Whitman Vs Dickinson

Essentially I feel that each poem in its own “Funeral Blues” (W. H. Auden), “Death, be not proud” (John Donne), and “Because I could not stop for Death” (Emily Dickinson) are unique in their own way however, I feel that two poems in particular may show more similarity in each other versus all three being compared at once although, I will be comparing and contrasting all three poems towards the end of this essay. For example, When reading “Funeral Blues” (W. H. Auden), I felt a greater sense of similarity to “Because I could not stop for death” (Emily Dickinson) versus “Death, be not proud” (John Donne) so I will begin to discuss those poems first. When comparing each poem I will

    Figurative language plays a key role in the poem, as well. The best example is  The Morning after Death,  which sounds a lot like  mourning after death.  In fact,  mourning  could even replace  morning  and the poem would still make sense. Another example occurs in the second stanza, when Dickinson uses the words  sweeping  and  putting.   By using such cold, unfeeling words when describing matters of the heart, the author creates a numb, distant tone. She really means that after someone dies, one almost has to detach oneself from the feelings of love that once existed for the deceased.

     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.

One poet uses the poetic device “meter” seen as not an ordinary conversation but a specific beat in music, creating a regular beat that reflects on a calm and steady perspective, while Whitman uses no rhyme nor pattern of meter more like an ordinary conversation. Furthermore, the mentioning of the theme itself death, come at different times of both poems, Dickinson introduces the theme in the first stanzas of her poem while Whitman inkling that the poem is about dying towards the fourth stanza of his poem. The rhyme schemes for both poems is different while Emily Dickinson poem has a rhyme scheme of “abcb” Whitman’s poem has a rhyme scheme of “acbc”. Although the attitudes of poems may be similar they express themselves in their way. For example, the attitude in Whitman poem, is about death, drifting away like air and then his body being reborn like grass, death being part of nature and needed to be accepted as such. Dickinson attitude in her poem is calm, relaxing, and inviting which may seem ironic since both poems are portraying death but from whole different feel and

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.

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

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.

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.

Poetry Comparison Dickinson uses capitalization and punctuation to set the mood and convey emotion in her writing. “My life closed twice before its close-” (Life) by Emily Dickinson compares death to separation from a loved one and wonders if immortality will be just as painful (Owens 358). The main themes of this poem are death and separation. “There’s a certain Slant of light-” (Slant) by Emily Dickinson is a poignant description of the feelings of loneliness and despair that come and go in people’s lives (Owens 358). The themes of this poem are loneliness and despair.

In Whitman’s “To a Locomotive in Winter”, the first line is, “Thee for my recitative, /” (Gioia 724). His use of the word “recitative” implies a serious if not tragic tone. Yet at the same time, “recitative” also has a feeling of sophistication and grace. According to the OxfordDictionary.com recitative is defined as, “Musical declamation of the kind usual in the narrative and dialogue parts of opera and oratorio, sung in the rhythm of ordinary speech with many words on the same note: singing in recitative.” Therefore, since most operas have a serious if not tragic tone, Whitman is letting the reader know from the first line that the poem will have a serious tone. Now compare that to the first line in Dickinson’s poem, “I like to see it lap the Miles- /” (Gioia 724). Her use of the phrase, “I like to see it lap”, gives the impression of a more fun or playful tone. These differences in tone can be seen again, when comparing line nine of “To a Locomotive in Winter” with line two of “I like to see it lap the Miles”. In line nine Whitman writes, “Thy dese and murky clouds out-belching from thy smoke-stack, /” (Gioia 724). This line is very serious and dark. Yet, line two of Dickinson’s poem, “And lick the Valleys up -/,” shows how playful her tone is, with the connotation of the word

Emily Dickinson wrote many poems in her lifetime. She writes two of my favorite poems. They are: ?I heard a Fly buzz when I died? and ?Because I could not stop for Death?. They both have similarities and differences from each other.

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

First of all, based on both poems, the attitude of the poets is influenced by the diction of the poems as well as tone and mood.

Along with the irregularities in meter, neither poem has a regular line length or rhyming pattern. Dickinson’s poem contains alternating tetrameters and trimeters, with the exception of the first line, which contains 7 syllables. The poem contains some irregular rhyme; ‘heard’ in line 5 rhymes with ‘bird’ in line 7, and ‘Sea’ in line 10 rhymes with ‘Me’ in line 12. Whitman’s poem contains even more irregular line lengths. The first 4 lines of each stanza vary from 12 to 15 syllables, but the last 4 lines of each stanza vary from 5 to 8 syllables. Unlike in Dickinson’s poem, the rhyming scheme carries throughout the whole poem, although the AABBCDED rhyme pattern contains a few cases of near rhyme.

Whitman tended to write about nature using a great deal of imagery. Conversely, Dickinson wrote short and powerful verses that stirred deep thinking in her readers. Both authors reached many people with their poems, but the audience was different for Dickinson and Whitman. Dickinson's poems reached women who felt suffocated by the limitations of their gender in the church and in society. Dickenson's innovations and independence in her writing made her one of the first feminist voices in her field. In contrast, Whitman's poems relate to people whose beliefs go against societal norms and are searching for their identity and meaning in the