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Comparing Emily Dickinson And Walt Whitman

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Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman had very different points of view towards society, one accepting it more than the other. Emily Dickinson was a very exclusive person, different from Walt Whitman, who was truly inclusive. Walt Whitman was a person who accepted everyone in the society with no judgements and saw them all as equals. While Emily Dickinson tried to exclude herself from society and only interacted with those she deems as worthy for her. Moreover, both of them had very different points of view, even in their shared time period. Emily Dickinson was very exclusive, believed that the soul wanted to surround itself with people it chose and how this chosen group can be small. She believed that by choosing her friends she will surround herself with the right people. As shown in her poem "The Soul selects her own Society", readers are able to see more of Dickinson's thoughts of small groups of people and how for the soul they are a "divine Majority" (line 3). With this in mind, it can be noted that she did not favor large groups or accepted people just because of who they are. Therefore, social statuses were not important to her, as it …show more content…

Walt Whitman has shown how accepting he was in many of his works and through them he tried to find and show the balance that exists between everyone and how everyone in society needs each other. He believed that everyone was the same and that everyone is equally important. Whitman saw everyone as an extension of himself and saw how everyone was connected and embraced it in his life with great passion in comparison to those of his time period. He didn't care about the differences in statuses, as seen in Section 15 of his poem "Song of Myself" where he lists all these occupations making them all look equally important. Whitman encouraged this behavior upon others, of accepting those around

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A huge difference between the two poets was that they lived different lives. Emily Dickinson was a shy, antisocial, and happy person that spent her time privately. The responsibilities of having to take care of her extremely ill mother at a young age, led Dickinson to a life of seclusion. Walt Whitman was a sightseer who was

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Walt Whitman's main focus was on the potential of average children, to teach them better and to have effective learning. To start off there, I agree with that, everyone should be learning and taking in what they are learning. He was very cautious when it came to the flexibility and discipline in the classroom. He wanted the kids to have a pleasant learning environment, where they can come and they can feel safe.

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Here Whitman is illustrating the lack people have of the nature and people around them. Another one of Whitman’s ideas in this section is that all people are alike and are therefore

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Walt Whitman, an extremely influential poet during the 19th century, was the pioneer of American Romanticism. Whitman hit specifically on democracy and what it means to be American, with strong attention to individualism. His firsthand experience in the Civil War, translated into his work, shaping his democratic ideal. Whitman wrote in a way so the common man could interpret his work, however he wrote about unaccepted ideas such as homosexual relationships. Whitman’s free verse style broke the extremely formal writing techniques of previous American Romanticism literary figures.

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Walt Whitman was an American poet and journalist who was alive from 1819 until 1892, being a well noted author of the transcendentalist movement that took over American literature during this time period. He was the second of eight surviving children, and grew up with his father always switching jobs in order to keep the family financially stable. When the financial situation started going south, Whitman’s father pulled him out of school so he could work and try to help the family. At the age of seventeen, Whitman became a teacher, and later a journalist in 1841. After five years, he became the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, but was fired because his opinions and viewpoints often disagreed with those of his boss and the readers of the paper.

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At first Whitman’s poetry wasn’t well received and he was frequently perceived to be arrogant beyond belief. Walt Whitman’s work had also influenced other novelist such as Bram Stoker and Allen

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Walt Whitman is a huge influence to some of the big name poets today, such as William Carlos Williams and Carl Sandberg. Whitman ushered a new era in poetry by using no strict meter and no structured stanzas. Whitman’s career is based around “otherness” he did not want to be like everybody else (Whitman:“The Americanization of Romanticism”). Realist poetry which whitman is, is an aesthetic attitude stressing the truthful treatment of material. Walt Whitman contributed to american literature by beginning to write without rhyme scheme and structured stanzas and this is shown through his works O Captain!

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Walt Whitman attitude changes from when he talks about the Americans working hard to ending their day partying or relaxing. It starts off by showing the men working as hard as they can to contribute, then to the women working hard. Therefore, he ends it with joy and thankful attitudes. He also uses his title to give you a clue of what the poem will be about. It is what most poets do, but his was using personification.

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Whitman in his political life was a democrat. In his poetry he believed in democracy and equality of all members of the society. His definition of democracy can be summarized as “the perfect equality of all people” (Oliver 67). America failed to live up to its ideal of equality; Whitman believed in the central role of the poets in a democratic society. “Of all mankind the great poet is the equable man.

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When it comes to analyzing poems, or comparing and contrasting, there are many different elements to consider. No two poems are the same. Although Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”, Emily Dickinson’s “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!” and the legendary William Shakespeare’s “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds” differ in many ways, they contain several similarities, including theme, language, rhyme scheme, meter, and stanza forms. The first similarity that these poems contain is the theme.

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In the New England Renaissance, the Fireside poets, the Transcendentalists, and the Romantics offer differing images of an ideal society. The Fireside poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow echoes the Puritan work ethic while the Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson contends that one should be unapologetically contradictory to societal expectations and unmindful of society’s displeasure with his actions. Further expounding on this sentiment, the Romantic wordsmith Emily Dickinson argues that an intimate group is preferable to an extensive society. To reach one’s maximum potential, one should form a tight-knit community with like-minded friends who work hard, innovate, and ignore the rest of society’s objections to their deviation from societal norms.

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He illustrates time after time that life is such a wonderful gift and by not living up to the fullest is a waste. Whitman believes that God has created all men and women equal with each other and everyone should be treated the same. During the time that this poem was written, many tensions were rising and the preparations for the Civil War escalated and Whitman illustrates in this work about his own take on what is really means to be an American by showing that all different kinds of people and places are needed to work and fused together in order to become a strong unity. If people are able to have strong friendships and work together, despite their differences, a lot of good can result from it. God created the world for everyone, so because of this, everyone has the same rights to live life to its highest potential.

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The political views that Walt Whitman seem to have was that every matter in relation with politics, had to be in the hand with democracy. He was an ardent believer of democracy, saw it this way because he thought it was a way of experiencing the world. Even though he doesn’t talk much about politics in his poems, the most implicit ideas have to deal with democracy. "Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic… Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same.

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From the very beginning of Walt Whitman’s poem Song of Myself, it is apparent that he is giving the reader a sort of stream of self-presentations by stating, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself… For whatever atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (Whitman 24). With these lines being said it can be seen that Whitman views himself as having a type of connection with the person who reads him as well as indicating that he is rejoicing in who he is and is someone that is proud of who he is and the life that he lives. . Whitman also seems to give a sense of viewing humanity equally by stating, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (Whitman 24), thus indicating that he believes everyone is born equally in a sense.

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