Nature has an undefinable meaning as the theme is utilised in literature, and it has been a topic of reflection within the Romanticists since the beginning of the era. Romanticism and nature and inextricably linked ideas. Poets; Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman wrote during the romantic era, and both drew heavily from aspects of nature in their work. Nature can be paralleled against several things, including humanity and the idea of life and death. The contrast between the natural world and the artificial world, and what this means for society, is also strongly eluded to in Dickinson and Whitman’s poems. Each poet uses nature as the backbone to their poetry in several instances. Dickinson’s, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, (Dickinson, 19) and “My Life Has Stood A Loaded Gun”, (Dickinson, 69) are strong examples of this. Whitman’s, “Song of Myself”, (Whitman, 29) and, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, (Whitman, 255) are also poems that show the connection between nature and romanticism. Poets, Dickinson and Whitman engage with romanticism in a creative and constructive manner through the utilisation of the natural world.
The natural world is a major theme within Romanticism. Both Dickinson and Whitman weave elements of nature through their work. Romanticists believe the natural world reflects key ideas within society, and within those who exist within society. Whitman explicitly draws from the theme of nature, and Dickinson makes reference to nature in her
Stories in Romanticism hardly end in happy endings. In fact, the earliest of the modern romantic stories were about the wickedness of human nature. Romantics often emphasized the beauty, strangeness, and mystery of nature. Romantic writers showed their intuition of nature that came from within. The key to this inner world was the imagination of the writer; this customarily displayed their expressions of their inner soul and their perspective towards various aspects of nature. It was these perspectives that marked each author of the Romantic period, such as Whitman, Dickinson, Hawthorne and Poe, as unique individuals. These viewpoints are markedly echoed in the poem “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer” by Walt Whitman.
The lives of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson have many similarities and differences. Here, we will focus on the similarities in their lives in order to bring to attention a correlation between Whitman's poem I Saw in Louisiana a Live-oak Growing and Dickinson's poem # 1510. Both poets wrote during the time of Romanticism, even though Whitman was Dickinson's senior by some eleven years. This however did not influence the way the writing styles of many of their poems coincided.
Steve Jobs advised students that, “Your time is limited, so don 't waste it living someone else 's life. Don 't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people 's thinking. Don 't let the noise of other 's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition...” (“You’ve Got to Find What You Love”). Job explains to the Graduates of the Stanford Class of 2005, that in order to be successful one must assert their unique personality, one must stand up for what they believe in, and one must create their own perspective of the world. In life, a choice has to be made, to take a stand for what you think is right, or sit passively and listen as peers debate, Job recommending the former. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman agree that living life in a passive manner is not acceptable. The standard of asserting oneself is seen through Walt Whitman’s poem, “To a Pupil,” in Paul Schutze’s photograph Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as in biographical information about Dickinson and Whitman; however, Dickinson claims in her poem, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” that on occasions, it is okay to stay out of the spotlight.
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are very similar, yet very different in the ways they write their poetry. Dickinson is more accustomed to a quiet lifestyle in Amherst Massachusetts whereas Whitman comes from a more exciting background with living in the city and traveling from place to place. Although they are differ in the ways they grew up they both tend to focus on nature in their poems.
Walt Whitman loved to experiment with form when it came to poetry. He used his verses to show his complete adoration of all things wild, and our role as beings in this infinitely complex and thought-provoking universe in which we exist. To say he had a bit of a “nature crush” would be an understatement – Whitman goes in to great detail of his love for the wildness and often describes his emotions in a viscerally sexual manner, using poetic devices to underline his immense feelings for environment and hammer in the imagery to readers of how majestic the world appears to him. “Romantic” poets loved the outdoors – if it wasn’t contained in four walls and a roof, they were all about it. They loved to praise the innate details that made our planet so incredible,
As a person who was raised in such a religious home, it was no surprise that Dickinson was deeply fond of nature in her poems. She enjoyed all of God’s creations (Bliss 66). Emily Dickinson’s love for the natural world is apparent in her poetry, as her poems tend to take great joy in nature and feature some of the most original depictions of the natural world and its inhabitants (Priddy 51). While nature can be viewed as beautiful and harmonious, Dickinson also writes that nature can without warning, become life threatening and dangerous toward people (“Emily Dickinson: An Oerview” 34). In the same way that Dickinson writes about God and how God can be indifferent, she writes that God’s creation (nature) can be indifferent toward human suffering. While the Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and Ralph Waldo Emerson related human emotions and nature together, Dickinson wrote about the opposite about how nature essentially does not care about human life no matter how beautiful it may
Everyone loves a good competition. People voraciously read and watch novels and television programs that explore battles between good and evil, and athletic events attract enormous crowds of spectators. However, when the adversary in the competition becomes something as formidable as nature, the competition is no longer a game. The situation instead becomes a serious issue that the human race must address immediately. Poetry by Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson analyzes this complex theme of competition between man and nature. Whitman expresses his opinions on this theme in “Earth! my Likeness!,” while Dickinson articulates her point of view in “A bird came down the walk.” Information about the lives of Whitman and Dickinson helps to provide
Comparing Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were among the many poets who began their writing during a time when American poets started drifting away from traditional writing techniques. Despite the fact that the two poets had radically varying styles of writing and led unique lifestyles, it is evident that the messages that they presented and conveyed through their writings have many similarities. Some of the song which despite looking very different on the outside in conveys a similar message and they include the Dickinson’s poem " This quiet Dust was Gentlemen and Ladies" and the Whitman’s poem "Song of Myself, No.6". For instance, there are similarities between the two works in terms of their theme where
Oh how do I compare thee… During the nineteenth century also known as the antebellum period, two poets began to separate themselves from the traditional methods of writing poetry yet still capturing their readers with their unique styles of writing. These poets were Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. These two poets led different lifestyles. From what I had read the poems that they wrote had similarities that to me were based on common themes such as, Nature, death, and immortality, with that being said their differences definitely outweighed their similarities.
In every walk in nature one receives far more than he seeks. Nature stays precepted in many different ways by different cultures and opinions; certain authors choose to express their views of nature in their work. Walt Whitman expressed his beliefs of nature in his writing, which have a strong connection. William Bradford chose to express his beliefs in his formal essay, which are very aggravated towards nature. Emily Dickinson showed her vision of nature in her poem, that explains her love for nature. All of these authors view nature in different ways and point out different details; each author has a different point of view to express.
Even though Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman had a lot of differences in the way they wrote poetry, they had some similarities between them. Whitman uses repetition and free-verse while Dickinson uses slant rhyme, imagery and metaphor and both use many others along with these. This is just one example of the many differences they share. Emily Dickinson was educated at local schools and at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley. After a trip she took to Washington and Philadelphia in 1855 she settled down into Amherst, her hometown, and never left there except for her eye appointments. Except for seven verses, her poems went unpublished throughout her lifetime. Walt Whitman fell in love with writing at the age of twelve. He worked as
American romanticism was an important time for poetry and its development. There were many themes throughout the romanticism that most poets touched on in their work. There was nature, breaking free, individualism, democracy, radicalism and the figure of the outcast. Ralph Waldo Emerson touched on a few of the themes in many of his poems, but touched on individualism especially in “Hamatreya”. Another poet that touched on themes of the American romanticism was Walt Whitman, in his poem “Song of Myself”. He also promotes individualism, but also touches on unity unlike Emerson. Both poets were very well known for their time. The themes intertwined into a poet’s poem’s tell a lot about their life and what they were trying to convey.
This is another poem that links Whitman to the Romantics. The "birth of the poet" genre was of particular importance to Wordsworth, whose massive Prelude details his artistic coming-of-age in detail. Like Wordsworth, Whitman claims to take his inspiration from nature. Where Wordsworth is inspired by a wordless feeling of awe, though, Whitman finds an opportunity to anthropomorphize, and nature gives him very specific answers to his questions about overarching concepts. Nature is a tabula rasa onto which the poet can project himself. He conquers it, inscribes it. While it may become a part of him that is always present, the fact that it does so seems to be by his permission.
Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are two of the most read and influential poets of the nineteenth century. Both use nature symbols and metaphors to explain motifs of the human soul. However, they differ in their conclusions. Whitman prefers a crowd, or a common human experience, while Dickinson cherishes solitude and independence. Through the first five lines of Whitman’s poem, Song of Myself, and through Dickinson’s poem 409, or The Soul Selects Her Own Society, the differences in these two poet’s assertions of the soul and society, and ultimately their views on public and private life stemming from their own experiences is apparent through their connections to nature.
The Romantic Era of poets in the nineteenth century marked a change from earlier thinking of Enlightenment. Before the nineteenth century people saw nature as a symbol of scientific principals, or an arrangement of symbols of the universe. By contrast, Romantic poets viewed nature as a symbol of God. Poets often use nature as an inspiration for their work. Poets such as Wordswoth, Coleridge and Shelly all found different ways to symbolize nature in there poetry by finding some sort of inspiration from scenes of nature and used it to express their feelings and emotions.