Analysis
The Purpose of this poem was to explain about how a greater man physically, emotionally, and spiritually can come from a greater woman. This poem means that no matter what kind of man he is he will still obtain some of the qualities from the woman he came from. Various examples of idioms helped Walt get his point across that even the greatest man alive comes from a woman and is first created inside of one. The abundant use of idioms made the mood of Walt informative and sparked an interest in the reader. This poem relates to the modernismo movement because in the modernismo movement poets talk about unadulterated beauty and in this poem it talks about the beauty and features that a man has coming from a woman that shares the same thing. |
Literary Devices
Idiom- Examples of idioms in this poem include a man unfolded out of the strong embraces of a nicely built woman will come a man with strong embraces himself and a man unfolded out of a friendly woman comes a friendly man. Using these examples that were not meant to be taken literally helped the reader to understand what Walt was trying to say. These idioms made the mood of the poet informative in letting his readers know about the state of a man. It also made the reader have and interest in what Walt had to say and think about things from a different view point. Using this literary device was a great way to help the reader understand while also getting his mood and interpretation across. |
Poem
Unfolded out of the Folds by Walt Whitman Unfolded out of the folds of the woman man comes unfolded, and is always to come unfolded, Unfolded only out of the superbest woman of the earth is to come the superbest man of the earth, Unfolded out of the friendliest woman is to come the friendliest man, Unfolded only out of the perfect body of a woman can a man be form'd of perfect body, Unfolded only out of the inimitable poems of woman can come the poems of man, (only thence have my poems come;) Unfolded out of the strong and arrogant woman I love, only thence can appear the strong and arrogant man I love, Unfolded by brawny embraces from the well-muscled woman love, only thence come the brawny embraces of the man, Unfolded out of the folds of the woman's brain come all the folds of the man's brain, duly obedient, Unfolded out of the justice of the woman all justice is unfolded, Unfolded out of the sympathy of the woman is all sympathy; A man is a great thing upon the earth and through eternity, but every of the greatness of man is unfolded out of woman; First the man is shaped in the woman, he can then be shaped in himself. |
Modernismo
Nicaraguan poet Felix Ruben Garcia Sarmiento formerly known as Ruben Garcia started the Spanish-American movement called Modernismo. It began in the late 1800's in Latin America. One of their biggest influences was French symbolism. The purpose of this movement was to focus on beauty and materialism in the society. American poets that were involved were Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.