Journal #42: Emily Dickinson vs. Walt Whitman

Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman wrote poetry during the time period between Realism and Modernism. Walt Whitman's poetry focused on Self, while Emily Dickinson's poetry focused on life and had a connection to her life in particular. If I had been a reader during their time period, I would rather read Emily Dickinson's poetry over Walt Whitman's poetry. There are some very simple reasons for this, which I will now explain in the following paragraphs.

First off, Emily Dickinson's poetry is much easier to understand. Her poems have a literal meaning that is comprehensible when one first reads the poem. Then, the metaphorical meaning is easily tied to the literal meaning, and it is obvious what Emily Dickinson is talking about and trying to accomplish through her poetry. Walt Whitman's poetry is much more complicated than it needs to be. His literal meaning comes out as narcissistic and egotistical rather than informative or entertaining. He talks about his life, but in a self-absorbed way, that is not enjoyable to read. His Everyman idea complicates his poems and though it seems to relate everyone, it only relates his own life to something of the material world. His poems do not include the cheery aspects of life as Emily Dickinson's poetry does. When she talks about heart break, she speaks of it gently and almost brightly, while Whitman mentions it in a dark way, which is more depressing than it is re-healing or relieving.

Also, I dislike the topics of Walt Whitman's poetry. He talks a lot about sexual relationships between him, men, and women. Some of his metaphors discussing this topic do not seem to actually connect to the topic at hand. This makes his poetry confusing and not entertaining in the least. Emily Dickinson talks of love, heart breaks, and men, but in a way that is not so dark and confusing. She talks of how she dealt with these things; how she felt through these situations, not that she constantly longs for these things and obsesses over them, as Walt Whitman does. Because of these things, I dislike Whitman, and would much rather read Emily Dickinson's poetry any day than I would Walt Whitman's poetry. That is all I have to say about that.

Emily Dickinson

"POOR little heart! Did they forget thee?
Then dinna care! Then dinna care!
Proud little heart! Did they forsake thee? 5
Be debonair! Be debonair!
Frail little heart! I would not break thee:
Could’st credit me? Could’st credit me?
Gay little heart! 10 Like morning glory
Thou’ll wilted be; thou’ll wilted be" (Dickinson).

This poem by Emily Dickinson relates to her feelings and her life. Supposedly, Emily Dickinson's heart was broken by a someone who did not love her in the same way that she loved him. Because of her embarrassment and shame, she secluded herself in her house. I believe that this poem conveys her feelings on this tragic experience. In the first stanza, Dickinson states the problem. "POOR little heart! Did they forget thee?
Then dinna care! Then dinna care" (Dickinson)! This translates to "poor little heart, did they forget about you? Then do not care. Be care free!" This is Emily's way of telling herself to forget about the heart break. Do not worry over it. Do not stress herself about it. Do not care that it happened. In the next stanza, she says "Proud little heart! Did they forsake thee? 5
Be debonair! Be debonair" (Dickinson)! This translates to "Proud little heart, did they leave you? Then do not show your sadness. Be prideful. Act as if nothing happened. Be debonair!" Though her heart was broken, Dickinson is trying to forget about it. She is trying to hide it, to show people that she is perfectly fine. She is pretending not to care. The next stanza states, "Frail little heart! I would not break thee:
Could’st credit me? Could’st credit me" (Dickinson)? This translates to "Frail little heart, I would not break you or hurt you. Can you credit me to this?" Emily Dickinson is then saying that she would not hurt herself. She knows what she wants and needs, and she would not do anything to hurt herself. Basically, up to this point, Emily Dickinson has confronted her broken heart, convinced herself to let it go and be strong and prideful. And she has put confidence into herself to guard herself. The next stanza says, " Gay little heart! 10 Like morning glory
Thou’ll wilted be; thou’ll wilted be" (Dickinson). This translates to "Happy little heart, like temporary morning glory, you will be wilted." This last stanza brings the poem back around in a circle. She says here that it is still wilted from the event; as much as she tried to forget about it and not be affected by it, she cannot, and she is still hurt by the heart break. The words that really give this poem the meaning it has and tells a story are the adjectives describing her heart. She starts with poor, then goes to proud, then goes to frail, then goes to gay, meaning happy. Her poor heart is hurt by the heart break. She tries to hide it and show that she has a proud heart. This does not heal it, so it is a frail heart still in danger of being broken again. The last one, gay heart, seems to be good for her, but the ending lines show that it is only a charade. In the end, Emily Dickinson is still hurt and affected by her tragic heart break.


Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. "Poor Little Heart" Bartleby.com. Bartleby.com, 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

Journal #41: Emily Dikinson

Emily Dickinson was another poet, similar to Walt Whitman, who falls into the time period between Romanticism and Modernism. During her lifetime, she went into exile in her own house. Some people believe this is because of a traumatic love experience. She became heart broken and because of her embarrassment and brokenness, she locked herself in her house and wrote poetry the rest of her life, but she never came out. One of her poems in her book of poetry, Part One: Life, explains this feeling of being exiled, of being trapped in her house, by herself. This poem, "I never hear the word 'escape,'" also known as poem number thirty six discusses in a metaphor that feeling of being trapped that I am sure Emily Dickinson felt. Let us analyze this poem.

"I NEVER hear the word “escape”
Without a quicker blood,
A sudden expectation,
A flying attitude.

I never hear of prisons broad
By soldiers battered down,
But I tug childish at my bars,—
Only to fail again" (Dickinson)!

This poem is in reference to Emily Dickinson's feelings of her life, in my opinion. She was kept in isolation in her house, and this describes how she felt about this. The first stanza translates to "I never hear the word 'escape' without being excited, without suddenly wanting to break free." In my interpretation of this, Emily is in prison, but not in a regular criminal prison. She is in her own prison, herself, her isolation. She wishes to escape this prison, as said in the first stanza. When one is in prison, naturally escape sounds good, exciting, and a great idea, because no one enjoys or should enjoy being locked away in prison. However, in the second stanza she describes how she childishly tugs at her bars but still fails. A child is very small and weak, and would not be able to break from prison by pulling at the bars. They would still be stuck. Using this analogy, Dickinson says that she tries to escape, but she continues to fail time and time again. Overall, Emily Dickinson says that though she wishes to escape she is unable to escape her isolation.

Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. "I Never Hear the Word 'escape'" Bartleby.com. Bartleby.com, 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.

Whitman and "Children of Adam"

Walt Whitman was an American poet who became very famous through his work. His work fits between the Realism and Modernism literary periods; however, his work does not necessarily fit into those periods characteristically. One example of the uniqueness in his work, is Whitman's writing of sex, love, and the physical relationship between man and woman. He wrote about things that most people of his time would have thought vulgar and innapropriate. "Even before these poems were published, Whitman had had difficulty with censorship. He had been forced to move publication of the second edition of Leaves of Grass (1860) to Brooklyn because Boston authorities wanted to cut some lines or whole poems from the book." (Oliver) The section of "Leaves of Grass" that directly deals with this is "Children of Adam." All of these poems in this sub-section relate to love, physical relationships, and even to Adam and Eve of the Bible (Oliver). All of these poems also deal with Self, in talking about the Everyman idea and the spiritual self as well.

One of the poems of this small collection is "I Am He That Aches With Love." This poem is very short consisting of only a few lines, but the message behind it is not as simple as the poem length.

"I AM he that aches with amorous love;
Does the earth gravitate? does not all matter, aching, attract all
matter?

So the body of me to all I meet or know" (Whitman).

At the surface of the poem, Walt Whitman is saying that he aches for love, just like everyone aches for love. This demonstrates the Everyman idea--that everyone is connected to each other and that everyone has a small piece of divinity in them, because everyone is connected to God. In saying "...does not all matter, aching, attract all matter? So the body of me to all I meet or know" (Whitman), Whitman connects everyone by saying that everything--all matter, and we are made of matter--feels, wants, and needs love. This demonstrates the Everyman idea of Self.

However, this poem also deals with Adam and Eve, the first people in the world. In the Bible, Adam and Eve were husband and wife, and from their creation by God, they helped in producing children--a new generation. If the reader then replaces Whitman with the voice of Adam, it is as if Adam is saying that he needs love. "I AM he that aches with amorous love" (Whitman). This goes hand in hand with the stories of the Bible. Adam was first created, but since he was feeling lonely--in need of a physical relationship, in need of a partner--God created Eve, so they would be husband and wife. This poem then represents Adam's need of love from Eve, from a woman, that physical relationship. Although this may have been uncommon to talk about back then, Walt Whitman makes this the topic of his poem, "I Am He That Aches With Love," defining the Everyman idea of Self and also the spiritual self.

Works Cited

Oliver, Charles M. "'Children of Adam'." Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWW088&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 3, 2011).

Whitman, Walt. "I Am He That Aches With Love." Leaves of Grass (1891-1892). The Whitman Archive. Ed Folsom & Kenneth M. Price, 1995. Web. 3 Mar. 2011.

Journal #39: Bardic Symbols and Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was a prominent poet of the early twentieth century in America. He wrote many books of poetry one of his most famous being "Leaves of Grass." In this book, there are many separate poems that discuss one of Walt Whitman's common topics, Self. One of these poems is "Bardic Symbols." This poem is somewhat confusing to understand as William Dean Howells says. "No one, even after the fourth or fifth reading, can pretend to say what the "Bardic Symbols" symbolize" (Howells).

"You oceans both! You tangible land! Nature!
Be not too stern with me,—I submit,—I close with you,—
These little shreds shall, indeed, stand for all.


X.

You friable shore, with trails of debris!
You fish-shaped island! I take what is underfoot:
What is yours is mine, my father!


XI.

I, too, Paumanok,
I, too, have bubbled up, floated the measureless float, and been washed on your
shores.


XII.

I, too, am but a trail of drift and debris,—
I, too, leave little wrecks upon you, you fished-shaped island!


XIII.

I throw myself upon your breast, my father!
I cling to you so that you cannot unloose me,—
I hold you so firm, till you answer me something." (Whitman)

This is a little section from "Bardic Symbols." My interpretation of this poem, whether right or wrong, is that the land is a father, the ocean is a mother, and the debris is a child or children. The debris goes back and forth, from ocean to land, ocean to land. The debris never settles itself with one or the other, it is always lost between the two. Just so, the child is always lost between the father and mother; he or she does not settle between the two. This fits in with the everyman principle of Self, because many families deal with that, where the child loves the mom one minute but then loves the dad more the next. However, this is still uncertain, because the poem is hard to discern whether the poem deals with childhood and families, with Christianity, or with another part of Self. This is due to the fact that Walt Whitman uses symbolism that is hard to tell the real meaning of it. It is in fact up to the reader to discern what the poem means, or what Walt Whitman meant.

Works Cited

[Howells, William Dean]. ""Bardic Symbols"." The Daily Ohio State Journal (28 March 1860): 2.

Whitman, Walt. "Bardic Symbols." Leaves of Grass (1891-1892). The Whitman Archive. Ed Folsom & Kenneth M. Price, 1995. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.

Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman, considered one of the greatest American poets of all time, wrote many forms and books of poetry. One of these books is called "Leaves of Grass," and it is consisted of many long and short poems that deal with one main topic. This topic is the Self. The Self consists of three separate parts that form the real Self of a person. These three parts are the spirital soul, the personal self (how one sees oneself), and the Everyman self (how everyone is connected and how other people see oneself). Walt Whitman explores the meaning of Self through all these poems.

The Everyman self is the idea that everyone in the world is connected, to friends, family, to everyone, even God. Whitman believed that there was a small piece of divinity in everyone (Bloom). Because of this, everyone was connected to each other, and were able to share in each other's lives and understand each other's lives. This idea of the Everyman is present in one of Walt Whitman's poems, "To A Certain Cantatrice," part of the book, "Leaves of Grass." This poem is listed below.

"HERE, take this gift,
I was reserving it for some hero, speaker, or general,
One who should serve the good old cause, the great idea, the prog-
ress and freedom of the race,

Some brave confronter of despots, some daring rebel;
But I see that what I was reserving belongs to you just as much as
to any" (Whitman).

When looking into one of Walt Whitman's poems, one has to go line by line, word by word, to get a deeper meaning than what merely surfaces. First, we look at the title, "To A Certain Cantatrice." A cantatrice is a professional female singer (Random). The title could merely imply that he is talking about the common person in entertainment, showing a form of the Everyman self, however, Whitman goes deeper into this throughout the poem. In the first lines, Whitman says that he is giving someone, perhaps the cantatrice, a gift that he was originally saving for a person of authority. The gift is not the main topic or theme; it does not necessarily represent something of value or something specific. It is just an object mentioned in his poem. The last lines are the lines that lend themselves to the definition of Everyman and Self.

"...One who should serve the good old cause, the great idea, the prog-
ress and freedom of the race,

Some brave confronter of despots, some daring rebel;
But I see that what I was reserving belongs to you just as much as
to any" (Whitman).

In these lines, Walt Whitman says that he was going to give his gift to someone great--maybe a rebel, a military personel, someone who relates to the American people and their want of freedom "...the progress and freedom of the race..." (Whitman). This reference to America shows that he is using the Everyman idea to relate all of America and the people in it to each other. "...But I see that what I was reserving belongs to you just as much as to any" (Whitman). This demonstrates Whitman's Everyman idea because, even though he was saving his gift for someone special, he gave it away; but it was not lost to just anyone. He was still giving it to that special person, because that special person is apart of everyone, including the receiver of his gift. While giving it away to a common person, perhaps the cantatrice, he gives it away to the general, the rebel, the hero, or the speaker. Everyone is connected and has similar qualities that connect them, so giving a gift to one is similar to giving a gift to another. That is why this poem shows Walt Whitman's idea of Self, including the idea of the Everyman belief.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold, ed. "Bloom on Walt Whitman." Walt Whitman, Bloom's Major Poets. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BMPWW01&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 1, 2011).

Random House Dictionary, comp. "Cantatrice." Def. 1. Random House, Inc. 2011. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC., 2011. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.

Whitman, Walt. "To A Certain Cantatrice." Leaves of Grass (1891-1892). The Whitman Archive. Ed Folsom & Kenneth M. Price, 1995. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.