The American Renaissance was a period in American history where many brilliant and legendary authors released works that expressed very similar themes. Two of these authors are Emily Dickinson and Frederick Douglass. Both authors themed their works around issues and debates which were highly controversial, such as religion and slavery, but their writing styles were vastly different, as Dickinson wrote concise poems such as “Faith Is a Fine Invention” and Douglass was known for his full length autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Both Authors wrote about the most debated topics in America. For example, in her poem titled “Faith Is a Fine Invention”, Emily Dickinson states that “‘Faith’ is a fine invention” (Dickinson …show more content…
1), and that “Microscopes are prudent/In an Emergency” (Dickinson 3-4). These lines are Dickinson’s way of settling the religious debate for herself, a debate that is millennia old, and was especially topical at the time of the poem’s conception. With the American Renaissance riding the heels of the second great awakening, the criticism of religion common in Dickinson’s works could come under much criticism itself. In this four line poem, Dickinson is taking a strong and firm stance on a topic better than most could do with a massive essay. Similarly, Douglass also takes a stance on a hot topic in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. As a former slave, he provides a printable looking glass into slavery, that sparked a wave of fervor among abolitionists with passages such as “That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.” (Douglass 19). His grotesque description of the effects of slavery had a large impact on many people, furthering the abolitionist movement, one that was so incredibly heated and controversial that it led to the American Civil War. However, despite the similarity in topic, these two Authors are vastly different in writing style.
Emily Dickinson expressed her thoughts in short poems, refining each word to create precise meter and rhyme to get her point across. She debates faith versus science very strongly in 4 lines in “Faith is a Fine Invention,” and she supports an argument on why you do not have to go to church to be holy in twelve lines with “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church.” All of these poems are concise, beautiful, and get Dickinson’s point across splendidly in an amount of space that no other person could use so powerfully. On the other hand, Douglass is much more long winded with his writing. Instead of a pile of short snippets, Douglass’s greatest work is a sixty-nine page autobiography, where he tells his story as a slave. He spends plenty of time elaborating on the details of his life as a slave and painting a picture, such as when he describes slaves walking through the woods in the passage “While on their way, they would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness.” (Douglass 8). This passage focuses on using many details to help provide an image of a real scene from Douglass’s memory, contrasting with Dickinson’s typical abstract opinions and arguments. In addition, the two writers’ methods of conveying their argument is very different. Dickinson primarily uses logical arguments, using
logical steps to connect the reasoning and the conclusion. Another method is that Dickinson’s points can also be very cryptic, but having to decipher what that point is forces one to think about the passage much more, enhancing one’s understanding. On the other hand, Douglass uses emotion and pathos to convince the reader of his opinion with sentences like “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest.” (Douglass 4). Passages like these inspire feelings of sympathy at the horror and injustice suffered at the hands of Douglass’s masters, moving many and inspiring abolitionists to take action with the horrific, emotional descriptions laid down in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Both Emily Dickinson and Frederick Douglass were American Renaissance writers who used their writing skill to convey an opinion on important topics like religion and slavery in, but wrote about their topics in vastly different ways. Dickinson kept it short and sweet with logical arguments fit into the smallest possible space, coming to short conclusions for complex topics. On the other hand, Douglass described emotional scenes from his own life to make his point, painting pictures that revealed the horrors of slavery, invigorating new life into the abolitionist movement. In the end, what tied them so tightly together was that both authors were a beautiful piece of the puzzle that was the American Renaissance.
Frederick Douglass, an African American social reformer who escaped from slavery, in his autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself,” denotes the perilous life of a slave in the South. Through syntax, Douglass is able to persuade his readers to support the abolitionist movement as his writing transitions from shifting sentence lengths to parallel structure and finally to varying uses of punctuation. Douglass begins his memoir with a combination of long and short sentences that serve to effectively depict life his life as a slave. This depiction is significant because it illustrates the treatment of slaves in the south allows his audience to despise the horrors of slavery. In addition, this
Analysis of “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”: Written by Aaron Wright and Nichole Smith
There were many different types of groups in Colonial America, not to mention sub groups as well as opposing groups. One of the opposing groups were those who were ready to break away from the mother country such as Thomas Paine or there were those who claimed like John Dickason that the colonies were not ready to cut off ties just yet. Although both groups had similar issues they both had different approaches on how to deal with them.
Frederick Douglass uses the rhetorical appeal, ethos, in two specific ways: to provide the credence of his statements and to identify himself to the reader. Douglass uses his writing skills to provide a familiar perception to which his readers are accustomed. He does not provide exact dates to accompany his story, because slaves back then were kept ignorant, as Douglass states, “I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it” (Douglass 19). Our culture thrives on important dates such as, someone’s birthday, a holiday, or an anniversary, etc., and Douglass was blind to all of these events. He identifies himself as a normal human being, when in fact, he has had what seems like to us, a completely
The Narrative of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass is written to have people place their feet in the shoes of Frederick Douglass and try to understand the experience he went through as a slave. Douglass writes this piece of literature with strong wording to get his point across. He is not trying to point out the unpleasant parts of history, but to make people face the truth. He wants readers to realize that slavery is brutalizing and dehumanizing, that a slave is able to become a man, and that some slaves, like himself, have intellectual ability. These points are commonly presented through the words of Douglass because of his diction.
America in the mid to early nineteenth century saw the torture of many African Americans in slavery. Plantation owners did not care whether they were young or old, girl or boy, to them all slaves were there to work. One slave in particular, Frederick Douglass, documented his journey through slavery in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Through the use of various rhetorical devices and strategies, Douglass conveys the dehumanizing and corrupting effect of slavery, in order to show the overall need for American abolition. His use of devices such as parallelism, asyndeton, simile, antithesis, juxtaposition and use of irony, not only establish ethos but also show the negative effects of slavery on slaves, masters and
...oncluding passage to his narrative for a specific purpose: to create a more profound connection with his audience on the basis of his experiences and thoughts. He creates a vision of relief in the beginning of the passage by means of diction, similes, and an impeccable amount of imagery. Douglass also applies an approach for the application of syntax, diction, and connotative sense to amplify the feelings of loneliness and paranoia presented after emancipation. The result is the masterpiece that fluently runs from one state of mind following his escape to another. It is a masterpiece with a timeless sense of moral values being unconsciously taught to its audience, whether or not they succeed in deciphering it.
The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naïve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the world outside of slavery. In Douglass’ narrative the tone is first set as that of an observer, however finishing with his own personal accounts.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
The reader is first introduced to the idea of Douglass’s formation of identity outside the constraints of slavery before he or she even begins reading the narrative. By viewing the title page and reading the words “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, written by himself” the reader sees the advancement Douglass made from a dependent slave to an independent author (Stone 134). As a slave, he was forbidden a voice with which he might speak out against slavery. Furthermore, the traditional roles of slavery would have had him uneducated—unable to read and incapable of writing. However, by examining the full meaning of the title page, the reader is introduced to Douglass’s refusal to adhere to the slave role of uneducated and voiceless. Thus, even before reading the work, the reader knows that Douglass will show “how a slave was made a man” through “speaking out—the symbolic act of self-definition” (Stone 135).
“Although Emily Dickinson is known as one of America’s best and most beloved poets, her extraordinary talent was not recognized until after her death” (Kort 1). Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she spent most of her life with her younger sister, older brother, semi-invalid mother, and domineering father in the house that her prominent family owned. As a child, she was curious and was considered a bright student and a voracious reader. She graduated from Amherst Academy in 1847, and attended a female seminary for a year, which she quitted as she considered that “’I [she] am [was] standing alone in rebellion [against becoming an ‘established Christian’].’” (Kort 1) and was homesick. Afterwards, she excluded herself from having a social life, as she took most of the house’s domestic responsibilities, and began writing; she only left Massachusetts once. During the rest of her life, she wrote prolifically by retreating to her room as soon as she could. Her works were influenced ...
For starters, Douglass uses pathos to get his point across. He uses stories in the bible to make his audience understand what he is trying to say. He especially used the story of Babylon to convey his point of how does Americans
In both Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman’s works, they emphasize some differences in their writing. In Dickinson’s works she shows that her works are short and simple poems, while Whitman’s poems and often long and complex. With Dickinson showing that her works are short and simple, while Whitman brings on a more sophisticated style, it truly shows that they use their own unique style of writing. In both Whitman and Dickinson works they have been known for being such unique artist and being original, while people try so hardly to impersonate their style, but they are unable to come close to accomplishing it.
Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost both think that individuality is very important to a person, equally like Ralph Emerson. Although they may have a lot in common, these poets are different in many ways. Both Frost and Dickinson were American poets and were both from New England. A big similarity between Frost and Dickinson. Both talk about death.
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are both considered as the most original poets who has boldly revolutionized the subject and style of 20th-century American poetry. Both the poets come from vastly different backgrounds but they share common inspirations but in a distinctive way. They both lived polar opposite personal lives as Walt was friendly, outgoing and influential, while Emily was very simple, shy, isolate and content. A lot of poems written by them were based on nature, death, and immortality and they focused on the importance of individualism in the society like in “I Hear America Singing” by Walt and “Much Madness is most divine Sense” by Emily. Together, they both have huge hands to shape the American poetry, and their influences