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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
No se si es que no era mi momento de leerlo o qué pero... menuda decepción.
De momento me quedo con mis señoras poetas (o poetisas según se prefiera).
Y por cierto, nada justifica el uso del término "leche seminal" en un poema. De ese burro no me bajan.
De momento me quedo con mis señoras poetas (o poetisas según se prefiera).
Y por cierto, nada justifica el uso del término "leche seminal" en un poema. De ese burro no me bajan.
This is one of those books I've always heard referred to yet never read myself. I wonder if we would all have the same love for America that Walt Whitman had if we traveled as extensively as he did and had detailed knowledge of so many different places in the United States.
Occasion moments of incredible beauty, but otherwise an incredibly irritating tone and portrayal of people.
2.7 stars. My journey through poetry isn't going to well I feel. While reading his works I started to thing of a puffer fish being puffed up. Kinda how I feel about the poetry. It wasn't my thing and I couldn't see the real greatness of it. However I'm still very new to the genre and probably haven't learnt the proper way to read it. But for me it wasn't very engaging or make me go in awe of the skillfully poetry. My journey through poetry continues but hope I I found what my taste is soon.
I haven't read the ENTIRE Leaves, but most of it....Whitman is one of my faves--great imagery in his poetry. The idea of being 'untranslatable' and 'containing multitudes' and being part of everything is a gorgeous, and peaceful idea. Love you, Uncle Walt!
Fair warning: I'm a dunce when it comes to poetry. So don't read this as a recommendation (or not) if you know something about poetry and want to check out Whitman. I'm not your guy.
Reading Whitman was something of a frustrating experience for me; for every poem that contained some beautiful elegiac call to a world long-dead or a world to-be-dead, there were a dozen of anaphoric stanzas in a row; the effect of anaphora, to me, is powerful in short bursts but monotonous in long ones. Now, Whitman likely didn't mean for the reader to read fifty pages a day, given that he revised this over the course of his life.
I will say that there is an ebullient joy (and keening horniness) to Whitman's work, especially his earlier stuff. I found myself trending toward his elegies and his war-time poems, with my particular favourite being "The Centenarian"; a recounting of a Revolutionary-war veteran remembering battles long-passed.
Whitman has an uncanny ability for writing across time; some of my favourite poems in the collection, such as "When I Read the Book", speak directly to a reader he'd never know. The feeling is simultaneously discomfiting and magical. Writing, unlike any other medium, is capable of transmitting thoughts across generations. We know this, we discuss it in classes, and yet we rarely encounter authors who know it, too. Whitman did, and it makes this collection all the more special.
Did I truly enjoy it? Not really. But I am glad I read it, and for what it's worth, here are my favourite poems below, in order of their appearance.
- "When I Read the Book"
- "When I Heard at the Close of Day"
- "I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing"
- "What Think You I Take My Pen In Hand?"
- "Full of Life Now"
- "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"
- "Gliding O'er All"
- "The Centenarian"
- "As Toilsome I Wandere'd Virginia's Woods"
- "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day"
- "Unnamed Lands"
- "A Clear Midnight"
- "As the Time Draws Nigh"
- "So Long!"
Reading Whitman was something of a frustrating experience for me; for every poem that contained some beautiful elegiac call to a world long-dead or a world to-be-dead, there were a dozen of anaphoric stanzas in a row; the effect of anaphora, to me, is powerful in short bursts but monotonous in long ones. Now, Whitman likely didn't mean for the reader to read fifty pages a day, given that he revised this over the course of his life.
I will say that there is an ebullient joy (and keening horniness) to Whitman's work, especially his earlier stuff. I found myself trending toward his elegies and his war-time poems, with my particular favourite being "The Centenarian"; a recounting of a Revolutionary-war veteran remembering battles long-passed.
Whitman has an uncanny ability for writing across time; some of my favourite poems in the collection, such as "When I Read the Book", speak directly to a reader he'd never know. The feeling is simultaneously discomfiting and magical. Writing, unlike any other medium, is capable of transmitting thoughts across generations. We know this, we discuss it in classes, and yet we rarely encounter authors who know it, too. Whitman did, and it makes this collection all the more special.
Did I truly enjoy it? Not really. But I am glad I read it, and for what it's worth, here are my favourite poems below, in order of their appearance.
- "When I Read the Book"
- "When I Heard at the Close of Day"
- "I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing"
- "What Think You I Take My Pen In Hand?"
- "Full of Life Now"
- "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"
- "Gliding O'er All"
- "The Centenarian"
- "As Toilsome I Wandere'd Virginia's Woods"
- "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day"
- "Unnamed Lands"
- "A Clear Midnight"
- "As the Time Draws Nigh"
- "So Long!"
emotional
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
