Exploring the Text

Access the text here.

  1. In Part 1 of the poem, what does the speaker report that he sees? What does he think about?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - In Part 1 of the poem, what does the speaker report that he sees? What does he think about?
  2. What ironies does the poet develop in Part 2?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What ironies does the poet develop in Part 2?
  3. In Part 3, the speaker addresses the reader directly: “Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt” (l. 22). What is different about the direct address here as opposed to other examples with which you are famliar? What is the poet’s purpose?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - In Part 3, the speaker addresses the reader directly: “Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt” (l. 22). What is different about the direct address here as opposed to other examples with which you are famliar? What is the poet’s purpose?
  4. Walt Whitman presents a catalogue of metaphoric images of objects both natural and man-made. Part 3, especially, asks the reader to see. Through which of these visions in Part 3 do you recognize your own experience?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Walt Whitman presents a catalogue of metaphoric images of objects both natural and man-made. Part 3, especially, asks the reader to see. Through which of these visions in Part 3 do you recognize your own experience?
  5. Part 4 begins: “These and all else were to me the same as they are to you” (l. 49). Perhaps the expected order would be the reverse: these are the same to you as they were to me. Why does Whitman write the line as he does? How does the meaning differ?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Part 4 begins: “These and all else were to me the same as they are to you” (l. 49). Perhaps the expected order would be the reverse: these are the same to you as they were to me. Why does Whitman write the line as he does? How does the meaning differ?
  6. What might be some of the “abrupt questionings” that stir in Part 5? What does he mean by, “I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution” (l. 62)? What does the speaker anticipate as he moves into Part 6? What does he confess? What effects do these strategies have on the reader?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What might be some of the “abrupt questionings” that stir in Part 5? What does he mean by, “I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution” (l. 62)? What does the speaker anticipate as he moves into Part 6? What does he confess? What effects do these strategies have on the reader?
  7. What purpose do the questions serve in Parts 7 and 8?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What purpose do the questions serve in Parts 7 and 8?
  8. Notice that Part 9 shifts to the imperative mood. What is its effect on meaning and tone? How would you describe the tone of lines 101–125?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Notice that Part 9 shifts to the imperative mood. What is its effect on meaning and tone? How would you describe the tone of lines 101–125?
  9. Who are the “dumb, beautiful ministers” (l. 126)? What is the poet’s attitude toward them?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Who are the “dumb, beautiful ministers” (l. 126)? What is the poet’s attitude toward them?
  10. In this poem, Whitman develops a series of contrasts: between the reader and the speaker; Brooklyn and Manhattan; river and shore; great and small; natural and man-made; light and dark; past and future; life and death; unity and separation; ebb and flood; and so on. How do these contrasts contribute to the poem as a whole? Choose two or three to discuss in your response.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - In this poem, Whitman develops a series of contrasts: between the reader and the speaker; Brooklyn and Manhattan; river and shore; great and small; natural and man-made; light and dark; past and future; life and death; unity and separation; ebb and flood; and so on. How do these contrasts contribute to the poem as a whole? Choose two or three to discuss in your response.
  11. What is the speaker’s attitude toward the future? Explain.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What is the speaker’s attitude toward the future? Explain.
  12. What does Whitman suggest about the power of the poem itself? Consider carefully what he writes at the end of Parts 5 and 8.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What does Whitman suggest about the power of the poem itself? Consider carefully what he writes at the end of Parts 5 and 8.