Similarities Between Dickinson And Walt Whitman

The nineteenth century produced many esteemed authors, including Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman who became two of Americas most popular poets. While vastly different in style and personality, both Dickinson and Whitman relate to many people on an emotional level through their poetry, even in the twenty-first century. The works of poetry by Dickinson and Whitman can be compared on levels of style and form and both writers composed beautiful verses of high quality. Through the following comparisons, it will become apparent how Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman influenced American literature and culture both in similar and diverse ways.

Death; termination of vital existence; passing away of the physical state. Dying comes along with a pool of emotions that writers have many times tried to explain. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were two pioneer poets from the Romantic Era, that introduced new, freer styles of writing to modern poetry at the time. Both Whitman and Dickinson have similar ideas in their writing, but each has a unique touch of expression in their works. Both poets have portrayed death in their poetry as a relief, a salvation, or escape to a better place- another life. They have formulated death as a positive yet ambiguous state. In Dickinson's "Narrow Fellow in the Grass" and Whitman's "Wound-Dresser", there exists a link

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, who lived from 1830 to 1886, also had a large impact in the American Romantic period. However, she would never know of the impact she had due to the fact that her writings were not published until after her death. The subject of her poetry ranged from religion to nature, which both are large influences to this time. One poem that fits in very well with this era is “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” The poem begins by saying, “Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.” This poem deals with human immortality and what occurs after we die. The desire for knowledge and wanting to understand what we currently do not are influences in American Romanticism. Dickinson seemed to be consumed with death and what happens to humans after death, she even wrote to a priest to ask what the state of mind was of a friend she had while he was on his deathbed. Her fascination with death played a major role in many of her

There are some exceptions in the poem however, such as the absence of rhyme in the second stanza and the slant rhyme in the last stanza. Dickenson uses the pronoun “you” throughout the poem, speaking directly to her

Like in many of his other poems, Whitman uses free verse in this short literary work. His free verse style in this one stanza is written without a specific pattern of rhyme or meter. Innovation flows through the lines as Whitman is unpredictable with his rhythm. In the eight lines (one stanza) of this poem, he creates an anecdotal feel by having the lines vary in length and giving variety to the stressed and unstressed syllables. For example, the first two lines stress the long beat on the third syllable with the words “heard” (line 1) and “proof” (line 2), whereas the third line stresses the fourth syllable with “shown” (line 3). Then continues to the fourth line to stress the long beat on the second syllable using a comma: “When I,” (line 4). These first four lines act as a setup while the speaker recalls listening to the astronomer’s lecture. Whitman demonstrates anaphora in the poem by having each line in this setup begin with the word “When” to illustrate to the reader that the speaker is evoking a prior experience. Whitman utilizes multiple

Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson both have been hailed as original and unique artists. They each have distinctive voices that many have attempted to replicate and have been unable to do so. Whitman wrote in epic like proportions; he developed his own rhythmic structure, creating complex lines and stanzas. Whitman's style of free verse become synonymous with his name and works, and helped distinguish him as a great American poet. By using free verse poetry, Whitman tore down

Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson’s poetry is very different; however death seems to be a familiar topic amongst both poets. Opposites attract, and you could say the same for Whitman and Dickinson because though they have different writing styles both repeatedly write about death. Once more, although both Whitman and Dickinson have many different feelings about death, they also share many similar feelings about it as well. Although Walt Whitman's poetry is rather long and quite simple and Emily Dickinson's are often short and complex, the theme of death strongly ties their works together.

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.

As the speaker sits in an auditorium, they observe the lecturer’s many notes, “When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, / When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,” (lines 2-3). This line provides strong visual imagery of complex investigations in astronomy, and a reader can easily imagine a full lecture room with endless notes and charts which aids in providing the mind-numbing mood of the experience. Moreover, the repetitions of what are essentially synonyms in this context make these lines sound like the rambles of the astronomer, contributing to the tone. As the speaker tires of the lecture, he leaves the room and “In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, / Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars” (lines 8-9). Here Whitman again employs imagery to make the night seem appealing and

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

     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.

The epiphany surrounding the word "death" seems appropriate, for in other poems of Whitman's we have seen death described as the ultimate tool for democracy and sympathy. Here death is shown to be the one lesson a child must learn, whether from nature or from an elder. Only the realization of death can lead to emotional and artistic

Along with the use of metaphors, the form of the poem plays an important role in uncovering the views of Whitman. First and foremost, this poem was written in free verse which is a form of poetry that lacks structure. The free verse stucture of the poem is shown in the lack of form in the stanzas of the poem. Some stanzas are six lines long while others are only one, and the lines can be either concise or drawn out. The poem also lacks any apparent rhyming scheme or rhythm. Unlike Shakespearean poetry, where the foot of the poem stays the same, the lack of any apparent structure to the poem leaves the reader unable to predict what is coming next. In addition to this, at the time this poem was written, free verse was not common. In fact, Whitman may have been one of the first poets to use this form, showing that he may have been rebelling against the predominant structured form in poetry. The lack of any apparent structure guides the reader towards the conclusion that Whitman did not like structure in poetry, and can even be