Journal 30- Favorite Whitman Poem

My favorite Whitman poem isn't exactly one of the most popular poems. My favorite is Old War Dreams. I have three main reasons on why this is my favorite poem.
The first reason is that it has a line of repetition which I really like in poetry. This technique helps me to realize how important the statement is. The repeated line is "I dream, I dream, I dream" (Whitman)which is repeated three times, once at the end of every stanza. This to me shows how each stanza is something that he dreams. This is why the title begins to make sense because it talks about dreams.
The second reason I like it is because he talks about a mans story in the war. I like poems that have a realistic background because it makes it more relate-able to people. Although I can not relate to being in the army I can have a better understanding of the content in the poem because it is something that is real.
Lastly I like the poem because it involves nature. Nature is used a lot in Whitman's poetry because he felt a very large connection with nature. This is why I am a big fan of Whitman because he involves nature into a lot of his poems. This gives me a better visual when I read his poetry. This makes me want to continue reading because I have a hindrance that when I read things I need to be able to visualize what the story is actually saying.
This poem combines all the things that I like in my readings and poetry as well as just a good story line. Without these key things I would not have picked this poem to be my favorite of Whitman.




Whitman, Walt. "The Walt Whitman Archive." OLD WAR-DREAMS. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892]) -. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. .

Chanting The Square Deific

This is a reflection over "Chanting The Square Deific" by Walt Whitman. This is going to be analyze just the title itself for it has a lot of meaning to it. The first word which is "Chanting" means to shout or express loudly while a deific means divine or godlike. The mixture of the two means that Walt Whitman is showing the divine and Godlike qualities in something. In the first section of the poem he describes and refers to the square saying, "Out of the old and new, out of the square entirely divine,; Solid, four-sided, (all the sides needed,) from this side Jehovah; am I, " (Whitman) Here he explains the square as the whole and complete idea of the deific by saying it is a solid thing in which all pieces are needed. This refers to humans in a sense because humans are all much like a this because humans all have things that humans must have and without all the pieces humans may not survive. This would then make humans not complete.

In the first section he begins to describe himself but it isn't until the second section that he really begins to explain himself. He says he is affection and hope bringing, meaning is the brings happiness and purpose to those around him. He then goes on to say something that catches many eyes because of its shocking and blunt nature. This quote from the poem is, "Young and strong I pass knowing well I am destin'd myself to an; early death; ". This is very much an intense statement that definitely is a statement on how he sees himself and on what Whitman believes. Going on to say that although he will die the things he did in life will live on, little did he know that that was probably more true than he could have ever imagined.

In the third part it goes into a darker more demented state of mind, showing that Whitman felt he himself had a dark side. For example he says, "Defiant, I, Satan, still live, still utter words, in new lands duly; appearing, (and old ones also,)" (Whitman) He shows his dark side that is more demented and dark. This is not shown in the upper parts of the poem. At last he wraps in up bringing together the happier and the demented parts giving his whole personality in one final wrap up. This is used in many Whitman poems because he was such a spiritual man. A literary critic describes him by saying, "Whitman can never be classed, as Spinoza was by Schleiermacher, among "God-intoxicated" men; but he was early inebriated with two potent draughts—himself and his country" (Higginson)

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. "Whitman." Contemporaries, 1899: 79–84. Quoted as "On the Poetry of Walt Whitman" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCVWaW047&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 3, 2012).



Whitman, Walt. "The Walt Whitman Archive." CHANTING THE SQUARE DEIFIC. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892]) -. Creative Commons License. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. .

Self

Who am I? This is a question I ask myself about everyday and wonder what the answer may be. I don't know a definite answer yet for multiple reasons. The first reason is that I am not old enough to be able to give a definitive answer on who I am because I am not done becoming who I am going to be. In any time of life it is hard to give a definite answer because we are constantly changing and can't give make a completely true statement of who I am. There are some things that I do know though for sure of. My name is Kirsten Amber Foley. My biological mother and father are Jennifer Drennan/Rahn and Darrin Foley. I consider my parents to be my mother Jennifer and my step-father Chris Rahn. I have one older brother whose name is Darrin Mathew Foley Jr.. I also have a half brother, William Christopher Rahn. DJ is 19 and William is 5 years old. I on the other hand am seventeen years old and my birthday is October 10. I have been in and done many things in my life. I went to Virden Elementary School from pre-school to fifth grade. I was involved in flag football, cheerleading camps, and volley ball camps. I moved to Pleasant Plains the summer before my fifth grade year and I began going to Pleasant Plains Middle School. I was in volleyball until eighth grade, cheerleading from seventh to eighth grade, and Beta Club. I am now attending Pleasant Plains high school. I am in cheerleading, Beta Club, Science Club, Spirit Club, Operation Teen Safe Driving, and was in soccer my sophomore year. These are definite things in my life that I think have made me who I am today. These are the things that have made me have the personality and character I have. I don't know exactly how to explain my personality except by saying what I have been told by others. I have been told I am very outgoing, generally smart, worry to much, friendly, very defensive in what I believe in, and lastly trustworthy. I have been told many times that I could be a therapist because I like to give advise to those who ask for it. This is generally all I know for who I am as of now. This will grow and evolve as my life continues, which may be only a few months from now or many years from now, but whichever that would be I plan to continue to change and grow.