A Comparison of the Poetry of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost

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The Poetry of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost

The poetry of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost contains similar themes and ideas. Both poets attempt to romanticize nature and both speak of death and loneliness. Although they were more than fifty years apart, these two seem to be kindred spirits, poetically speaking. Both focus on the power of nature, death, and loneliness. The main way in which these two differ is in their differing use of tone.

The power of nature is a recurring theme in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost. Dickinson uses this theme in her poem " `Nature' is what we see -." The power of nature is strongly portrayed in this poem by Dickinson's articulation of what the speaker see's in nature. " `Nature' is what we see -... / Nature is what we hear -... / Nature is what we know -" (277 lines 1,5,9). Nature is everything to a person, it appeals to all senses. Dickinson also says in this poem, "So impotent Our Wisdom is / To her Simplicity" (277). The speaker is saying that nature has such great power that one can't even comprehend her simplest ways.

In ...

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...466.

-------- "Birches." American Literature. New York: Scribner Laidlaw. 1989. p472,473.

-------- "Fire and Ice" American Literature. New York: Scribner Laidlaw. 1989. p466.

Freeman, Margaret. "Metaphor Making Meaning: Dickinson's Conceptual Universe." Journal of Pragmatics 24 (1995): 643-666.

Nesteruk, Peter. "The Many Deaths of Emily Dickinson." Emily Dickinson journal 6.1 (1997): 25-44.

White, Fred D. "`Sweet Skepticism of the Heart': Science in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson." College Literature 19.1 (Feb 1992): 121-128.

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