A Song Analysis by Walt Whitman

The poem, A Song, by Walt Whitman appears in Leaves of Grass. This edition collection of poems appeared in 1867. It is the workshop for the other versions that followed. â€Å"A Song† is not as well-known as some of Whitman’s other songs. This one like many of his poems celebrates comradeship and nature. It appears in the Calamus section of the 1867 book. It does not appear in later additions. The poem praises the soldiers who fought for America’s freedom. The emphasis on comradeship grows throughout the four stanzas. It starts with life-long love grows to manly love and ends with high-towering love. He uses lots of images from nature as well including â€Å"trees along the rivers,† â€Å"along the shores,† â€Å"all over the prairies. † This emphasis of the water is no coincidence as ships and those that worked on them fascinated Whitman. He loved ride the ferries and spend time along the East River in New York state. His patriotic side shines through this poem too with phrases like â€Å"the continent indissoluble,† â€Å"divine magnetic lands,† â€Å"O Democracy. † His ideals of a united nation present in the poem, contrast with the country as it really was, with racial problems and disputes between the North and South. This ideal grew out of his visits with wartime veterans after seeing the harm that segregation did to the country. At very young age, this ideal emerged through his friendship with Tom Paine, who wrote Common Sense. Whitman wrote this poem shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation produced the freedom that many questioned could ever occur. Keats, Bryant, and Emerson inspired much of his poetry and followed their examples especially in his newer editions of Leaves of Grass. In â€Å"A Song,† music tries to ring through the words. Whitman was a master at matching images with musical sounds. The reader can almost hear the river through the trees or the song of the prairies. In the poem, his love for music reaches out to people. Music is universal and brings people of all races together. Whitman seems to say that through song all nations can achieve these things. By replacing the â€Å"I† in this poem with songs or song, the reader sees how important song and music became to Whitman. Whitman was largely self-taught learning his trade as a teenager. He worked in a print shop. He learned much about journalism and grew to love writing in all its forms. Among other things, he was a schoolteacher, a journalist, an editor. He also wrote fiction and essays.

Surf Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Surf Culture - Research Paper Example Although surfing as we perceive it today became popular in the 1950s and 1960s, the sport is much older. Surfing was both a pastime as well as a training module and exercise regimen in the ancient Hawaiian culture, where priests would engage in ritual dances and chants to please the sea so as to provide good waves for surfing. Surfing for the ancient Hawaiians was also a means of resolving conflicts and they took great pride in testing their skills in fierce contests. As it became popular in California and Australia, in the early twentieth century, the invention of new varieties of lighter, better-designed surfboards with improved maneuverability made the sport more accessible to greater numbers of people. What revolutionized the sport perhaps more than any other invention was that of the wetsuit that allowed surfers to experiment with new and daring surfing maneuvers and enjoy the sport in all weathers. Today the subculture of surfing has become a way of life in many parts of the wo rld especially Hawaii, California, Florida and Australia. Surfing has numerous characteristics that tend to contribute to group cohesiveness. The beach which is the natural meeting ground of surfers is a place that all can share. Since surfers meet at particular places where the waves are rideable, their interactions help form connections on the basis of the shared interest, and the excitement and intensity of the sport adds a special bond of belonging to the group.

The Causes and Effects of air pollution on the people and the Essay

The Causes and Effects of air pollution on the people and the environment - Essay Example In addition, air pollutants are transboundary in nature as they travel freely from the source in which they are produced to other locations and thereby spread the pollutants throughout the region. This nature has resulted in health affects for humans, animals as well as negative environmental impacts on trees, plants and forests which have in turn incurred economic losses through medical expenses and other damages (Air Pollution Effects). Air Pollution – Causes Man-made sources The major causes of air pollution come from human activities while on a minority result from natural causes. The beginning of the industrial revolution has brought with it tremendous growth of industries, population and globalization which have hugely contributed to the growing air pollution across the world. The industrial growth resulted in the establishment of several sectors such as power and biofuel industries, refineries, residential sector and the development of road, rail, and air transport. Eac h of these sectors has liberated pollutants into the air in the form of gases, solid or liquid particles. Among the major gaseous form of pollutants, sulfur-dioxide, which is a colorless gas with a pungent odor, is released during combustion of fossil fuels. The generation of power through electricity and the consequent production of heat produce a cocktail of air pollutants. The combustion of coal, which is a widely used source of energy in the power sector, produces sulfur-dioxide in large amounts in addition to other greenhouse pollutants such as arsenic, lead, and mercury. Other industries which release large amounts of sulfur-dioxide into the atmosphere are the manufacturing and construction industries and those which produce non-ferrous metals. The next major gaseous pollutant released is nitrogen oxides which is present in two major forms: nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide. These are produced during the combustion of fossil fuels, motor fuel combustion from vehicles, from pow er plants, and deforestation. Carbon monoxide which is a highly toxic colorless, odorless and tasteless gas is also mainly produced during deforestation, combustion of biofuels and vehicular combustion. Ammonia gas, which has a pungent odor and hazardous in nature is produced through agricultural practices such as livestock farming and animal waste. The ozone, which is a colorless, poisonous gas with an irritating odor, is present in the stratosphere and troposphere layer of the atmosphere. While the ozone in the stratosphere layer protects the earth against the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun, that in the troposphere is a secondary pollutant which is produced as a result of a chemical reaction between other pollutants in the presence of sunlight. Other air pollutants includes solid or liquid airborne particles which are suspended in the atmosphere, volatile organic compounds such as pure hydrocarbons or organic compounds and other persistent pollutants such as pesticides like D DT (Air Pollution Causes). Natural sources The