Freeman's depends on the unfolding of simple emotions. It will also be
found interesting to compare the method of that early English realist Jane
Austen, _e.g._ in her novel _Emma_, with the work of the American realists.
In general, do you think that the romantic or the realistic school has the
truer conception of the mission and art of fiction? Why is it desirable
that each school should hold the other in check?
WALT WHITMAN.--How did his early life prepare him to be the poet of
democracy? To what voices does he specially listen in his poem, _I Hear
America Singing_? In his _Song of Myself_, point out some passages that
show the modern spirit of altruism. In _Out of the Cradle Endlessly
Rocking_, what lines best show his lyric gift? What individual objects
stand out most strongly and poetically? Could this poem have been written
by one reared in the middle West? Why does he select the lilacs, evening
star, and hermit thrush, as the _motifs_ of the poem, _When Lilacs Last in
the Dooryard Bloom'd?_ In _Patrolling Barnegat_, do you notice any
resemblance to Anglo-Saxon poetry of the sea, _e.g._ to _Beowulf_ or _The
Seafarer?_ In _With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!_ what touches are unlike
those of Anglo-Saxon poets? (See the author's _History of English
Literature_, pp.
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