LAST MINUTE REVISION POETRY SECTION Poem 6 — ANIMALS by Walt Whitman

key point

The poet praises animals for being better than human beings and for possessing all such qualities that humans lack or have forgotten.
 He has described his will to become an animal because he thinks animals are far better than human beings. 

Human beings are greedy and full of jealousy against each other. But animals are calm and self contained. 

The animals are happy with what they have. They never complain about miseries and sorrows. 

On the other hand human beings complain about their miseries. They give more importance to the rich and strong people, stay restless because of their wrongdoings and run behind the luxurious things of this world.


Animals are honest about their relations and don’t give importance to a particular class.

They live a life which is full of honesty and less of greed and jealousy.
 The poem has uniform personification.

Repetition : stand and look at them long and long, They do not swea…., Not one is dissatisfied………. 

Alliteration : They do not make me sick, I wonder where they get those tokens

Rhyme Scheme: There is no rhyme. The poem is in free verse

IMPORTANT QUESTION ANSWER

1. Why does the poet wish to live with animals?
2. 2. The poet in the poem Animals laments the loss of certain values on part of human beings, where as animals seem to have retained them and are self-contained. Analyse the cause of degeneration of values in today’s hard times.
3. Mention three things which humans do and animals don’t.