Whitman, Death and Immortality

Paper Summary:

This paper outlines the differences between the early and later versions of one of Whitman's most notable poems, "To Think of Time." It shows the poem's steady evolution--how it is tranferred from a poem about life and immortality to one about death and finality.

From the Paper:

"In addition to changing the structure and physical make up of the poem, Whitman changes the content. Some of the changes are as subtle as substituting one word for another and others are as large as adding or deleting whole passages. No matter the magnitude of the change, they all work towards attempting to establish a feeling of ending and emphasizing the certainty of death. In the 1855 version of "To Think of Time," the persona asks: "Have you dreaded those earth-beetles" (3)? In the later version he changes "those" to "these." "Those" is an objective pronoun. It shows no real connection or relation to the person using the pronoun. Using it here pushes the subject of death and burial away."

More papers on Whitman, Death and Immortality:

• Analytical Essay # 43916 : "Concepts of Death and Immortality"
• Analytical Essay # 33077 : "Death and Immortality in "The Epic of Gilgamesh"
• Essay # 18282 : "Death, Dying and Immortality"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: