Differences Between Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson Essay

Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinsons works have numerous differences. Comp atomic number 18d to Dickinsons short and on the face of it simple-minded poems, Whitmans are long and often complex. Both pioneered their receive unique style of writing. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson both have been hailed as original and unique artists. They all(prenominal) have distinctive voices that many have attempted to replicate and have been un able-bodied to do so. Whitman wrote in epic like proportions he developed his own rhythmic structure, creating complex lines and stanzas.Whitmans style of free verse become synonymous with his name and works, and helped distinguish him as a great American poet. By using free verse metrical composition, Whitman tore down the demarcation and structure of traditional verse line with the rhythm of cadence, allowing all types of populate to use poetry as a form of position. Whitmans poems t cobblers last to run on and on there was no set length for his poem s, stanzas, or even lines. Dickinson, on the some separate hand, wrote poems with a defined structure. She wrote ballad stanzas, which were quadruplet line stanzas alternating in iambic tetrameter and trimeter.So the structure of their poems is very different. A nonher difference between their poetry is the use of frost. As with structure, Whitmans poetry has no rhyme. In this way Whitman also breaks from tradition. Dickinsons poems, unlike Whitmans, made use of slant rhyme. This is the use of beneficial or approximate rhymes, and is a relatively modern idea. So this is yet another way in which they differ in style. First, the most forthcoming evidence of their differences would be the structure that the poets use to express themselves through. Whitman uses free verse in his poems.A clear representation of this is any excerpt from var. of My egotism. This poem has a set rhythm, that no definite rhyme scheme. The Yankee clipper is under her sky-sails, she cuts the sparkle an d scud, / My eyes settle the land, I b terminus at her bowing or shout joyously from the deck. (Whitman- Song of Myself 10. lines 6-7) This makes the poem less appealing to read alone leaves a lot more room for expression from the author. Dickinson, however, uses well(p) planned out short lines of rhymes. Her poems mountt commonly consist of many more than 6 words per line and are written in verse.This gives each poem an easier pattern and time period to comprehend. These poems may not sound as sophisticated, but are equally brilliant. If you were coming in the Fall, / Id brush the Summer by / With one-half a smile, and half a spurn, / As Housewives do a fly. (Dickinson- If you were coming His preoccupation with sex, the human body, and numerous other taboo subjects, changed the American publics view of poetry. Dickinsons works are just as unique, callable mainly to her odd place man federal agencyt of punctuation, unusual grammar, and simplicity of language.Her lines end abruptly, outwardly innocuous words are often capitalized, and her hightail itency to write meters typical of hymnals all distinguishes her from other writers Although they were both Romantics, Whitman and Dickinson were so different from each other. Whitman grew up reading a myriad amount of literary works, including Homers Odyssey and the Bible. His poetry is reflective of the works he read in his early years. Dickinson, on the other hand, learned how to read and write in a time period of male authority. Her poetry is metaphysical, and expressive of her soul.Together, Whitman and Dickinson marked a turning taper in American poetry. In the poem, Song of Myself, Whitman opens with an oceanic scene of a maitre d who struggles to retain the weary passengers of a sinking ship that is hit by a violent storm. As the skipper watches the wrath of the storm, Whitman uses personification to bring life out of the scene. How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steam-shi p, and demise chasing it up and down the storm (Whitman 1). The death that chases the ship up and down the storm is the waves that relentlessly crash against the hull.In the same way that death is the end of life, the wrath of the waves is the end of the passengers. When the skipper cannot bear the tragic scene no more, and decides to save all the stricken passengers, Whitman uses a Biblical allusion to add a deeper inwardness to the skippers heroic subprogram. How he followd them and tackd with them three days and would not give it up, how he saved the drift company at last (Whitman 1). The skippers strife to save the drifting passengers for three days is an allusion to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Bible, Jesus dies to save mankind from sin, and resurrects three days later.Whitman uses this Biblical allusion to bring the skipper up to the level of Jesus Christ, making the two saviors equal. As the skipper looks onward at the faces of the survivors, Whitman applies imagery to describe the passengers. How the silent old-faced infants and the lifted sick, and the sharp-lippd unshaved men (Whitman 1). The passengers that survive the ship wreck are no longer the same people that stepped foot on that ship. The image of old babies doesnt describe their age, but their sense of maturity, even though babies cannot be mature.Likewise, the image of the sharp-lippd unshaved men doesnt describe their lips and hair, but their burden of being unable to save their own families from the storm, even though that is the duty of a father. At basic, it may search as if the skipper is the sole hero in the poem, but that is not the case. by Song of Myself, Whitman illustrates that a hero is not defined by an act of salvation, but rather by the hardship a person endures. The skipper and the survivors of the shipwreck are all heroes, because they endure a hardship nobody knows.The skipper endures the hardship of saving each passenger and the passengers end ure the waves of the violent storm. Their endurance through troubling times is what counts them as heroes. In the poem, Success is Counted Sweetest, Dickinson centers all anxiety on an ambitious soldier who comes destination to victory, but fails to grasp it in his hands. As the soldier lays wounded on the ground, Dickinson uses taste to interact the readers senses with the moment. Success is counted sweetest by those who neer succeed (Dickinson 1). Something that is sweet tastes very good, because it creates a very pleasing sensation.In the same way that a glass bar is sweet, success is also sweet because it feels good. However, Dickinson expresses that success is sweetest to those who almost reach it. Victory means the most to the wounded soldier because he comes so close to winning, but ends up losing. Its as if he can almost taste victory, but his tongue never touches it. When the destruction soldier sees the opposing military in victory, Dickinson adds irony to apply a dee per meaning to the poem. Not one of all the purple Host who took the flag today can tell the rendering so clear of victory (Dickinson 1).The army that has the flag is the army that wins the battle. However, Dickinson expresses that the victorious army does not know the true definition of victory. This is ironic, because the one that wins should be able to describe victory, and the one that loses should be able to describe failure. It is not the other way around. As the soldier and his comrades listen to the sound of the other sides victory, Dickson uses imagery to end the scene. As he defeated dying on whose forbidden ear the distant strains of triumph burst agonized and clear (Dickinson 1).The solider is dying on the ground from his battle wounds and he is in complete agony. However, his agony is amplified because the soldier can hear the sound of victory from the other side. This is more wrenching to him than his physical wounds, because their sound of victory is the impending sound of his failure. Although it may seem as if the heroes in the poem are the victors, the dying soldier is the actual hero. Through Success is Counted Sweetest, Dickinson illustrates that a hero is not defined by his victories, but by his sacrifice for a cause.The dying soldier is a hero because he sacrifices his life for the cause of his army. Likewise, the victorious soldiers are also heroes because they also sacrifice their lives for the cause of their army. It doesnt matter which cause emerges victorious, because not every army succeeds. Its because heroes dont always win they sacrifice. As the greatest Romantics of their age, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson influenced American literary works and poetry to the highest degree.Through his works, Whitman changed poetry by creating cadence and free verse. again the long roll of the drummers, again the attacking cannon, mortars, again to my listening ears the cannon responsive (Whitman ). By using free verse poetry, Whitman t ore down the boundary and structure of traditional poetry with the rhythm of cadence, allowing all types of people to use poetry as a form of expression. Aside from Whitman, Dickinson was a lonely char who wrote poetry to express her inner feelings. Having never found true love, she spent many days isolated from others, allowing her imagination to grow wild. She found ways to superficially describe objects, ideas, and feelings.However she only meant for her writings to remain in a box. Through her works, Dickinson expanded poetry by way of rhyme and meter. If you were coming in the fall, Id brush the Summer by with half a smile, and half a spurn, as Housewives do, a fly (Dickinson 1). By using rhyme and meter, Dickinson opened American literature to women, showing that men were not the only ones who knew how to use ink and paper. Through her unique writing style, she took poetry to a higher(prenominal) level, making it a complete and concise language of the soul.Dickinsons poetry f ollowed a much stricter meter and rhyme scheme. She is known for her carefully worded and arranged poems. many of Dickinsons poems are in quatrains, which are four lines per stanza. Together, Walt and Emily are the reason behind todays American literature. Although Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson could paint pictures with words, their contributions to American Romantic literature were not equal. They often wrote almost the American hero, but both authors are the living American heroes. The greater author is Walt Whitman, because he didnt solely spill the beans for himself.He spoke and wrote for the American people. This is important because he wanted the voice of all American people to be heard as testimony to knowledge domain peace. Dickinson, on the other hand, only hid in her house to write, not making her voice heard. She made poetry metaphysical, but Whitman made poetry powerful. Dickinson opened doors for women, but Whitman opened the houses of Americas ideology. Through c adence and free verse, or rhyme and meter, Dickinson and Whitman changed American Romantic poetry. However, Walt Whitman gains the title, Master of the Word.There are by remote more differences in the writing styles of Whitman and Dickinson than there are similarities. One difference is the way they structured their poems. Basically, the structures of Whitmans poem is the lack of any structure. Whitmans poems tend to run on and on there was no set length for his poems, stanzas, or even lines. Dickinson, on the other hand, wrote poems with a definite structure. She wrote ballad stanzas, which were four line stanzas alternating in iambic tetrameter and trimeter. So the structure of their poems is very different.Another difference between their poetry is the use of rhyme. As with structure, Whitmans poetry has no rhyme. In this way Whitman also breaks from tradition. Dickinsons poems, unlike Whitmans, made use of slant rhyme. This is the use of near or approximate rhymes, and is a rel atively modern idea. So this is yet another way in which they differ in style. First, the most forthcoming evidence of their differences would be the structure that the poets use to express themselves through. Whitman uses free verse in his poems. A clear representation of this is any excerpt from Song of Myself.This poem has a set rhythm, but no definite rhyme scheme. The Yankee clipper is under her sky-sails, she cuts the sparkle and scud, / My eyes settle the land, I bend at her prow or shout joyously from the deck. (Whitman- Song of Myself 10. lines 6-7) This makes the poem less appealing to read but leaves a lot more room for expression from the author. Dickinson, however, uses well planned out short lines of rhymes. Her poems dont usually consist of many more than 6 words per line and are written in verse. This gives each poem an easier pattern and flow to comprehend.These poems may not sound as sophisticated, but are equally brilliant. If you were coming in the Fall, / Id b rush the Summer by / With half a smile, and half a spurn, / As Housewives do a fly. (Dickinson- If you were coming Whitman began a new era in the writing world he was the first not to conform to the usual standards of writing. His poems dont have specific rhyming patterns, and some dont rhyme at all, where as Dickinsons poems fit more into the form that had been set at that time. Dickinsons poems usually have at least two end rhymes in each stanza, which was usually how poetry was written.While Whitmans poems are large and expansive, the lines long and visually descriptive, Dickinsons works, in contrast, are highly compressed, squeezing moments of intense emotions and thought into tight-fitting four line stanzas which contract feeling and condense thought. Whitman doesnt use metaphors in his poetry which creates a more democratic form of poetry, in which not has pride of place. His voice submerges and surfaces at odd intervals, losing itself in a She wrote her poetry for herself r ather than others. Whitman tended to write as a representative of all the American people.Dickinson wished to hold up her poetry to herself, as she did not want her works to be judged by others. (Gall4) Whitman sees the poetic act as a means of reconciling the solitary self with the world while Dickinson views consciousness as always at war with a recalcitrant, ultimately alien and unknowable universe. (Library Journal 82) While they vary in numerous ways, Whitman and Dickinson endure as this nations most prominent contributors to American poetry and are our greatest understanding of the distinctively American spirit One of the hallmark differences between them is in the length of lines they use in their poems.Characteristically, Whitman employs, and is indeed the master of, the long line. Dickinson, on the other hand, makes use exclusively of short, staccato, limpid lines. A case can be made for the notion that a relationship exists between line length and the kinds of ideas exp ressed by these poets. The ideas Whitman presents in his poems are more individual, personal, and emotional, whereas Dickinson presents ideas which seem more universal and at times almost factual in nature. This basic difference between the two can be supported by examining a typical poem by each poet.When Whitman presents the idea of death in his poetry it is very personalized, almost to the point of being unique to him. In Song of Myself, stanza 49, he addresses Death directly And as to you Death, and you bitter hug of mortality, it is idle to try to alarm me (Norton, p. 33, l. 1289). He admits that Death has the power to do as he wishes, to do him harm, to take him away in his bitter hug of mortality, but he will not be afraid. He is not readily resigning himself to Death, and he will certainly not be intimidated. And as to you Corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not offend me (Norton, p. 3, l. 1294). He sees the good that can come from Death. I smell the white rose s sweet-scented and growing, I reach to the leafy lips, I reach to the radiated breasts of melons (Norton, p. 33, ll. 1295-96). Furthermore, even though Death may take him now, killing him, bringing him down, (No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before) (Norton, p. 33, l. 1298). He is going because he has no choice, but it is not the end, and he will argue and put up a fight. He will rise supra the inevitable Emily Dickinson, on the other hand, presents the idea of death in a much different way.In her poem, Because I could not stop for Death, one simple idea is expressed, that Death is inevitable. Because most people do not ask for Death, He kindly stopped for me (Norton, p. 52, l. 2). Then he went slowly about his business, pickings her along with him on his journey. They passed by life, youth, children, and the fields and light of Earth. They paused before a House that seemed / A Swelling of the Ground (Norton, p. 52, ll. 17-18) before continuing toward Eternity. Not in one case does she fight the inevitable tug of death. She is going just like everyone else has gone and moldiness go.It is a simple thing. There is nothing to be done about it, so go along just like everyone else. She is uninterested in persuading or in even discussing the subject. Instead she presents her idea as it is, almost factually Death is here and I am going with him. She is resigned to her fate, a universal fate, not particularly personalized for her. In this case, it is almost a pleasant experience, a comfortable resignation to what is inevitable. We can see then that the long and complex lines of Whitman are used for deep and complicated and emotional expression.His ideas are seldom simple, but instead, multifaceted and sprawling in scope. They are steeped in individuality, rooted in and reflecting the frequently illogical fluctuations of personality. There is plenty of room in his lines for such expression. Whereas Dickinson, due in part to the abbreviated, staccato n ature of her lines, is much more limited. There is no room in her poems to expand and explore, demonstrate, preach, convince, and implore. Yet both, needless to say, say what they must clearly and beautifully.