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Whitman and the City:
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Student Projects
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Read Charles Baudelaire's definition (on theory page) of the flaneur, and write a four-page essay that considers in what ways the persona in "Song of Myself" is and is not adequately described by Baudelaire's term.
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For class discussion, compare the 1855 and the 1891-92 versions of section 8 of "Song of Myself. (This site presents only the 1855 version, but all versions can be found at the Whitman Hypertext Archive.) Whitman made several changes, and at least two are significant. Be prepared to discuss these changes in class.
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Examine closely the chronology of Whitman's experiences in New York, and the chronology of New York City. Compile a list of events, new developments, elections, etc. that Whitman might have witnessed or heard about, and research in the library more thoroughly five of these events. Write a report, and present to the class your findings.
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Read all the Whitman poems, prose, and letters at Whitman's Writings. Come to class prepared to discuss differences in Whitman's response to the city in different genres (poems, essay, newspaper editorial, letter) and also at different times in his life. Take notes on each selection, characterizing Whitman's representation of the city, noting the tone, the details, style of each selection.
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Write an essay that compares Whitman's response to the city in any selection of poetic or prose writings collected here to one other nineteenth-century text (poem or fiction, American or British) that focuses on the city. (Possibilities, to name only a few, include: Melville's "Bartelby," Poe's "The Man of the Crowd," selected scenes from Hawthorne's Blithedale Romance , Wordsworth's "Residence in London" in The Prelude , Book Seven. Other writers to consider: William Blake, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Theodore Dreiser, etc.
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Go to the 1855 edition of "Song of Myself" at the Whitman Hypertext Archive. (Clicking here will take you directly to the 1855 edition: http://www.whitmanarchive.org/works/leaves/1855/index.html.) Search for the word "city" in the poem and in Whitman's introduction to the poem. Copy the passages you find into a word processing document, choosing enough of the passage to make the context of the usage clear. Then, after each quoted passage, write a paragraph that describes and comments on Whitman's use of the term. Finally, at the end of your document, write a two-page essay that reflects on Whitman's use of the term in light of the entire poem and the changing moods in different sections. (This assignment is an introductory exploration of the significance of computer search capabilites for literary studies.)