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Walt WhitmanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Walt Whitman is largely credited as being the father of free verse. He writes unrhymed, irregular sentences that mimic regular speech. Though it does make use of repetition, the repetition of phrases is also irregular. The purpose of using free verse is to make the poem relatable and accessible to common people. Whitman writes about regular people who may not have sophisticated academic educations, and it follows that he writes in a language and form that they would be able to understand and would reflect their typical mode of expression.
Repetition in the poem enhances the song-like quality of “I Sing the Body Electric.” As a song has repeating phrases, the poem repeats ideas over and over to create a sense of rhythm. The repetition of key ideas also emphasizes those ideas, making them easier to understand for the lay person. Whitman emphasizes more than once that the body gives expression to the soul, that those who corrupt the body also corrupt the soul, that parts of the body are beautiful and meant to be seen and touched, and that the body is the soul.
By Walt Whitman
A Glimpse
Walt Whitman
America
Walt Whitman
A Noiseless Patient Spider
Walt Whitman
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Walt Whitman
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
Walt Whitman
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Walt Whitman
For You O Democracy
Walt Whitman
Hours Continuing Long
Walt Whitman
I Hear America Singing
Walt Whitman
I Sit and Look Out
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
Song of Myself
Walt Whitman
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Walt Whitman
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Walt Whitman
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
Walt Whitman