Two poems can sound and mirror each other almost identically, but have completely different meanings when considering the context in which the respective poems were written. When Walt Whitman wrote his poem "Songs of Myself" in 1852 in its first edition, he was writing at a time of American expansionism and romantic ideas of the wild pioneer in the wilderness dominated national consciousnesses. Such romantic notions are represented in many lines of Whitman's poem and have a great impact on making him a classic example like another great thinker, Henry David Thoreau. The literary styles of "Songs of Myself" such as realism, cadence, repetition, and use of simple language had a major influence on later American literature. Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," written in 1952, reflects many aspects of "Songs of Myself" in its realism, cadence, repetition, and use of simple language. Obviously, it would seem that "Howl" is a secondary manifestation of "Songs of Myself", but this is not the case because the theme of "Howl" was not rooted in romanticism. Instead, Allen Ginsberg's poem conveyed a lot of urban angst while Whitman's poem conveyed and captured the true meaning of nature. Although the poems shared many literary similarities, they were not completely similar in the sense that they both created their own respective contrasting movements. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Washington State University Department of Literature and Shmoop define realism as that literary technique that shows situations without all the idealism depicted in the world. The use of realism is evident in both Walt Whitman's "Songs of Myself" and Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," but what it accomplished for each poem yielded different results. “Songs of Myself” celebrates the uniqueness of the human experience and its ability to transcend consciousness. Whitman, in his writings, used many stanzas describing entirely new scenes as if to symbolize a rebirth of the human spirit in each scene. However, it is necessary to be realistic and, in stanza 15, he writes: “The madman is finally transported to the asylum, a confirmed case. » In such a poem intended for a romantic idealization of the human spirit, Whitman's inclusion of this verse about the reality of the mentally ill confined to asylums was a definite contrast. Although confusing at first, this realism in Whitman's work is used to show that the human mind is not perfect and that there will always be an unshakable weakness in the human soul. As a result, Whitman's poem unfolded with a sense of uncomfortable caution even as he continued to write about the romantic features of the great American frontier. When it comes to “Songs of Myself,” Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” used realism at every turn, but the intentions behind its use of realism go beyond simple caution. “Howl” was written during the postwar prosperity of the United States, under the dark threat of the Cold War. The poem was also influenced by the counterculture of American society at that time, "Howl" used a more serious (or intense) version of realism to depict an image of the urban city. In the first part, Ginsberg writes: "who sang out the window in despair, fell out of the subway window/, jumped into dirty Passaic, jumped on theniggers / , were crying all over the street, dancing on broken wine glasses / broken photograph barefoot European nostalgic German jazz records from the 1930s finished the whiskey and vomited moans in the bloody toilet, moans / in the ears and the blowing of colossal steam whistles. Ginsberg's use of realism is simply frightening as it depicts a scene of anarchy even though it was meant to be a realistic picture of contemporary society. It's scary because of the language he uses and the way he uses it to provoke fear, and it implies that successful people in the big city were "always singing out the window in despair » and felt depressed about their lives. This means that even those who were “successful and financially supported were still not happy,” implying that those who were less fortunate were worse off. Ginsberg shows through his use of realism that human character was extremely imperfect, even in cities. These cities were centers of human innovation where technology was available; thus making life easier for those who lived in the city. If human character were imperfect in modern cities, what will happen when society fails? City dwellers are better equipped for this society, and if society collapses, what does that mean for those less fortunate? Whitman and Ginsberg's use of realism highlighted the flaws of the human mind. Both authors use realism to raise awareness and draw attention to the fact that an inevitable future may come sooner than we think. However, the poet Whitman uses a more positive effect to give us this warning, while Ginsberg's vision has a more dark and ominous use of words. The use of repetition or cadence was evident in the works of Whitman and Ginsberg, but the results of their respective use were again contrasting. In Whitman’s “Songs of Myself,” he often uses repetition in many instances to highlight what is important to him. For example, in stanza 21 he writes: “Land of sleeping and liquid trees! Land of vanished sunset - land of misty-topped mountains! Land of the glassy flow of the full moon just tinted with blue! Land of brilliance and darkness marbling the river tide! The Earth with the lame gray of the clouds is brighter and clearer to me! » The word "Earth" being mentioned several times at the beginning of each line, clearly shows a theme in Whitman's writings of the romanticism of nature. As we approach the poem, the sounds of these repeated words become more accentuated. Reading these lines aloud reveals a certain carefree tone in Whitman's poetry, and it sounds like a droning song of life. Whitman's use of repetition or cadence reflects his own carefree attitude toward life, which was that of a curious soul finding meaning in the magnificence of nature. Unlike Whitman's singing in cadence, Ginsberg's use of repetition had the opposite meaning. Instead of promoting a carefree attitude, Ginsberg's use of cadence highlighted the growing anxiety in his poetry. In the third part, Ginsberg writes: “Carl Solomon! I'm with you in Rockland - where you're crazier than me. I'm with you in Rockland - where you must feel very strange..." Ginsberg actually repeats the phrase "I'm with you in Rockland" several times, and at first it doesn't sound like anything negative, but upon further investigation In-depth, “Rockland” refers to the name of a psychiatric hospital! With this, the sentenceof Ginsberg's "Rockland" suddenly becomes extremely disturbing, and one gets the impression that the repetition of this single phrase highlights the poet's descent into madness and deteriorating mental health. In some ways, the pressure of urban life and contemporary society might have been too overwhelming. Overall, the use of repetition and cadence in Whitman's and Ginsberg's poems achieve different results depending on their own respective contexts. The use of common language in both poems was used to appeal to the masses of readers, but the result achieved was different for each poem. In Whitman's poem, he often uses very simple English to write his verses. In one example from stanza 20, he simply states, “What is a man anyway? What am I? What are you?" The majority of words here are no more than four letters long and just ask very simple questions. Whitman was asking very simple questions that anyone could answer. Obviously, every verse of his poem does not need to be dissected, but has a very simple meaning. In this way, Whitman's poem reached a larger audience at that time, which allowed many to appreciate his works. think this reflects Whitman's own themes about nature, because nature is so pure that it is not corrupted by a more authoritative figure Throughout "Songs of Myself", Whitman observes nature as it is. that it came more naturally to him in order to feel it better The use of common language was also used so that readers could simply read it with pleasure and so that the poems would reach more people Whitman was not. an elitist, but someone who genuinely cared about the people who read his work. On the other hand, Ginsberg's use of common language included many depictions of violence and depressing images. For example, Ginsberg uses words like "war, sobs, death and burning" which are found on page 9, line 3, page 10, line 18, page 13-14, line 43, page 14, lines 56, page 14, lines 61. The use of In this case, common language had the opposite effect because instead of finding joy, the simple language immediately connected readers to the anguish that Ginsberg was feeling. Simple language has the effect of immediately and easily bringing the author's intention to the forefront, and in the different contexts of the two poems, it was easy to understand how Ginsberg's use of common language more shocked readers that how Whitman's use resulted in joy. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay What really sets the two poems apart despite their literary similarities is the larger theme behind each poem. Although both poems used similar styles like realism, repetition, cadence, and common language, the tone of the poems reflected a different mood. Whitman's poem was written during a time of vast American expansionism and the climate of that time was one of romanticism. The image of the pioneer became a heroic figure, and the content of Whitman's "Songs of Myself" shows a tendency toward this perspective. In contrast, Ginsberg's mood in his poetry was full of unease and uncertainty, and there were many scenes of random disturbances that seem to make no sense individually. However, in the context of the Cold War and the many civil rights issues of the 1950s, Ginsberg's writing of "Howl" at this time clearly shows a 2019.