What is the poem O Me O life about?

What is the poem O Me O life about?

Major Themes in “O Me! O Life!”: Existence, expectations versus reality, and struggle are the major themes of this poem. The poem revolves around one question that hinders the bliss of the speaker’s life. The poet questions the existence and futility of life.

What is the meaning of life according to Whitman?

Whitman Confirms The purpose of life is to sing There are so many recurring entities -people. Most of them are faithless and foolish. Of them, the most faithless and foolish is singer himself, Whitman himself. All of them have so many questions that arise from life.

What is Whitman’s verse?

We are here, life exists, and we have an identity with which we must fashion to our own desires. The verse that Whitman and Robin Williams refer to is the legacy you have to leave in the world. The powerful play refers to the role that we have in our lives to influence others.

Who wrote the poem Oh Me Oh life?

Walt Whitman
O Life! Walt Whitman is America’s world poet—a latter-day successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Shakespeare. In Leaves of Grass (1855, 1891-2), he celebrated democracy, nature, love, and friendship.

What is the tone of the poem O Me O life?

There is certainly a tone of woe in this first section of O Me! O Life! that begins with the first words—“Oh me!”—which set the atmosphere of a sad lamentation. There is irony at work, however, in that the thing that is being lamented is “life” whereas the more common thing to lament would be death.

What is the answer to O Me O life?

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. Whitman ends ‘O Me! O Life! ‘ with a defiant and jubilant answer: the worth of life lies precisely in life: in the fact that we are here, alive, and have the chance to contribute in some small way to the sum of human endeavour and happiness.

What does light mean in O Me O life?

Whitman considers the fact that everyone is only selfishly or “vainly” looking for the “light” or some understanding of this life. “Light” could also mean any type of situation to make oneself look better. The “objects” that us as people crave are worldly or temporary needs and will not satisfy us in the long run.

What is the tone in the poem Oh Me Oh life?

He laments the futility of life in the era of industrialization, of “trains of faithless, of cities filled with foolish” (2). He examines himself in a self-deprecating tone, labeling himself “foolish” and “faithless” to believe he influences the world around him.

When did Whitman write O Me O life?

1867
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) first published “O Me! O Life!” in the 1867 edition of his famous collection Leaves of Grass.

What does of the poor results of all of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me?

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me, More attention to the crowd here, the city filled with people, just going through their daily routine (‘plodding’) and low, immoral, and dirty lives they lead (‘sordid’). Life, in summary, is a vain struggle.

What will your verse be meaning?

You’ve read this poem & heard bits of it in Dead Poet’s Society and iPad commercials. It asks deep questions we all ask when we’re not feeling worthy, and it provides a profound answer: That you are here, and that you get to contribute a “verse” to this powerful play we call life.

What is the feeling of the speaker as expressed in the poem O Me O life?

O Life!” evokes the speaker’s despair—and the calm power of the voice that responds to that despair. Take a look at lines 2-3, for instance: Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

What does of eyes that vainly crave the light mean?

In fact, even the statement of “eyes that vainly crave the light” is an expression that people want brighter existences, but their struggles to achieve something of more value are in “vain” because they cannot escape the darkness around them.

What does vainly crave the light mean?

What does of the empty and useless years of the rest with the rest me intertwined mean?

He thinks of the “empty and useless years” people spend in their often vain pursuit of this or that goal, of their frustration in not achieving it; of the wasted years of lives seemingly without achievement or purpose or point. And he counts himself among them, feels a part of them, “with the rest me intertwined.”

Who wrote what will your verse be?

No one else can paint it. Only you.” So, I leave you with a message that is a combination of the words by John Keating and Gordon MacKenzie. We need to encourage our students not only to identify their “verse” in the “powerful play” of life, but to also make sure that it is documented and that it gets spoken!

What is the poem O Me O Life by Walt Whitman?

O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman | Poetry Foundation O Me! O Life! Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer.

What is the message of the poem life by Walt Whitman?

That message is that “life” can be a hard thing to endure, but the ability is within us to make it something worth experiencing anyway. Walt Whitman is an American writer who was born in 1819. He had eight siblings and spent time as a teacher in the 1830s and 1840s.

When did Walt Whitman die?

Walt Whitman is an American writer who was born in 1819. He had eight siblings and spent time as a teacher in the 1830s and 1840s. Additionally, he was strongly connected to the Long-Islander newspaper, and he penned a number of works that are still noted as worthwhile. He passed away in 1892. Read more poetry by Walt Whitman.

What is the main idea of Odo life by Walt Whitman?

O Life!’ sees Whitman despairing about life, but also, by association, about himself. Whitman was among the most generous-spirited poets of the nineteenth century, and his work shows a refusal to see himself as superior to, or separate from, the world around him.