Preview

Dickinson Vs Walt Whitman

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1219 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dickinson Vs Walt Whitman
Dickinson vs. Whitman

After receiving five years of schooling, Walt Whitman spent four years learning the printing trade; Emily Dickinson returned home after receiving schooling to be with her family and never really had a job. Walt Whitman spent most of his time observing people and New York City. Dickinson rarely left her house and she didn't associate with many people other than her family. In this essay I will be comparing Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Emily Dickinson's life differs greatly from the life of Walt Whitman, although they lived during the same time period. Walt Whitman published practically all his poetry during his lifetime, but Emily Dickinson only published seven of her poems during her lifetime.
…show more content…
Emily Dickinson grew up in Amherst, Mass, and Walt Whitman grew up in
New York City, New York; this is one way that these poets' lives differ. The main people that influenced Emily Dickinson were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emily
Bronte. Walt Whitman was influenced by many people, some of which were: Elias
Hicks, James Macpherson and William Shakespeare. Whitman read many book reviews by many people; from these, he realized Emerson was very influential. Whitman was also influenced by the Bible, his walks in New York City, Tom Paine, and a strong love for music. After Whitman started preparing to be a poet, he said he was merely "simmering," but the ideas of Emerson brought him to a "boil."
Dickinson wasn't addressing anyone in particular through her poetry, but Whitman addressed the citizens of the United States, most of the time, through his writings. After reading "The Poet" by Emerson and seeing how he defined the role of the poet in democracy, Whitman was eager to assume that role. Whitma n loved to have his picture taken and there are many pictures of him.
…show more content…
Whitman wrote for many newspapers before he actually began writing poetry. The world found out he wrote poetry when he published the first edition of Leaves of Grass. The major turning point for Whitman was in the 1860's, when his work started to gain more recognition from critics. Eighteen sixty-two was the major turning point for Dickinson's life; 1862 was when she wrote most of her poetry. She was writing about one poem each day. During the year 1862, the man Emily Dickinson loved left for San
Francisco. After he left, she started wearing only white, and during the last ten years of her life she didn't leave the comfort of her home. The last y ears of Walt Whitman's life were spent revising and writing poetry. Emily Dickinson stayed very close to her family, but Walt Whitman traveled and lived alone toward the end of his life. The forms that Dickinson and Whitman used are also different because both used new and innovative ideas in writing their poetry. Walt Whitman used no real form other than free verse. The characteristics of free verse are: 1)
No rhyme or rhyme scheme, 2) Has a cadence or beat, 3) No set line length, 4)
Has stanzas, but no set stanza length, 5) Uses repetition. Whitman's use

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Walt Whitman had an early start in his life and jumped into jobs and education. As stated before, He started his job teaching at a one room schoolhouse at the age of 17 in 1886. Later, five years later to be exact, he started…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Emily Dickinson was born 1830 and died in 1886. Emily spent most of her life in her house, she would only come out if necessary. When Emily was in the house, she wrote poems,after she wrote the poems she would cram them into her desk. After Emily died, her sister went through her stuff only to find almost a thousand poems,her sister then went on to publish Emily’s poems.…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    People of all kinds are influenced by their everyday life and it shows in their work. Walt Whitman is no exception to this rule. Whitman was born in 1819 on Long Island, New York. From there he was a free spirit. He worked many different jobs including working as a printer, political campaigner, writer, editor, freelance journalist, house builder, newspaper, publisher, hospital volunteer, office clerk, lecturer, teacher, and official in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Folsom). This seems to have directly translated into his writing as he is often referred to as the father of free verse poetry. While he was clearly a spark plug in the work place he didn’t start out as a huge sensation of a poet. In fact he at least partially taught himself how to read and write (Shepard). Writing first became a big portion of his life when he began to work with the Long Island Patriot newspaper. Here he was hired as an apprentice to a printer but began editing and really becoming involved with the act of writing literature. Even though this opportunity came at the very young age of twelve, his career as a writer never got its footing until 1855 when he released Leaves of Grass. From there he continued to show influence from his surroundings in his poems. For example when the Civil War broke out he volunteered in a hospital that his brother was in from being wounded in the war, he wrote a handful of…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Growing up Dickinson took her young cousin into her room, pretended to lock the door and looked at her and said you now have freedom. Today it is believed she said this because she believed her room to be the place she had freedom to write, be herself and develop her great writing. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by two acquaintances pf hers, Thomas Higginson and Mabel Todd, they both edited the content and the released it to the public. After this release, a complete, and unaltered collection of Dickinson’s poetry became available for the first time when scholar Thomas Johnson published The Poems of Emily Dickinson in 1955. In her writing Dickinson crafted a different type of persona for the first person. The speakers in her poetry, are sharp-sighted observers who see the no limitations. In her writing, she also created a specific elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized. Despite things like some bad opinions from people over the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dickinson is now considered to be one of the most significant of all American…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Only Daughter

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages

    4.) Her father thought she wasted her time because she spent most of it in school, without finding a husband. She should have found a husband, but when he introduces his daughter he states “my only daughter, the writer.”…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2. You learned a lot about Whitman and Dickinson’s writing styles during this unit. Although they both broke stylistic boundaries, their styles are different. Write a paragraph in which you explain one characteristic of either poet’s style. Name the characteristic, explain how it is used in the poetry, and then describe the effect that the characteristic produces. Support your answer with examples from the poems.…

    • 210 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson believed strongly in originality and personal expression;although the different tactics that they used to get their message across were nothing short of contrasting.In Emerson’s case, he was vehemently opposed to a society that he saw to be oppressive and unimaginative. Emerson was convinced that all of modern human civilization was in collaboration to crush his uniqueness and subjugate him to a life of a faceless cog. “Society is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members.” (P. 153) Conversely, Whitman regarded the common man with much esteem and favoritism. In his epic poem, “Song of Myself” Whitman spoke of the working class with an unusual favoring and support of their ways and lifestyle. “The sun falls on the crisply hair and mustache, falls on the black of his polish’d and perfect limbs, and I behold the picturesque giant and love him.” (P.173) Whitman encouraged the reader to lead an original and unconfirmed life. He celebrated the common man and tells the reader to be happy with their life and social stature.…

    • 736 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    song. She used the strike, the union, and the men and women in jail all as subjects of her…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Whitman expresses his feelings toward the strangers surrounding him. He says that these people matter to him more than they would ever realize. He uses nature (water, clouds, and the sunrise) and links nature with the motion of people.…

    • 5560 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “being shut out of heaven” in many of her poems. She became increasingly reclusive in her thirties until finally she almost never left her house (academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu).…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson both had different and similar views, which influenced how they wrote their poetry. Their social context, life experiences, and gender are reflected in their poetry. Emily Dickinson focused a lot on death and her struggles of being a woman during her time. Her poems often described the inner state of mind. Waltman attempted to combine universal themes with individual feelings and experiences, such as his personal experiences with the Civil War. Whitman and Dickinson are two great poets who both were very similar but different in more ways than one, and they were both very influenced by who they were, and their life experience. Their poems were both “small in theme yet has it the sweep of the universe.”…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It is amazing how the poets Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes have massive differences in their cultural and educational backgrounds yet they have writing styles that are so much alike in the poems Wild Nights – Wild Nights by Dickinson and Desire by Hughes.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death is a factor of life everyone has to go through. No one is too busy for death, it takes everyone whether it bothers us or not. Like every poet, Dickinson and Whitman reflect their point of view in their poetry, albeit they have different ways of expressing this reflection. Both poems are characteristically different, Whitman has a more positive outlook on life and is the master of free prose. On the other hand, Dickinson has short unadorned lines that are very direct and follow the laws of poetry. Throughout Whitman’s “Oh Captain! My Captain!” and Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” both poems convey the attitudes the authors have on death, however, they differ in their style and tone.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gwen Harwood- life

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages

    - musically orientated family. This knowledge and love of music is why Harwood’s poems possess…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Miss

    • 1524 Words
    • 6 Pages

    life as an artist. It is said that she lay in bed one night, considering how dull and grey her life had…

    • 1524 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays