Comparison Of Poems By Emily Dickinson And Henry David Thoreau

     Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emily Dickinson were two of America’s most intriguing poets. They were both drawn to the transcendentalist movement which taught “unison of creation, the righteousness of humanity, and the preeminence of insight over logic and reason” (Woodberry 113). This movement also taught them to reject “religious authority” (Sherwood 66). By this declination of authority, they were able to express their individuality. It is through their acceptance of this individuality that will illustrate their ambiguities in their faith in God.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe are two of the biggest poets in American Literature from the 1800s. They had many things in common from their writings about death and sadness, because of their unfortunate losses in life, to the fact that they were both born in Massachusetts. They were also different in many ways. They were different in the way they looked at life and wrote about their experiences from it. While it is obvious they had many differences, they also had many things in common from their lives to their styles of writing making them amazing writers.

When one reads Walden carefully, one can find many of the characteristics of Romanticism in it. In from Where I Lived and What I Lived For the idea that Thoreau shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature is evident in that he seeks to live alone in the woods. As he puts it,

While both are famous trailblazers the two are vastly different. Incipiently, both poets Emily Dickinson and poet Walt Whitman were well known poets one is considered to be one of America's greatest and most original poets, taking definition as her provience and challenging the existing definitions of poetry and a poet’s work, Whitman on the other hand was considered to be a latter day successor to Homer, Shakespeare and Dante, creating monumental work through the chatted praises from body to soul, found beauty and ressourance in death. Both poets come from opposite backgrounds, and while they both share inspirational sources, they do so in distinctive ways. Analyzing two seperate poems from Emily Dickinson and Whitman, I will be comparing and contrasting the poems as I go through

Emily Dickinson was an American poetess during the 19th century, born in Amherst, Massachusetts, December 10, 1830. Dickinson died at the age of 56, on May 15, 1886. Although her family was prominent, she was most unsociable, being intensely solitary. People considered her as an eccentric, as she showed disinclination towards guests, which in some cases, even caused them to leave, leaving most of her acquaintanceships founded upon by correlation. Dickinson was known for her adherence for wearing white clothing, and her introverted personality. She remained unwedded for life, and rarely ever left her front gate of her homestead. Emily Dickinson started writing poetry in her youthful years, and was encouraged by Benjamin Franklin Newton to continue her writings. During her teenage years, she had uncovered poetic works through verses of Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Wordsworth, she also deeply admired by John Keats and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Her poetry was deeply affected by the Book of Revelation, and her Puritan background, that influenced her to explore concepts like love and death, and write in styles that made her be noticeable to the crowd. Critics believe that her biggest influence in poetry was Reverend Charles Wadsworth, whom she had met on her trip to Philadelphia, and fell in love with him. It is believed that her flow of verses came when Wadsworth left, which gave rise to heartsick poems, as she had considered him as her “closest

Ultimately in Walden he demonstrates why he got away from society. He states “I went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately…”(Thoreau 12). Emphasizing that he desires to live life in nature and seeking the beauty of life. While Emily Dickinson would rather live individual than be surrounded by people that only gossip. Dickinson states “Since then-‘tis Centuries- and yet/Feels shorter than the day/I first surmised the Horses’ Heads/Were towards Eternity-”

Since the emergence of written history, many fables regarding war have encompassed a significant portion of prosodic literature. Two of the foremost war poets of the 19th and 20th century—Emily Dickinson and Rupert Brooke—have both written about profound implications of war on society and also upon the human spirit albeit in two very different styles. The book, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, theorizes through Allie, that Emily Dickinson was indubitably the superior war poet. Furthermore, when we analyze their works as well, we realize the invariable fact that Dickinson’s work delves into war with a much more holistic approach as well. She not only honours the soldiers for their valiant efforts, but also deftly weaves notions of liberty and civilian duty in regards to war as well as compared to Rupert Brooke who carried a romanticized imagery of martyrs within his poetry. In summation, Emily Dickinson is a superior war poet for her incisive analysis of death, and human nature in correspondence to war as compared to the patriotic salvos of Rupert Brooke’s poetry.

For Thoreau, the escape from society was a way to deeply learn about himself and human nature. He writes, “Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself” (Thoreau 72). This simple way of life allowed Thoreau to analyze himself and tendencies within society. He explains the effects of this solitary life on a person: “In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness” (253). Thoreau was able to discover flaws in society. He states, “... men establish and conform their daily life of routine and habit every where, which still is built on purely illusory foundations” (78). Unlike Hester and Sethe, the societal norms Thoreau experiences are not painful punishments or dehumanizing treatment. However, the “opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe … through poetry, philosophy and religion” (80), can still have a profound and often negative effect on individuals and society as a whole. Thoreau is able to overcome these societal norms because he separates himself from them. Thoreau explains of humankind, “When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence,-that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the

The lives of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson have many similarities and differences. Here, we will focus on the similarities in their lives in order to bring to attention a correlation between Whitman's poem I Saw in Louisiana a Live-oak Growing and Dickinson's poem # 1510. Both poets wrote during the time of Romanticism, even though Whitman was Dickinson's senior by some eleven years. This however did not influence the way the writing styles of many of their poems coincided.

Emily Dickinson , a private American poet , whose poems made a lot of metaphorical references had her poems exposed by her younger sister right after she died. As a child Dickinson lived most of her life in isolation which gave her time to write a lot of things like letters and poems like “Before I Got My Eye Put Out” and “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark”. Most of her poems aren't literal. They are written in metaphorical ways to make you think. Like her poem “Before I Got My Eye Put Out” , I think this poem is referring to how she wanted to explore the world , but later realized that she would be safer inside where there was shelter and protection. In her poem “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark” I think she refers to how she lost somebody that she was close to , and the problem she encountered along the way as they were gone. Both of these poems are alike in a way that they both talk about losing or giving up on something. In “Before I Got My Eye Put Put Out” the speaker reacts to the loss by giving up and not trying anymore. I think speaker in “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark” would react differently and actually try to explore the world and go on an adventure.

Edgar Allan Poe and Henry David Thoreau were two very different authors, one was a mastermind of Gothic literature, while the other was a transcendentalist. One can understand Poe’s knack for stories like The Fall of the House of Usher because of his unprivileged childhood. His father deserted his family, and his mother died while Poe was very young (Wiggins 288). He also lived through constant poverty and suffered from depression, his only refuge being his wife, Virginia, who died when she was only 24 (Wiggins 289). The work that will be used in this essay is The Fall of the House of Usher, which really touches upon Poe’s style of writing. It’s use of an extremely dark setting and the way it’s characters are portrayed really help

“If a person wished to know what transcendentalism was he should empty his mind of everything coming from tradition and the rest would be transcendentalism” (Boller 34). This literary period has dramatically shaped literature and religion, in America. Many writers like Henry David Thoreau and Emily Dickinson have been influence by transcendental ideas. It is astonishing how an inspiring literature movement can change so much of the world’s view and still is around today.

I'm Nobody! Who are you? by Emily Dickinson reminds me of the song, "You belong with me" by Taylor Swift. These two works speak of the author being behind the scenes in life. The writers are unnoticed by society and watch life from the back of the room. Content to watch life play out for others, without the inconvenience of social rules and etiquette. Swift proudly sings "She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers" (Swift). Dickinson and Swift, in reality, are nothing alike, Swift is a brash famous woman, while Dickenson was a recluse. This work is excitedly unemotional while imparting wisdom. Dickinson's poem playfully speaks of human's social fears through voice, conventional symbols, and stanza.

Nature has an undefinable meaning as the theme is utilised in literature, and it has been a topic of reflection within the Romanticists since the beginning of the era. Romanticism and nature and inextricably linked ideas. Poets; Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman wrote during the romantic era, and both drew heavily from aspects of nature in their work. Nature can be paralleled against several things, including humanity and the idea of life and death. The contrast between the natural world and the artificial world, and what this means for society, is also strongly eluded to in Dickinson and Whitman’s poems. Each poet uses nature as the backbone to their poetry in several instances. Dickinson’s, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, (Dickinson, 19) and “My Life Has Stood A Loaded Gun”, (Dickinson, 69) are strong examples of this. Whitman’s, “Song of Myself”, (Whitman, 29) and, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, (Whitman, 255) are also poems that show the connection between nature and romanticism. Poets, Dickinson and Whitman engage with romanticism in a creative and constructive manner through the utilisation of the natural world.

Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson's works have numerous differences. Compared to Dickinson's short and seemingly simple poems, Whitman's are long and often complex. Both pioneered their own unique style of writing.