Literary Classics: Analysis of Whitman, James, Gilman, and Melville

Posted on Jan 27, 2025 in English Language and Literature

Walt Whitman’s *Leaves of Grass*: Key Insights

Frequently Asked Questions on *Leaves of Grass*

1. What is Paumanok?
   • Paumanok is the Native American term for Long Island.
2. In “Starting from Paumanok,” what does Whitman say he will make poems from?
   • All of the above (material things, his body, his morality).
3. Toward the end of “Song of Myself,” what sound does Whitman say he will make?
   • A barbaric yawp.
4. What does an important section of “Song of Myself” describe?
   • Twenty-nine bathers.
5. What is the major symbol Whitman works through in “Song of Myself”?
   • The grass.
6. In “I Sing the Body Electric,” how is the human body described?
   • Sacred.
7. What is the occupation of the man Whitman describes in “Body Electric”?
   • A farmer.
8. What does the repeated word “Allons!” in “Song of the Open Road” translate to?
   • Let’s go!
9. In “Song of the Open Road,” what is the “efflux of the soul”?
   • Happiness.
10. In “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” what does Whitman claim that identity is received through?
    • The body.
11. In “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” how do generations communicate?
    • Through common experiences.
12. What animal does the poet commune with in “Out of the Cradle”?
    • A bird.
13. What word does the sea give the poet in “Out of the Cradle”?
    • Death.
14. Where is the poem “As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life” set?
    • A beach.
15. How can the tone of the poem “As I Ebb’d” best be described?
    • Tormented.
16. Whose death does “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” commemorate?
    • Lincoln’s.
17. What kind of poem is “When Lilacs Last”?
    • An elegy.
18. Who or what speaks to the poet in “By Blue Ontario’s Shore”?
    • A phantom.
19. How does Whitman describe the role of the poet in “Blue Ontario”?
    • A judge.
20. In “The Sleepers,” who tells Whitman the story of the Indian woman?
    • His mother.
21. Which historical figure makes an appearance in “The Sleepers”?
    • Washington.
22. How many editions of *Leaves of Grass* did Whitman publish?
    • Eight.
23. During the Civil War, Whitman held several jobs. Which of the following was *not* one of them?
    • Soldier.
24. Which previous American writer was a great influence on Whitman?
    • Ralph Waldo Emerson.
25. Which of the following is the title of Whitman’s collection of war poetry?
    • *Drum Taps*.

Henry James’s *Daisy Miller*: A Study in Social Contrast

Key Questions and Answers on *Daisy Miller*

1. Through whose eyes do we see most of the events in *Daisy Miller*?
   • The narrator’s.
2. How might the hotel Trois Couronnes, where the Millers and Mrs. Costello are staying, be described?
   • Old and venerable.
3. What is Mrs. Costello’s relation to Winterbourne?
   • Aunt.
4. Why do Winterbourne’s friends like to say that he’s in Geneva “studying”?
   • B and C (It wouldn’t be discreet to say he has a mistress there and they don’t want him to sound like a rich, idle slacker).
5. When Randolph first meets Winterbourne, what does he ask him for?
   • Sugar.
6. Where does Winterbourne promise to take Daisy in Chapter 1?
   • Chillon Castle.
7. When Mrs. Costello describes the Millers as “common,” she means that they are what?
   • B and C (Socially unacceptable and vulgar).
8. When Winterbourne first meets Daisy, it occurs to him that she may be what?
   • Less innocent than she seems.
9. What excuse does Winterbourne give for being unable to introduce Daisy to his aunt?
   • B and C (She hardly socializes at all and she has these terrible headaches).
10. During their trip to Chillon, why does Daisy get angry at Winterbourne?
    • He tells her he’s leaving Vevey soon.
11. Mrs. Costello’s request that Winterbourne bring her the novel *Paule Méré* is what?
    • Highly ironic.
12. What do Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Miller warn Daisy about when she proposes to walk in the Pincio?
    • A and C (The Roman fever and her reputation).
13. What seems to be Mrs. Miller’s favorite topic of conversation?
    • Her digestion.
14. How does Daisy react when Winterbourne suggests that she and Giovanelli might be in love?
    • She seems to be angry and offended.
15. Which character, after Daisy, seems least concerned with social convention?
    • Giovanelli.
16. Which character does *not* suffer from any physical ailment or malady in the novel?
    • Mrs. Walker.
17. At Daisy’s funeral, what does Giovanelli tell Winterbourne about Daisy?
    • That she was innocent.
18. On her deathbed, what does Daisy want Winterbourne to know?
    • B and C (She was never engaged to Giovanelli and she remembered their trip to Chillon fondly and wondered if he did too).
19. Many of James’s contemporary readers condemned *Daisy Miller* because his representative of American girlhood seemed how?
    • A, B, and C (Vulgar, immoral, and ignorant).
20. When Mrs. Costello pretends to think that Daisy’s last name is “Baker” or “Chandler,” what is she doing?
    • A and B (Mocking Daisy’s family for being *nouveau riche* and mocking Daisy’s family for having made their money in “trade”).

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s *The Yellow Wallpaper*: A Feminist Critique

*The Yellow Wallpaper*: Questions and Answers

1. Most of Charlotte Gilman’s writing is primarily focused on what?
   • The unequal status of women.
2. How was *The Yellow Wallpaper* perceived at the time of its publication?
   • Almost unprintable and shocking.
3. Gilman’s analysis was that the traditional power structure of the family served whose happiness?
   • No one’s.
4. What did Gilman’s doctor believe was the cause of depression in females?
   • Too much mental activity.
5. *The Yellow Wallpaper* draws from the literary tradition of which author?
   • Edgar Allan Poe.
6. What might the narrator’s name be?
   • Jane.
7. What characteristic does John possess?
   • Practicality.
8. What does John think of the negative effect his treatment has on the narrator?
   • He doesn’t understand it.
9. Who is Jennie?
   • John’s sister, the housekeeper, and the narrator’s nurse.
10. How does Jennie’s presence and her contentment with a domestic life make the narrator feel?
    • Guilty.
11. When the story was first published, it was perceived as what?
    • A scary tale.
12. What, from the beginning, is the most intolerable aspect of the narrator’s life?
    • Compulsory silence and idleness.
13. What form of irony does the narrator use most in her journal?
    • Verbal irony.
14. The narrator writes in her journal to herself. What form of literary style is this?
    • Epistolary.
15. What does the narrator wish to do to the yellow wallpaper throughout the whole of the story?
    • Interpret it.
16. Why, according to the narrator, does she begin writing her journal?
    • To relieve her mind.
17. What word does the narrator use to describe the yellow wallpaper in the beginning?
    • Revolting.
18. The narrator believes her bedroom used to be what?
    • A nursery.
19. John threatens to send the narrator to Weir Mitchell. Who is Weir Mitchell?
    • A physician.
20. The narrator begins to see a woman in the wallpaper pattern. Why does she then tear at the wallpaper?
    • To free the woman.
21. As the narrator loses touch with the outer world, she comes to a greater understanding of what?
    • Her inner life.
22. As part of the narrator’s cure, John forbids her from what?
    • Exercising her imagination.
23. At first, what does the narrator wish to do with the woman in the wallpaper?
    • Tie her up.
24. John is so sure that he knows what’s best for his wife that he does what?
    • Disregards her opinions.
25. What leads to John’s mistreatment of the narrator’s depression?
    • The narrator’s perceived lack of will.

Herman Melville’s *Billy Budd*: A Tale of Innocence and Duty

*Billy Budd*: Key Questions and Answers

1. When did Herman Melville complete *Billy Budd*?
   • The manuscript was left unfinished at his death in 1891.
2. What is Billy Budd’s nickname on the *Bellipotent*?
   • Baby.
3. What is Billy’s nationality?
   • English.
4. Why is Billy’s past mysterious?
   • He was left in a basket on a doorstep as an infant.
5. What is Billy Budd’s disability?
   • Stuttering.
6. To what stereotype does Billy conform?
   • The Handsome Sailor.
7. On which ship does Billy work at the opening of the novel?
   • *The Rights of Man*.
8. What is Billy’s position on the H.M.S. *Bellipotent*?
   • Foretopman.
9. What is the name of the old sailor whom Billy consults from time to time?
   • The Dansker.
10. What is Claggart’s position on the *Bellipotent*?
    • Master-at-arms.
11. By what nickname do the crew of the *Bellipotent* refer to Claggart?
    • Jemmy Legs.
12. What does Billy spill in front of Claggart?
    • His soup.
13. For what reason does the mysterious afterguardsman try to recruit Billy?
    • A conspiracy to commit mutiny.
14. What crime does Claggart accuse Billy of committing?
    • Conspiracy.
15. How does Billy respond to Claggart’s accusation?
    • By punching Claggart in the head.
16. What does Claggart do a few moments after accusing Billy to his face?
    • Lies dead on the cabin floor.
17. What is Captain Vere’s nickname?
    • Starry Vere.
18. How does Captain Vere decide to respond to the killing of Claggart?
    • By calling a drumhead court.
19. What is Billy Budd formally accused of before the court?
    • Homicide.
20. What is the court’s sentence on Billy Budd?
    • Death by hanging.
21. What is Billy’s reaction to his sentence?
    • Passive acceptance of his fate.
22. Who visits Billy on the eve of his execution?
    • The ship’s chaplain.
23. When is Billy Budd hung?
    • Dawn.
24. What are Billy Budd’s last words?
    • “God bless Captain Vere!”
25. Who writes the poem “Billy in the Darbies”?
    • Another sailor.