...Poetry Battle This work of art can be seen all around us and some find poetry entertaining. Two of the greatest American poets are Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. These 1800s poets have a unique writing style; however, on opposite ends of the poetry spectrum. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman only share a few similarities. They were extravagant composers in the late 1800s; furthermore, they both contributed to the American literature collection. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman poems enclosed poetic lines and stanzas. Their poems were modern and challenged the traditional characteristics, and they both choose to write about mundane principals (Howard). The two poet’s contents are extremely different. Emily Dickinson would write about the conventional circumstances and discus the brutal side of life. Emily Dickinson would place a vast amount of symbolism and imagery. Since Emily Dickinson isolated herself, her verses would contain ample amounts depressing thoughts. She would also devise about her own ideas and what she was passionate about (Calvano). Walt Whitman uttered his courageous personality in his writings. Needing an idea to write about, Walt Whitman would take something that was decent in life and then just...
Words: 475 - Pages: 2
...solitary, here— And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped down, and down— And hit a World, at every plunge, And Finished knowing—then— 20 “I Felt A Funeral, In My Brain” If one does not know much about poetry, they might think that a sixteen-stanza poem does not have abundant meaning. Little do they know, although, there aren’t many lines, it can be the most meaningful text. The poem I Felt A Funeral, In My Brain, is a sixteen-stanza poem that uses metaphors to describe a situation or feeling (depending on how the reader or critic interprets the poem). I Felt A Funeral, In My Brain by Emily Dickinson has substantial reviews and critics’ critical information on this poem. Each critic reviews a poem differently and all have a different interpretation on this particular poem. Although all of the interpretations are all on the same poem, they all have something different that critic distinguished. I, personally, viewed I Felt A Funeral, In My Brain, as if Emily Dickinson is mourning on how morose and depressed she is. But at the end she finds happiness (stanza 4) where she lets go of the gloomy funeral inside her brain. I found Emily Dickinson’s poem, I Felt A Funeral, In My brain, quite evasive at first. After picking apart the poem, and reading Dickinson’s...
Words: 1031 - Pages: 5
...Comparison and Contrast Essay between two Poems of Emily Dickinson and Mary Oliver Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, or called Emily Dickinson for short (1830 – 1886) and Mary Oliver (1935), are the two poets who contributed great works of art to American society during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In spite of several characteristics that can be found in both Emily Dickinson and Mary Oliver poems, there are undeniably things that distinguish them from one another, although outside both are very famous poets of the poems that they wrote at that time, but actually inside, every poem that they bring the reader has a different meaning and quite deep in reader hearts. For example, as we read the poem “Alligator Poem” by Mary Oliver poem and the poem “A Bird Came down the Walk” by Emily Dickinson, we can clearly see that both poets have borrowed the images of the bird to express the deeply of each verse, and to add lively for their poem. This method is called personification, is one of the main methods by which the poet used to write a poem vividly. Although both poets use personification methods in both poems, such as borrowing the images of the bird to write a poem as an example, but actually the use of such methods have different deeply meaning in the two poems. And that is the topic I write this essay, what are the similarities and differences between how they use images of birds to express their verses? How they have been very successful in using the personification...
Words: 345 - Pages: 2
...Literary Worth Essay Did Emily Dickinson take part in literary break found in the traditional 19th century? Yes her poetry came forth with boldness during this time. Her writings were so unique it made her readers capture and believe what she was writing about. Within her poems, she demonstrated mixed feelings in her writings, although she uses imagination to communicate with particular ideals in some poems. During the early 1900’s many poets decided to get away from the normal way of writing American Poetry. By doing this many poets began to write in different styles other than the traditional American way to write poetry. Three criteria’s we can elaborate on in regards to great poetry would be first, the work is relevant to normal life situations. Second, the poetry work is worth reading and is comforting to read. Third, the poets all had great ideas to write on. Walt Whitman had his part in the literary break which causes American Literature to gain new styles of writing poetry. He was a journalist who wrote to fulfill the needs of his audience. He often time would write poetry that would run on and on. Whitman and Dickinson new ways of writing poetry has brought about a great change in our modern literature classes. This new style of writing qualified them both to be listed as great poets during their time. Darlene 2 “Dickinson’s poetry is also...
Words: 766 - Pages: 4
...Emily Dickinson views love with an allegorical neatness created in her poem The Love of Thee—a Prism Be. Dickinson believes that it is the prismatic quality of passion that matters, and the energy passing through an experience of love reveals a spectrum of possibilities. In keeping with her tradition of looking at the "circumference" of an idea, Dickinson never actually defines a conclusive love or lover at the end of her love poetry, instead concentrating on passion as a whole. Although she never defined a lover in her poems, many critics do believe that the object or focal point of her passion was Charles Wadsworth, a clergyman from Philadelphia. Throughout Emily’s life she held emotionally compelling relationships with both men and women. The differences in the prismatic qualities of each type of relationship come through in Dickinson’s prism imagery. Morris summarizes these differences in her essay: In one [male prism] the supremacy of the patriarch informs the rituals of courtship, family, government, and religion; in the other [female prism], the implied equality of sisterhood is played out in ceremonies of romantic, familial, social, and even religious reciprocity. (103) In her poetry, Emily represents the males as the Lover, Father, King, Lord, and Master as the women take complimentary positions to their male superiors, and many times the relationship between the sexes is seen in metaphor—women as "His Little Spaniel" or his hunting gun. The woman’s existence...
Words: 398 - Pages: 2
...educated was determined as well. The passages from Lauren Axelrod and my point of view provided a sound transcribed breakdown. Self-empowerment is gained through knowledge. I found myself following the guidance of the author, during my reflection and brainstorming for this essay, and pursued the guidelines on pages eighty nine and ninety. As what needed to be followed in the instructions was stated, some of the wide-ranging generalities and expectations that came to mind while thinking over the words knowledge and individual power are what I penned down. The way toward individual power above one’s individual atmosphere is paved by the possession of knowledge. The ability for you to be a much sounder person and to be able to progress the surroundings for those that are around you. An ideology and the power is instilled in you that you will be confidently encouraged to feel and live better. Assistance in coming up with better choices and lead you in the direction of righteousness in your everyday life is received from knowledge and individual power. The readings that I selected were “Crazy Courage” by Alma Luz Villanueva, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, and “Much madness is divinest sense” by Emily Dickinson. I logged on to the internet upon completion...
Words: 880 - Pages: 4
...Circular cycles on Whitman poetry. The American Naissance is considered not as a rebirth but a foundation of a new expression that was showed mainly through literature. This time comes to be the equivalent of Elizabethan Age in terms of the amount of intellectual work created (Ruland 125) but also as a cultural independence in which the concept of being American is portrayed in the literary production. This period starts with the work of Emerson, who captures the essence of transcendentalism in his essay Self Reliance. Among the most renowned names along this period like Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Thoreau and Dickinson; they tackle topics from their own perspective specially Whitman and Dickinson with death. Death for these authors does not seem to be something that frighten them but a needed step for rebirth, transcend and to get to eternity. Therefore, death can be seen as an entrance gate to a cyclical process in which nature, self-experience and also death itself are constantly interchanging. Death Death is a topic developed in the pieces of work of Dickinson as well as Whitman. For Whitman life and death are a continuum in which death is the boundary among current life and another one. This idea of cyclical life comes directly from the cycles of nature as for Whitman nature is one of the means by which mankind is able to know, to discover them and also to get to contact with divinity. A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; ...
Words: 1186 - Pages: 5
...province, Emily Dickinson challenged the existing definitions of poetry and the poet’s work. Like writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman, she experimented with expression in order to free it from conventional restraints. Like writers such as Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, she crafted a new type of persona for the first person. The speakers in Dickinson’s poetry, like those in Brontë’s and Browning’s works, are sharp-sighted observers who see the inescapable limitations of their societies as well as their imagined and imaginable escapes. To make the abstract tangible, to define meaning without confining it, to inhabit a house that never became a prison, Dickinson created in her writing a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized. Like the Concord Transcendentalists whose works she knew well, she saw poetry as a double-edged sword. While it liberated the individual, it as readily left him ungrounded. The literary marketplace, however, offered new ground for her work in the last decade of the nineteenth century. When the first volume of her poetry was published in 1890, four years after her death, it met with stunning success. Going through eleven editions in less than two years, the poems eventually extended far beyond their first household audiences. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830 to Edward and Emily (Norcross) Dickinson. At the...
Words: 9008 - Pages: 37
...Issa Haddad Jason Sebacher ENGL102 27 November 2012 Compare/Contrast Essay In Dylan Thomas', “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, he entreats his father to not succumb quietly to death. He uses the metaphor, "the dying of the light" (3) to illustrate that he feels death to be a destructive power seeking to put out the "light" which is the human life force. That he feels this destruction should not be passively accepted is first shown when he states, "old age should burn and rave at the close of day" (2). He employs the metaphor, "close of day" (2) to show he feels death is an end to human consciousness as he knows it. He also uses "old age" (2) to personify the person/people who should fight death, and "burn and rave" (2) to indicate the fight. He uses examples of different types of men resisting death to add to his argument that life should not be given up lightly. "Wise men" (4) do not "go gentle" because "their words had forked no lightning" (5). Another metaphor, meaning that the words they speak receive no notice, therefor there is still more recognition to achieve before death's finality. "Good men" (7), realizing (with the metaphor/personification) that their "frail deeds might have danced in a green bay" (8), also fight against dying. The use of "green bay" (8) as a metaphor for the inevitable "sea" of mortality shows that they realize their actions in life may not yet be enough to secure them an illustrious place in human history and remembrance. "Wild men"...
Words: 1276 - Pages: 6
...The many of the first few acts of rebellion were carried out in Massachusetts such as the boston tea party and many various meetings to plan the revolution. Many members of the sons of liberty were from Massachusetts too and they were very crucial in spreading patriotic sentiments all over the states. Massachusetts held a very important role in the America’s fight for independence and as such it is very easy to see the cultural and historical significance of the state. In this essay we will look at the cultural contributions, persons, and socio-economic situations of pre 20th century...
Words: 3408 - Pages: 14
...devoted to the study of American authors include a directory of member- societies, and membership and event information. The library of America offers American Literature, including poems, novels, essays drama and other American works from America’s best writers. According to Hewitt (p.4), during its initial history, the US was a British colony especially on the east-coast of the present US. In reference to Hewitt (p.6), therefore, its literary traditions borrow heavily from the British. Nevertheless, its distinct features and the depth of its production make it to be viewed as its own entity. In reference to Hewitt (p.60), who American was and what America had become was the dominant theme of literature as the first outlines of modern American life took shape. Earliest forms of American Literature In reference to Selcer (p.52), many American authors turned to letter writing as an idealized genre through which to consider through the challenges of American democracy. According to Selcer (p.51), by examining the literature of slavery and race before the civil war many authors demonstrate how the slavery crisis became a crisis of philosophy that exposed the breakdown of national consensus. According to Hewitt (p.45), in contemporary early American literature, poetry novel, essays,...
Words: 1391 - Pages: 6
...Still in the Gilded Age There are many things in life that appear attractive on the outside, but turn out to be quite the opposite on the inside. The forgotten fruit that was left to rot on the kitchen counter, the empty promises of a government body, the two-faced colleague at work… there are many of examples of beauty being only skin deep. Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” and Emily Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” explores this theme of the gilded side of humanity. Roethke opens “My Papa’s Waltz” through the eyes of a small boy, lending an initial tone of naivety and innocence. This mood is reinforced through his use of rhyme scheme, which adds to the childish effect. However, this feeling is quickly subverted, as a more sinister interpretation can be seen midway through the poem. The boy describes, “The hand that held my wrist/Was battered on one knuckle;/At every step you missed/My right ear scraped a buckle.” (9-13), leading the reader to question what the actual meaning behind this “waltz” is. The minor mentioning of the unhappy mother, as well as the phrase, “But I hung on like death:” (3) is suddenly relevant; it suggests that the father may be an abusive alcoholic, deviating from the prior assumption that he was simply a happy drunk spending time with his son. This shift in reader interpretation can also be attributed to Roethke’s unique word choice. Take for example the word “waltz,” which is used exclusively in the beginning and ending stanzas...
Words: 2433 - Pages: 10
...William Bronk is best known for his austere view of the world as well as writing style. His language—subtle, balanced in tone and diction, essential—is possibly the most distilled in all of twentieth-century American poetry. In addition, Bronk is always explicit visually and resonant musically. His work keeps alive a New England poetic tradition, evoking nature and the seasons, winter most of all, and delving into the nature of reality or truth. These concerns were firmly established early in twentieth-century American poetry by the New England poets Robert FROST and Wallace STEVENS, then later by, along with Bronk, Robert CREELEY and George OPPEN, and in the nineteenth century by Henry David Thoreau (an especially strong influence on Bronk), Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Emily Dickinson. Bronk was born in Fort Edward, near Hudson Falls, New York where he lived his entire life except for his student years at Dartmouth College and Harvard University, a period of military service during World War II and a brief stint as an instructor at Union College. Even after he gained a wide readership, Bronk shrank from public attention and concentrated on his immediate surroundings. His writing expresses his refusal to compromise his life style and point of view as in his poem "The Abnegation" (1971): "I will not / be less than I am to be more human." He believes that what he knows of the world is only a semblance of the truth at best. Reality exists and he is able to intuit its existence, but...
Words: 1485 - Pages: 6
...reasons: (a) to give the readers an opportunity of checking any information that he may doubt of been misinterpreted, (b) to avoid plagiarism by announcing the statements that are not of his own and are taken from other people. Documentation could be done through one of the following ways: • Textual documentation Almost all the literary papers by nature are dealing with one or more literary works which means certain text or texts are been studied. Titles like "Symbolism in William Blake's Tiger" indicate that the material that is used in the paper will a poem with the mentioned title. Essays and most of the newspaper articles that deal with one single short work without suing secondary sources are using this kind of documentation which is also called informal documentation. The name of the author and the title of the work on which the paper focus on are mentioned near the beginning of the essay as well as some other references like " in the opening scene"," in act 2…"or" in the end of the play…". Principles and guidelines 1. Titles of poems, articles, short stories are put in quotation marks while titles of plays, magazines, newspapers, and books are underlined. Quotation marks are used for titles of selections or parts of books. Using italics scripts in printed matter is the equivalent of the underlines in the...
Words: 1403 - Pages: 6
...Student: Hassan Mohammad Hilles. Instructor: Prof. Dr. Kawther Mahdi Course Title: Modern English and American Poetry Wystan Hugh Auden Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England, in 1907. He moved to Birmingham during childhood and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. As a young man he was influenced by the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost, as well as William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Old English verse. At Oxford his precocity as a poet was immediately apparent, and he formed lifelong friendships with two fellow writers, Stephen Spender and Christopher Isherwood. In 1928, his collection Poems was privately printed, but it wasn't until 1930, when another collection titled Poems (though its contents were different) was published, that Auden was established as the leading voice of a new generation. Auden first gained attention in 1930 when his short verse play called ''Paid on Both Sides'' was published in T. S. Eliot's periodical The Criterion. In the same year appeared Auden's Poems, his first commercially published book, in which he carefully avoided Yeatsian romantic self-expression – the poems were short, untitled, slightly cryptic, but free of philosophical abstraction. The collection had a powerful influence on Auden's peers, including Stephen Spender, Cecil Day-Lewis, and Louis MacNeice. Auden soon gained fame as a leftist intellectual. He showed interest in Marx and Freud and he wrote passionately on social problems, among...
Words: 1040 - Pages: 5
