Tag Archives: America

Expanding Whitman’s Influence

We had a truly great class this semester, in which we expounded upon and investigated in depth just how far-reaching Walt Whitman’s influential scope extends.  Essentially, we can thank the American Bard for the magnum opuses of a large number of the … Continue reading

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The Broken Body Politic

My paper topic has proved quite perplexing. While relating Whitman and Ginsberg in class didn’t seem so hard, there is surprisingly little literary criticism is done comparing the two men. Whitman’s legacy is complex and multifaceted to say the least; … Continue reading

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Connectedness in a Post 9/11 World

This week, we focused on Whitmanian influence in a post 9/11 world, and the complications that ensue when trying to reconcile Whitman’s optimism and ideas of connectedness in an America that seems to have been tarnished and mutated.  As many … Continue reading

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So what was Ginsberg doing with his queer shoulder?

I cannot stop thinking about it. I read “America” a few semesters ago and took it for what I thought it was: a big “Eff You, America!”, a lamentation, and then a moment of realization that spikes action where Ginsberg … Continue reading

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Ginsberg’s Sunflowers

Allen Ginsberg’s “Sunflower Sutra” is definitely a poem of crisis and recovery. Ginsberg’s sunflower suggests an America that has been tarnished and polluted by the carelessness of modern society. In observing the “dead gray shadow” that is the sunflower Ginsberg … Continue reading

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A Father and Son’s Road-Trip and Walt Whitman

Writer for the Detroit Free Press, David Crumm and his son, Benjamin, took a coast-to-coast road trip this summer in search of American values and the reasons why Americans love their country. They wrote a series of articles from every … Continue reading

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