Скачать или смотреть 02. CE 201 - Animals by Walt Whitman

   • HPU 2nd Year English Compulsory Course  
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
Controversial icon of American poetry, and a pioneer of free verse.
Born in New York to an ordinary family, and had little or no formal education.
Raw, majestic voice and god-like perspective.
Natural / transcendental / patriotic themes and imagery.
Self-published 'Leaves of Grass' in 1855, and kept revising it until his death.

The prescribed poem on animals has been taken from Section 32 of 'Song of Myself' (Leaves of Grass).
It may be seen as a tribute to animals -- their inherent serenity and natural behaviour as opposed to the complicated games, desires and ambitions of human beings.
Whitman says that the animals are never dissatisfied, as they do not run after unnecessary whims and materials; and nor do they have any religious scruples about sin. They do not bow to anyone and simply live their lives through natural laws and instincts.
In all of this, Whitman claims a kinship between himself and animals, and finds tokens of the same pure spirit that is part of him, and which perhaps the animals have absorbed from him.