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Melanie Marles Writing Assignment Week 2

1. Dickinson and Whitman are two important poets from the antebellum period. They are very different, both in terms of form (what their poetry looks like on the page) and content. Write a comparison, using poems from the assigned reading, that includes at least three terms defined in the Poetry Lecture in Week 1, as well as the poets' purpose in writing. What messages are they trying to convey in their poetry? Are they successful? Of the two poets, which one do you prefer and why?

Whitman and Dickinson are both successful in conveying a similar purpose of writing to express the importance of individuals and the purpose of human life and use comparable poetic devises such as alliteration and imagery. Whitman in, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, discuses the common ground of all humans, in how we all experience joy, pain, isolation, and greed as a unification of all people in the past, present, and future. When Whitman says, “The simple, compact, well-join’d scheme, myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated yet part of the scheme” (Whitman, 1856/2013, p. 1070), he portrays all human existence as working together in a course larger then us all, but its all the individual parts that make it work. Dickinson, in her poem, 236, she recognizes the purpose of life in a more natural and religious sense as she depicts in her first stanza: “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – I keep it staying at Home – With a Bobolink for a Chorister – And an Orchard, for a Dome – ” (Dickinson, 1861, 2013, p. 1196).

In this stanza she shows how everyone else centers their purpose of life with God and considers going to the Church on the Sabbath day to be of upmost importance, while Dickinson would rather stay home and revel in the spirits of nature such as the birds and flowers she talks about. She knows her stance on religion strays from the norm, but she wholeheartedly believes her individual path is more righteous then conforming to the expected views of others. Whitman and Dickinson both use alliteration in their writings. In Dickinson’s poem, 236, it is demonstrated when she uses ‘S’ words in one line, “Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice” (Dickinson, 1861/2013, p. 1196). Whitman uses repetition of the same words to begin most lines in each stanza; repeating The, Others will, and Just as you phrase. Both writers also incorporate imagery in their poems. Whitman greatly so, describing literal imagery of Manhattan and Brooklyn scenery, ships sea-gulls floating in the air, the scalloped edges of waves, and chimneys burning fires causing the black smoke to ascend into the sky (Whitman, 1856,2013, p. 1069-

1073). Dickinson alike uses literally imagery in her poem letting us picture the robes of clergymen, her wearing of angel wings, and the church bell ringing. Of the two poets, I do not have a favorite. I admire both of their writings in the fact that they were both innovationists of their time. They both challenge you to re think set opinions and lead their writings with true emotion.

W/C: 424

References

Dickinson, Emily (2013). 236. The Norton Anthology (Shorter 8th ed.). (p. 1196). NY, NY: Norton. (Original work published 1861). Whitman, Walt (2013). Crossing Brooklyn Ferry. The Norton Anthology (Shorter 8th ed.). (p. 1069-1073). NY, New York: Norton. (Original work published 1856)....