Question

Is based on the following poem

Come my tan-faced children
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? Have you your sharp-edged
axes? Pioneers! O pioneers!
For we cannot tamry here,
We must march my darlings we must bear the brunt
of danger, We the youthful sinewy races, al the reston
us depend, Pioneers! O pioneers!
Have the elder races halted?
Do they droop and end theirlesson, wearied over there beyond
the seas, We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the
lesson.
Pioneers! O pioneers!
We detachments steady throwing,
Down the edges, through the passes, up mountains step,
Conguering, holding, daring, venturing as we go the
unknown ways, Pioneers! O pioneers!
From Nebraska, from Arkansas,
Central inland race arewe, from Missouri, with the continental
blood intervein'd, All the hands of comrades clasping, all the
Southem, all the Northern,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
- Walt Whitman, poet, "Pioneers! O
Pioneers!" 1865
Using the poem, answer a,b, and c.
A) Briefy explain the point of view reflected in Ihe poem above
regarding ONE of the following:
a) frontier
b) Manifest Destiny
c) overland trails
B) Briefy explain ONE development from the period
C) Briefly explain ONE way in which development in the period following 1860 challenged or supported the point of view expressed by the writer

Answer 1

A) The point of view reflected in the poem regarding the frontier is one of optimism and excitement. The speaker is encouraging the "youthful sinewy races" to take up the task of exploring and conquering the unknown lands of the frontier, urging them to be brave and daring as they venture forth. This perspective is consistent with the idea of Manifest Destiny, which held that it was the destiny of the American people to expand westward and settle new lands.

B) One development from the period is the Homestead Act of 1862, which provided 160 acres of land to anyone who would live on it and improve it for five years. This act encouraged people to move west and settle new lands, contributing to the expansion of the frontier.

C) One way in which development in the period following 1860 challenged the point of view expressed by the writer is the displacement and mistreatment of Native American peoples. As the American settlers expanded westward, they often took over the lands of Native American tribes, leading to the forced removal and displacement of these communities. This challenged the optimistic and excited tone of the poem, as it highlighted the negative consequences of the American expansion on the lives of those already living on the land.

Uday Tahlan