Exploring the Text

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  1. What does Walt Whitman mean by “that object he became, / And that object became part of him” (ll. 2–3)?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What does Walt Whitman mean by “that object he became, / And that object became part of him” (ll. 2–3)?
  2. What does the word there do in line 6? How does it affect the image Whitman creates?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What does the word there do in line 6? How does it affect the image Whitman creates?
  3. Note how particular the images are in the second and third stanzas of the poem. Select three that appeal to you. How does their vivid quality contribute to the poem’s meanings? What do they reveal about the speaker?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Note how particular the images are in the second and third stanzas of the poem. Select three that appeal to you. How does their vivid quality contribute to the poem’s meanings? What do they reveal about the speaker?
  4. What is the nature of the shift in line 9? What does it suggest about the objects that the boy sees and becomes?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What is the nature of the shift in line 9? What does it suggest about the objects that the boy sees and becomes?
  5. What is the effect of the parallelism in the poem?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What is the effect of the parallelism in the poem?
  6. Which of the poet’s observations resonate with your own experience? Explain why they might be significant.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Which of the poet’s observations resonate with your own experience? Explain why they might be significant.
  7. How does Whitman make the personal experience of the child become universal?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - How does Whitman make the personal experience of the child become universal?
  8. What implications does the poem have for education and for the ways that we teach and learn?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What implications does the poem have for education and for the ways that we teach and learn?
  9. Whitman writes, “The horizon’s edge, the flying seacrow, the fragrance of saltmarsh and shoremud” (l. 30). How does he use sensory imagery to link the near and the far off?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Whitman writes, “The horizon’s edge, the flying seacrow, the fragrance of saltmarsh and shoremud” (l. 30). How does he use sensory imagery to link the near and the far off?
  10. To whom does “him or her” refer in the final line? What are the implications of the final two lines?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - To whom does “him or her” refer in the final line? What are the implications of the final two lines?
  11. Find the 1871 version of this poem online or at the library and read it. Analyze the probable reasons for the revisions in the final form. Which version do you prefer? Why?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Find the 1871 version of this poem online or at the library and read it. Analyze the probable reasons for the revisions in the final form. Which version do you prefer? Why?