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Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman

Explore the poetic transition from Romanticism to Realism with Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, two unconventional poets who reshaped literary conventions with their unique styles and techniques. Uncover the themes of nature, individualism, and creativity that characterize their works, as well as the contrasting approaches to form and subject matter. Delve into Dickinson's reclusive life and Whitman's groundbreaking poetry that defied traditional rhyme and meter. Discover the beauty of paradox, slant rhyme, and free verse in their works that continue to inspire readers today.

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Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman

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  1. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman Transitional Poets

  2. What does Transition Mean? • A transit from one stage to another • A movement or development from one form to another • A change in style

  3. Romanticism • Nature • The Individual • Intuition rather than Reason • Creativity

  4. Realism • Focus on the common, average man • Extreme Detail • Class (social groups) becomes important • Pessimistic, Negative • Materialism

  5. Emily Dickinson • Reclusive • Published only a handful of poems • Left instructions for her poems to be destroyed

  6. Dickinson is Unconventional • Use of dashes • Capitalization • First edition “corrected her forms,” but Johnson’s version in 1955 restored the original elements

  7. Techniques • Slant rhyme: final sounds are similar but not identical • Paradox: a statement that seems contradictory but is actually true • Ballad Stanza: stanza of four lines, rhyme scheme of abcb

  8. Because I Could Not Stop for Death • P. 524 • Who is he in line 2? What is this? • Describe him. • In lines 9-12, what do School, Fields, Setting Sun suggest? • Elliptical phrasing in lines 15, 16 • Last stanza, how long has it been? Suggests?

  9. I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died • P. 531 • Slant rhyme? • Would you think to include the buzzing of a fly in a poem from a dying person’s point of view? • What does the inclusion suggest about death?

  10. My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close • P. 529 • Paradox • What tells us about Heaven and Hell? • What is the final close? • How did her life close twice before? • Explain the paradox on 415.

  11. Walt Whitman • Poetry broke every poetic tradition of rhyme and meter. • Leaves of Grass abandoned traditional poetic devices and forms. • While critics panned him, Emerson admired him. Why?

  12. Leaves of Grass • Life’s work • Continuously revised (9 editions) • 12 poems (first edition) • 383 poems (death-bed edition)

  13. Transcendental Focus • Poetry conveys belief in democracy, equality, spiritual unity, and the potential of the human spirit. • Captures the diversity of the American people. • Conveys energy and intensity of all forms of life.

  14. American Epic: Leaves of Grass • Expresses national ideals. • Epic theme: All people of all times connected by shared experience of life. • ALL people are the hero of this epic.

  15. Techniques • Free Verse: irregular meter and line length sounds like natural speech. Every line shaped to suit poet’s meaning. • Catalogues (Lists) create a colorful parade of images that suggest each element is of equal worth. • Anaphora: repetition of phrases with similar structure or meaning (at the beginning of the phrase) (p. 425) • Onomatopoeia (grunting, gab, yawp)

  16. Selections • Page 508, Excerpts from Leaves of Grass • Look for catalogues, anaphora, diction, and onomatopoeia • Page, “When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” • What is the message? • Whose message is this?

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