O Me O Life

What is the summary of the poem O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman?

Answer explanation

LITERATUREA Short Analysis of Walt Whitman’s ‘O Me! O Life!’

One of the shortest of Walt Whitman’s great poems, ‘O Me! O Life!’ was featured in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society: Robin Williams’s character recites it to his class. ‘O Me! O Life!’ contains many of the features of Walt Whitman’s greatest poetry: the free verse rhythm, the alternation between long and short lines, the rhetorical (or not-so-rhetorical?) questions, the focus on the self. Before we offer a fuller analysis of the poem, here’s a reminder of ‘O Me! O Life!’.

In summary, ‘O Me! 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. ‘O Me! O Life!’ is an excellent (short) demonstration of this abundance of self-awareness.

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What is the intention of the speaker in “O Me! O Life!?

 

• Offering instructions to fix the problem

• Correcting the ideas of his readers 

• Criticizing new innovations that modernized society

• Asking his readers to stop and realize that they are contributing to humanity

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What is the message conveyed through the poem “O Me! O Life!”?  What is the poetic’s voice and attitude toward life? Comment on the images and language and explain your answer. 

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What is the message of the poem “O Me! O Life!”? Give a practical explanation using your own interpretation and experience. 

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How do the images in the poem contribute to the overall theme of the poem 'O Me! O Life!'? Cite at least two pieces of specific evidence from the text in your response.

Answer explanation

The images in the poem contribute to the overall theme of the poem by emphasizing the speaker's feelings of despair and hopelessness.

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What sound device is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses that the author employs in the line below from the excerpt ‘O Me! O Life!’? ‘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?)

• end rhyme

• internal rhyme

• anaphora

• alliteration 

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What are the themes of “trains of the faithless” and “cities fill’d with the foolish” in O Me! O Life!?

• The Renaissance

• Modernization and industrialization

• Human life is not sacred

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What form of poetry is “O Me! O Life”?

• sonnet

• free verse

• narrative

• Pantoum

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What is the main theme of the poem 'O Me! O Life!' by Walt Whitman?

• A) The struggle of existence

• B) The beauty of nature

• C) The power of love

• D) The inevitability of death

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Which literary device is predominantly used in 'O Me! O Life!'?

• A) Metaphor

• B) Simile

• C) Anaphora

• D) Hyperbole

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