Poetic Counterparts - A Comparison between Walt Whitman and

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Poetic Counterparts

--- A Comparison between Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson

Xiaojing

Academic Essay Writing

Shao Shan

20

th

October 2010

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Outline

I.

Introduction

It is indisputable that both Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were giants in the

history of American literature owing to their extraordinary accomplishments in poetry.

Meantime,

the

two

poets

also

differeniated

in

many

aspects.

In

terms

of

their

background,

themes

concerned

and

writing

techniques

and

styles,

the

two

masters

presented their uniqueness respectively.

II.

Body

A.

Differences

in

family

backgrounds,

education

received

and

life

experiences

all

play a major role in shaping their peculiarities.

1.

Walt

Whitman

came

from

a

working- class

family

while

Emily

Dickinson grew up in a prominent family of Amherst.

2.

Whitman quitted school at quite a young age while Dickinson was

well educated.

3.

Whitman tried at a variety of jobs while Dickinson spent most of her

time in her house and led a reclusive life.

B.

Their uniqueness in poetry creation yields unusually brilliant results in American

literature.

1.

Whitman was optimistic and his poems are created in a cheerful tone,

while Dickinson was pessimistic and the tone of her poems is tragic.

2.

Whitman

pursues

self-emancipation

and

democracy

for

he

was

subject

to

plenty

of

influences

such

as

the

Enlightenment

and

Transcendentalism

yet

Dickinson

was

mainly

influenced

by

Calvinism

and

often

submerged

herself

in

reading

the

Bible,

Shakespeare and Keats and she

shared her deep thoughts about death,

eternity, nature, philosophy of love and poetry with us

C.

The

most

conspicuous

differences

between

the

two

poets

lie

in

their

special

techniques.

1.

Whitman

used

free

verse

form

to

express

his

thoughts

instead

of

the

old-fashioned

rhyme

in

style.

Furthermore,

he

emphasized

to

display

the

static

performance

in

the

movement,

marked

with

parallelism, phonetic recurrence.

2.

Dickinson excels at her simple diction and syntax as well as being

concise and direct.

III.

Conclusion

In

conclusion,

while

Walt

Whitman

and

Emily

Dickinson

both

commenced

a

new era in American literature, they varied from each other in diverse ways. Whitman

was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both

views

in

his

works

and

is

often

called

the

father

of

free

verse;

whereas,

Emily

Dickinson,

adept

at

employing

images

in

her

poetry,

greatly

influenced

further

Imagists such as Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell, and became, with Stephan Crane, the

precursor of the Imagist movement. In the development of American literature, they

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both made indispensable contributions.

Poetic Counterparts

--- A Comparison between Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson

Introduction

It is indisputable that both Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were giants in the

history of American literature owing to their extraordinary accomplishments in poetry

-

composing

plenty

of

poems,

focusing

on

a

wide

range

of

themes

such

as

the

emergent

America,

its

expansion,

its

individualism

and

its

Americanness,

and

most

importantly, creating the poems in refreshing ways that have broken the convention of

the

iambic

pentameter

and

exerted

great

influences

in

the

following

generations.

Meantime, significant differences also exist between the two poets. In terms of their

background,

themes

focused

and

writing

techniques

and

styles,

the

two

masters

presented their uniqueness respectively.

Background

Walt

Whitman

came

from

a

working- class

family

with

eight

siblings

and

the

family could hardly support his access to higher education. As a result, he had to start

his

experienced

life

at

a

very

early

age.

At

the

age

of

eleven,

after

his

five-

year’s

formal schooling, he started to work to earn income for his family. In a word Whitman

did not receive much education and his study was almost on his own. After his first

job,

Whitman worked as an office boy, a printer’s apprentice, schoolmaster, printer,

editor and journalist. Successively, he contact with different levels and various things

therefore gained a thorough knowledge of life and the country, which laid a solid basis

for his creation of poetry.

Emily

Dickinson,

on

the

contrary,

grew

up

in

a

rather

prominent

family

of

Amherst and was well educated.

“Being

rooted in the puritanical Massachusetts of the

1800

’

s, the Dickinson children were raised in the Christian tradition, and they were

expected to take up their father

’

s religious beliefs and values without argument. Later

in life, Emily would come to challenge these conventional religious viewpoints of her

father and the church, and the challenges she met with would later contribute to the

strength

of

her

poetry.

”

Moreover,

unlike

Whitman,

she

led

a

quite

pure,

to

some

degree, secluded life, withdrawing herself from the society and diving into the study

of the Bible, classical mythology, and Shakespeare, which enabled her to focus on her

world more sharply and acquire a brand new understanding and vision for the simplest

things in her daily life.

Hence it is comprehensible why Whitman often demonstrated a national outlook

in his poetry, showing his concerns on the common people and his country and Emily

Dickinson, would dwell on comparatively narrow aspects, namely, the inner life of the

individual.

Theme

Besides

their

different

backgrounds,

exposure

to

different

influences

and