User talk:JakeLong1995

JakeLong1995, you have missed the deadline for posting possible project topics to this page. You have also missed the opportunity for me to give you feedback and guidance on your topic choices. To avoid further grade penalties, make sure you hit all remaining deadlines for this project, and come to me if you have any questions! Nadinecross78 (talk) 18:35, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

You have also missed the deadline to post a List of Contributions to your Talk Page. It is too late to receive credit for this assignment. However, you must complete this project or you cannot pass this course. Please see me if you are struggling and I will assist you! Nadinecross78 (talk) 20:41, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

List of Contributions to Leaves of Grass

Changed "The book did not include the author's name, instead offering an engraving by Samuel Hollyer depicting the poet in work clothes and a jaunty hat, arms at his side" to "The book did not include the author's name, instead offering an engraving by Samuel Hollyer depicting Whitman in work clothes and a jaunty hat, arms at his side" for clarity. 18:09, 9 November 2015

Added "he explained" to the end of ""That would tend to induce people to take me along with them and read me in the open air: I am nearly always successful with the reader in the open air."" to attribute the quote directly to Whitman. 18:15, 9 November 2015

Added "Leaves of Grass was highly controversial during it's time for it's explicit sexual imagery, and Whitman was subject to derision by many contemporary critics. Over time, the collection has infiltrated popular culture and become a seminal work of American poetry." to reinforce the collection's legacy. 18:25, 9 November 2015

Added "The “Banned in Boston” scandal had become major news and it generated much publicity for Whitman and his work." to emphasize the sensational nature of the controversy. 17:23, 13 November 2015

Added " Leaves of Grass was edited, revised, and republished many times before Whitman’s death, and over the years his focus and ideas were not static. They moved and shifted, and this reflected in the changes he made. Critics have identified three major “thematic drifts” in Leaves of Grass: the period 1855-1859, from 1859-1865, and from 1866 to his death. In the first period, 1855-1859, his major work is “Song of Myself” and it exemplifies his prevailing love for freedom. “Freedom in nature, nature which is perfect in time and place and freedom in expression, leading to the expression of love in its sensuous form.”[30] The second period, from 1859-1865, paints the picture of a more melancholic, sober poet. In poems like Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, the prevailing themes are of love and of death. From 1866 to his death, the ideas Whitman presented in his second period had experienced an evolution. His focus on death had grown to a focus on immortality, the major theme of this period. Whitman became more conservative in his old age, and had come to believe that the importance of law exceeded the importance of freedom. His materialistic view of the world became far more spiritual, and Whitman believed that life had no meaning outside of the context of God’s plan.[31]" to explain the three thematic drifts in leaves of grass. 18:07, 13 November 2015

Added "Leaves of Grass’ status as one of the most important collections of American poetry has meant that over time various groups and movements have used it, and Whitman’s work in general, to further their own political and social purposes. In the first half of the 20th century, the popular Little Blue Book series introduced Whitman’s work to a wider audience than ever before. A series that backed socialist and progressive viewpoints, the publication connected the poet’s focus on the common man to the empowerment of the working class. During WWII, the American government distributed for free much of Whitman’s poetry to their soldiers. They believed that his celebrations of the American Way would inspire the people tasked with protecting it. Whitman’s work has also been claimed in the name of racial equality. In a preface to the 1946 anthology I Hear the People Singing:Selected Poems of Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes wrote that Whitman’s “all-embracing words lock arms with workers and farmers, Negroes and whites, Asiatics and Europeans, serfs, and free men, beaming democracy to all”[47]. Similarly, a 1970 volume of Whitman’s poetry published by the United States Information Agency describes Whitman as a man who will “mix indiscriminately” with the people. The volume, which was presented for an international audience, attempted to present Whitman as representative of an America that accepts people of all groups.[47]"JakeLong1995 (talk) 18:42, 30 November 2015 (UTC)