaking about death he relates it to other things in the poem. ]]> 2022-02-17 16:28:06 UTC https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053583559 5. Are there any symbols? What do they mean? Are they universal symbols or do they arise from the context of this poem? - Ann Huynh hvhuynh101 https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053591917 Grass, in this situation, is the symbol of the poem, symbolizing death and immortality. The grass is symbolic because it's a metaphor for the ongoing cycle of life present in nature. In this poem, the narrator attempts to describe what grass is to a child. The narrator tells the boy about "the beautiful uncut hair of graves." The narrator is talking about the cycle of life, how people turn into dirt and grass when they die, and how the cycle repeats itself all over again. He explains to the child that people never really die, that they're still "alive and well."]]> 2022-02-17 16:31:42 UTC https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053591917 4.) What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem? - Tanya Vu tqvu107 https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053608819 Figures of speech was used constantly in this poem as the speaker had to compare grass into death. One example of imagery (the most common figure of speech used) would be, "now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves." The grass in this poem has the symbolization of death, when the speaker says, "uncut hair of graves," he's gives the image of long tall grass to show grass as a new life for many, which contributes to the tone and meaning of the poem. The tone being a new way of thinking which it what the poem is basically about. They want us and the kid to understand that the grass is a new beginning for people from the past and how they are in a better place.]]> 2022-02-17 16:39:33 UTC https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053608819 1. What is the poem’s tone? Which words reveal this tone? Is the poem ironic? - Ann Huynh hvhuynh101 https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053619409 The poem's tone is oddly optimistic, considering the poem is talking about death. Words such as "alive", "well" reveal the poem's true tone. The narrator talks about the cycle of life, how no one really dies, that we all become dirt and grass, and grow as "sprouts." The narrator tells the boy the people who have passed away are simply "alive and well somewhere."]]> 2022-02-17 16:44:14 UTC https://padlet.com/tqvu107/vyif71hconmslyjd/wish/2053619409