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.