Similarities Between Dickinson And Walt Whitman

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Recommended: Emily Dickinson as 19th century American poet

In the 19th century, America went through the most life changing events. From the Civil War, to immigration, to urbanization, the nation began to quickly transform into the great land we now know it as. Somewhere between the suffering and the development that occurred during the 1800’s, two legendary poets emerged. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson brought a new sense of realism and naturalism to the American people. Both of their works were inspired by the modifications that the war created. Yet, Whitman and Dickinson’s poems could not be any more different. As the introduction perfectly stated, “Walk Whitman promulgated an expansive, gregarious open form fit for the “open road” of American life; Emily Dickinson’s tight, elliptical verses reflect a sense of psychological interior where meanings are made and unmade: “internal difference, where the meanings are” (Norton 9). Although the two poets had a diverse set of literature, they both represented aspects of the American culture through their topics and styles of writing. In Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” poem, he …show more content…

For instance, in “My Life has stood-a Loaded Gun-“, Dickinson wrote “For I have but the power to kill, / Without- the power to die-“(23-24). Rather than the author ending her sentence in a period, she ended it with a dash. Furthermore, Dickinson’s perspective about death, although not to the same extreme, is well shared among the American people. This is why America, unlike several other countries, provides funeral services, coffin styles, ceremony receptionist, and things of that nature. The respect for the dead, within the states, is taken into serious consideration. In general, whether reading poems written by Whitman or Dickinson, one is able to learn a lot about our American

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