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Outline/Follow-Up Assignment
A. Song of Myself #33 by Walt Whitman
B. He is traveling the world on trips that he seemingly dreams of, jumping from person to
person. In these people’s lives, he tells of all the heroic actions he sees as well as the
suffering that comes along with it. He, in a way, honors the people who are just like
them as he shows the people who are suffering trying to save others in the stories he’s
telling and seeing.
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C.
Line
Meaning
“I understand the large hearts of heroes,
He is saying how he finally understands
The courage of present times and all
and feels for the heroes and how they find
times.”
courage.
“How the skipper saw the crowded and
Here in a continuation from the first line,
rudderless wreck of the steam-ship, and
he is saying how he understands how a
Death chasing it up and down the storm,
boatman who sees a crew wrecked in the
How he knuckled tight and gave not back
ocean and sees the suffering can muster
an inch, and was faithful of days and
up the courage to fight to save them day
faithful of nights”
and night.
“I am the man, I suffer’d, I was there.”
He is saying how he feels he was the man
who stepped up to save the others
because he suffered as much as the man
did when he saw the troubled people and
feels as if he was there.
“The disdain and calmness of the martyrs.
Here he is describing more people who he
The mother of old, condemn’d for a witch,
views as heroes like the women who died
burnt with dry wood, her children gazing
accused of being a witch or the slaves that
on, the hounded slave… All these I feel or
are worked to death every day, he is
am.”
acknowledging these acts of heroism and
feels for them.
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“I am the hounded slave, I wince at the
Here is another character that pertains
bite of dogs, Hell and despair are upon me,
more as a martyr and hero from an
crack and again crack the marksmen.”
American standpoint because he is an
abused slave who suffered terrible things.
“I do not ask the wounded person how he
This is a powerful line that shows what he
feels, I myself become the wounded
is thinking. He envisions himself as the
person.”
wounded or hurting person because he
feels to truly understand a hero you must
understand the pain of being one.
“I am the mash’d fireman with breast-bone Once again he is placing himself in the
broken… I am the old artillerist, I tell of my
shoes of more people he considers heroes
fort’s bombardment.”
and describes them at the hour at which
their pain and acts of heroism are greatest
really conveying that he believes to
understand a hero fully you must
understand their pain and suffering.
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D.
Quote
purpose
“Again the long roll of the drummers,
This is one of many often occurring and
Again the attacking cannon, mortars,
extremely powerful imagery that helps you
Again to my listening ears the cannon
imagine just what is happening in these
responsive… the fall of grenades through
settings. As he goes to each character
the rent roof, the fan-shaped explosion,
more imagery occurs and is this use of
the whizz of limbs, heads, stone, wood,
imagery that helps put the reader in the
iron, high in the air.”
situation.
“I am the mash’d fireman with breast-
This is alliteration and is used to emphasize
bone broken.”
the hero’s pain and condition.
“How he follow’d them… How he saved…
This quote shows the use of repetition to
How the lank… How the silent…”
help describe the acts of his hero’s and is
used constantly throughout the entire
poem
“crack and again crack”
This is an onomatopoeia and is used to
help emphasize the situation the hero is in
with the sounds the word makes.
“All this I swallow, it tastes good, I like it
This is symbolism used to represent the
well, it becomes mine.”
suffering he is embracing. He is saying I
understand this suffering and it becomes my
suffering.
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E. The section 33 of Song of Myself has a depressing tone. He is describing the different
sad situations which he sees as he travels around. For example, when he explains the
slave who is being violently beaten by others and bit by dogs. He describes the despair
of a mother convicted of being a witch and leaving behind children. All these situations
are sad despairing situations that he describes with the pain of people in them.
F. The theme in this poem is suffering and respect. Suffering is the more clear part of the
theme because he demonstrates all the different kinds of suffering people have to
endure. For example, the crushed fireman or the sailor who watches the wrecked crew
suffer or even the soldier holding his dying general. All of them represent a kind of
suffering that people have endured. Respect is a more hidden theme I believe is there
because as you hear of all these terrible sad things these people who could be
considered heroes for enduring, you develop respect for them. You feel sad that they
had to endure that pain and respect the people who have endured such things and so I
believe respect is another main theme.
G. Czlapinski, Mercedes. "Literary Analysis: The Ideals of Individualism and Equality in the Works of
Walt Whitman." Helium. Helium, 29 May 2009. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Song of Myself: Section 33 Summary" Shmoop.com. Shmoop
University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.