1. Quick write  Although you are still young, you may have lost someone or something you cared about.  Think about someone or something that meant a lot to you and is now gone.  In 3-6 sentences describe how that loss affected you.

2. WALT WHITMAN AND ELEGY Notebook #14

3. Walt Whitman (1819-1892)  One of the finest and most original American poets  Born on long island, New York  Left school at age 11 to go to work  Continued his education on the weekends by reading (Shakespeare, the Bible, Sir Walter Scott)

4. Life of Whitman  Summer of 1831 he worked for a newspaper; The Long Island Patriot.  Provided Whitman his first opportunity to be published.  Most of the rest of his life was spent alternating between teaching and printing.  The only book he ever published was Leaves of Grass.  First edition published 1855 (Whitman published it himself)  Last edition published in 1892 after his death – called the “deathbed edition.”

5. Leaves of Grass  Public reaction to Leaves of Grass was mixed:  Most called it “barbaric” because of the base and vulgar content and language.  A few realized the genius within.  Whitman wrote in free verse.  Whitman embraced and celebrated all aspects of his country, The United States, and its people, especially the workers.

6. Civil War  During the Civil War he volunteered as a nurse, a “wound dresser,” in military hospitals.  In 1865 he added the section “Drum Taps,” a collection of civil war poems.

7. Time moves on  He continued to write and revise his poetry until his death in 1892.  Over the course of his life he wrote and published over 400 poems.

8. Elegy  A poem of mourning  Most elegies are about someone who has died  Some elegies mourn a way of life that is gone forever

9. Lincoln and Whitman  “O Captain! My Captain!” is an Elegy used to mourn the death of President Abraham Lincoln  Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865

10. Extended metaphors  Whitman uses an extended metaphor in “O Captain! My Captain!”  In an extended metaphor:  the metaphor is stated  The comparison is extended as far as the poet could possibly take it  Whitman uses the entire poem