Study Questions on Whitman and Ginsberg:

1. In "A Noiseless Patient Spider"(453), how does the speaker relate to the world around him?  What similarities do you notice between him and the spider?

2. In "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" (501), how do the speaker and the scientist differ in the way they understand the stars?

3. In "There Was a Child Went Forth," what things does the child notice?  How does his understanding of men and women differ?  Why is light and reflection important later in the poem?  Is his language more or less sophisticated by the end of the poem?

5. What similarities exist between Ginsberg and Whitman?  How much time elapsed between their works?

6. What do Ginsberg's assumptions about Whitman reflect about his own identity?

7. Look up Charon and Lethe.  Explain the last paragraph of the poem.

8. Why does Ginsberg imagine he sees Whitman?  Why is he in a grocery store?

9. Pick a famous person you would like to see and a fitting place to see him or her.