My Cultural Object Assignment: Whitman and Broadway Part Three

So here is a quick summary of what we would have discussed before the assignment:

1. Students should come to class having read the poem and highlighted any confusing parts.
   
2. Start the class by answering any questions. Proceed to an American history review, asking them what they know about the United States in 1850 and filling in any relevant gaps.
3. Introduce the cultural object, a painted lithograph, and Sanford Robinson Gifford's A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove). Then ask the students to work on a free-write focusing on how these images could relate to the landscape of Whitman's poem.
4. Break the class into groups and have them use their free-write and excerpts from the poem to try to guess what the painted lithograph is about. The following questions might help:
• How does this environment differ from A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove)?
• Looking at the rows of buildings and horse-drawn carriages, what kind of impression do you get?
  
• How does that compare to the representation of the gorge?
• What different types of people do you see? How do their actions make them stand out?
  
• What makes this space seem democratic?
5. After some time, the groups would give their best guess. I would explain that the picture is of Broadway in 1888, and provide some more context based on my previous blog. Then, as a class, we would discuss bigger themes such as democracy, the individual as part of a whole, and the urbanization of America, relating the painting to the poem. This would probably take up the most time and be the most important part of the class.
   

Based on your free-write, your group's analysis of the paintings, and our in-class discussion, choose one of two options to post to your blog (about three to five paragraphs):

1. Examine this print of a parade in Broadway from 1855. Employing the same techniques we used in class today, "read" the print. How does this image compare to the speaker's notion of urbanity in Leaves of Grass? Be sure to support your assertion with evidence from the poem.
2. Choose at least one passage from Leaves of Grass that depicts an urban landscape and analyze it. What is the significance of this description? How does it contribute to our understanding of the poem as a whole?
   

Evidence of learning: A blog post that suggests an understanding of at least one major theme, free-writes, class participation.

A successful post relates one small bit of "Song of Myself" to an overarching theme in the poem and supports it by both analyzing the formal qualities within the text and considering any historical and cultural context.

My Cultural Object Assignment: Whitman and Broadway Part 2

So here is a quick summary of what we would have discussed before the assignment:

1. Students should come to class having read the poem and hilighted any confusing parts.
   
2. Start the class by answering any questions. Proceed to an American history review, asking them what they know about the United States in 1850 and filling in any relevant gaps.
3. Introduce the cultural object, a painted lithograph, and ask the students to work on a free-write focusing on how the painting could relate to the poem.
4. Break the class into groups and have them use their free-write and excerpts from the poem to try to guess what the painting is about. The following questions might help:
• Does the painting look like it occurs in a quiet or a chaotic area?
• What kinds of people do you see in the painting?
• Does the environment seem to invite all kinds of people, or is it exclusive?
• What parts of the poem seem to refer to a similar type of environment?
5. After some time, the groups would give their best guess. I would explain that the picture is of Broadway in 1888, and provide some more context based on my previous blog. Then, as a class, we would discuss bigger themes such as democracy, the individual as part of a whole, and the urbanization of America, relating the painting to the poem. This would probably take up the most time and be the most important part of the class.
   

Based on this, choose one of three options to post to your blog (about three to four paragraphs):

1. Pick an excerpt from "Song of Myself" that describes an urban environment and analyze it according to one of the themes discussed in class. How is it similar to the painted lithograph? How is it different? How do historical context, cultural objects, imagery, metaphors, and other tropes influence the representation of this theme?
2. Create a short poem describing an urban setting in 1855 (it does not have to be New York, but it can be) and explain how it addresses one of the major themes in "Song of Myself," supporting your assertion with textual evidence. Some questions you might want to consider:
   
• How does your cityscape promote or undermine the notion of the collective whole?
  
• If you choose to focus on urbanization, what message does your poem send about industrialization, and how does it compare to Whitman's?
  
• Is Whitman's depiction of urbanity elitist or egalitarian? Explain your reasoning.
3. Examine this print of a parade in Broadway from 1855. Using evidence from the poem, answer the following questions:
   
• How does this picture compare to the speaker's notion of democracy?
  
• How is the imagery in the picture similar to/different from Whitman's description of the city?
  
• How does the crowd in this picture compare to one of Whitman's collective groups? Is the message similar or different? Why or why not?
• What other themes does the image evoke?
  

Evidence of learning: A blog post that suggests an understanding of at least one major theme, free-writes, class participation.

A successful post relates one small bit of "Song of Myself" to an overarching theme in the poem and supports it by both analyzing the formal qualities within the text and considering any historical and cultural context.

Whitman's Broadway

When I was reading Leaves of Grass, I was struck by Whitman's reference to Broadway in the following lines:

"Looking in at the shop-windows in Broadway the whole forenoon . . . . pressing the flesh of my nose to the thick plate-glass."

It seemed to me that Broadway's cityscape, even back in 1855, would directly contrast the numerous references to nature in "Leaves of Grass." I also was fairly certain that Broadway had not yet been established as the symbol of theater, but I wanted to check.

As it turns out, Broadway was not yet the theater district we think of -- but it was certainly busy. According to the New York Public Library's site, Broadway started as a residential neighborhood but quickly expanded to into a long street of endless stores and hotels. In 1853, two years before Whitman published "Leaves of Grass," there were 37 different construction or demolition sites on Broadway, many of which resulted in hotels. One person even predicted that Broadway would eventually "'present three miles of unbroken shop front'" (NYPL) Titled Winter Scene in Broadway, this painted lithograph (Girardet, Hippolyte) encapsulates the street's environment:



I know the image is still a little small, but it's easy to see that the environment is crowded and chaotic. In fact, the same site provided some context for the picture, explaining that "in the daytime, . . . the greatest danger was the risk of being run over while crossing the street. A fire truck and firemen add to the traffic confusion in this lithograph." The combination of carriages, the firefighters, rows of horses, and the spectators emphasizes the disarray that made up Broadway.

However, Broadway was not only a chaotic but a democratic street. In 1854, Putnam's Monthly described Broadway as "'altogether the most showy, the most crowded, and the richest thoroughfare in America,' but 'the peculiarity of Broadway consists in its being not only the main artery of the city, not only the focus [but also] the agglomeration of trade and fashion, business and amusement, public and private abodes, churches and theaters, barrooms and exhibitions, all collected into one promiscuous channel of activity and dissipation.'" The wealth associated with Broadway existed alongside brothels and prostitution, similar to the opposing classes that are often juxtaposed in "Leaves of Grass."

I also found actual photographs of Broadway in 1855. Here is one of them:


It may not have the same exaggerated features as the aquatint, but the street still seems congested and crowded, lined with cars and cement rather than trees and grass. The opposition between nature and city is clear.

Whitman later wrote a poem titled "Broadway," which reflects the atmosphere of the street.


Published in The Herald in 1888, "Broadway appeared long after the 1855 edition of "Leaves of Grass," but I think the vivid descriptions are consistent with representations of Broadway from decades earlier.

Overall, I think it's helpful to contextualize Broadway because I can relate the reference to bigger themes such as democracy, nature, class, the collective whole.