Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe were both nineteenth century gothic poets known for their lifelong fascination with the theme of mortality, but their style and approach to writing could not be more contrary. Although death is inevitable, the idea of it was a painful subject for many in this particular day in age; death and illness was much more common. These two poets not only spoke about death in the majority of their literature, but they were obsessed. Poe and Dickenson were from around the same time period and region, and the way they spoke about mortality had different effects in their communities. Dickenson’s free-flowing style in her writings about death and nature was elegant and subtle, while Poe wrote articulate and flamboyant tales of horror and insanity. These poets may have had similar interests, but the way society received their work was completely different.
Dickinson and Poe’s distinct styles of writing each contributed to society in different ways. Dickinson’s writing style abandons the traditional poetic structure; it could be paralleled to the style of an impressionist painter. Her poems are like highly intellectual fragmented thoughts on paper. She capitalizes words and puts dashes wherever she pleases. When reading her literature, you are given a sense that she is very observant of the subtleties of life. This could be very comforting to the people of the nineteenth century, because dealing with death was the norm. Conversely, Poe’s writing style
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe are two of the biggest poets in American Literature from the 1800s. They had many things in common from their writings about death and sadness, because of their unfortunate losses in life, to the fact that they were both born in Massachusetts. They were also different in many ways. They were different in the way they looked at life and wrote about their experiences from it. While it is obvious they had many differences, they also had many things in common from their lives to their styles of writing making them amazing writers.
Human nature is something that never seems to change. While humans all seem to be different from one another through physical and emotional attributes, their psychological behaviors are all mostly very similar. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, many authors successfully could explain the characteristics of human nature and the effects that it has on everyone and everything surrounding human beings. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allen Poe all convey the behavior of human nature in separate ways. These three authors show the curiosity, drive for perfection, and fear of human nature throughout their texts in detail. With these characteristics being prominent in human nature itself, it
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are poet writers. Each one of them have something unique about their writing. Also they were poetics in the romantic era. Witch lead to the artistic movement of the 1800s.
Often considered the founders of modern American poetry, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman have styles that are like none other. Although they have many individual, unique characteristics, they also are comparable in numerous ways. The lengths and tone in each of their poems may seem very different; however their similarities lie mostly in the themes and subjects that the two focus on. Their upbringing and life experiences are two aspects that made have these two, the influential poets that they are known for today.
There were six main writers who contributed to American Literature through their thrilling stories/poems. Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville all wrote works consisting of the sub-genre of Dark Romanticism. Edgar Allan Poe was an accomplished poet, short story writer, editor, and literary critic. He also invented the genre of Gothic Literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote many pieces that formed the basis of a new national literature, while also writing one of the best novel “The Scarlet Letter.” A poet, Robert Frost, became a four time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He is an icon on the American literary landscape. William Lloyd Garrison also became one of the greatest American Literaturist. He is known for
Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow both used symbolism to bring their poems more depth and understanding. The two authors wrote poems about life events and had very similar approaches. The way they viewed life was very different from the other authors because they used optimism in their poems which expressed the meaning more deeply. The symbolism they both used was hidden, but once found it brought new and intriguing thoughts to their poems. These two authors both had very powerful ideas, which was put into poetry and influenced the minds of many people. The poem, “Hope”, by Emily Dickinson is about a bird and throughout the poem you realize that the bird is not a bird at all, but symbolizes hope. The poem talks about the challenges that the bird has to go through to keep hope alive. In one stanza it talks about a dark, terrifying storm, which represents challenges in life. The bird still stays above the storm and this helps further the idea that hope is with you even in the darkest times. For example, “I’ve heard it in the chillest land- and on the strangest Sea- yet- never- and Extremity, it asked a crumb - of me" (Dickinson). This quote through the symbolism of the bird is saying that even when hope is pushing its limits it will never ask anything of you. This poem was beautifully written and emphasizes how important hope is to people in their daily lives. The poem by Longfellow is called," The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls". This poem is filled with symbolism, for example in the third stanza there is a traveler and his footprints are in the sands and then they are not; this represents the traveler dying. "The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls, Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; The day returns, but nevermore Returns the traveller to the shore, And the tide rises, the tide falls"(Longfellow). In this quote the waves are life and the purpose of the last line is to announce that life will keep happening even if people die. He is optimistic about this because his theory is that people can still do things even though their time is short on this Earth. He obviously wants to make this theory known because he repeats the line "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls" at the end of every stanza.The two
When one thinks of Emily Dickinson, they usually think of the untitled works that seem to revere life, death, and the ever-present questioning of Gods existence. Edgar Allan Poe on the other hand, the name itself calls to mind the macabre and the dark yet loving way he drafts his poems and short stories. Though they both question, love, and revere death, there is some significant difference between the way that these two authors compose their work. Poe never seems to come to the light with his writings, instead the ever-present sense of death permeates his work. Dickinson, however, constantly calls into question what lies beyond death and almost seems to have a love-hate relationship with death and God.
“In me didst thou exist—and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.” Poe often poses questions about the nature of death, love and morality as he does so. “Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart…” (Poe, E. A.) There are parallels he draws between death and beauty and the aestheticism of his work surrounds a general uncertainty regarding life. He creates a mood of tension and mystique and uses his language, the divulging of certain facts and withholding of others, to offer an aesthetic quality to the texts. Poe offers an insight into the fascination contemporary society had with themes such as being buried alive by exploring death and using diseases such as catalepsy as a tool to allow his fiction to probe the topic as much as the implementation of a supernatural
Poetry is a unique art form that allows writers to express themselves or things that interest them through a rhythm and style. There are many forms of poetry that give poets a wide variety to choose from so they don’t all sound the same. There are thousands of poets in the world. Each one has a different style and way of putting their ideas into writing. They all have different themes, tones, and techniques they use to convey their stories. It is important to compare different poets to see the differences in their style of writings.
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.
American literature shifted from romanticism to realism after witnessing the harsh aftermath of the Civil War as many lives were taken, homes were destroyed, and many were left deserted. This reality disintegrated previous mindsets and united the country under the founding ideals of equality.
Furthermore, Dickinson’s writing techniques are completely unique to her literary works, as she used several unknown punctuation marks, that when read by editors, were roughly translated to traditional grammar (Poets.org). As a result, her original notion may have been partially lost, while the punctuation of a poem may greatly affect its meaning (Poets.org). Yet, what mainly differentiates Dickinson from other major poets, was her dependence on the em dash (“Major Characteristics of Dickinson's
1) The United States has been home to many great minds throughout the years. It can lay claim to Henry David Thoreau and Cornel West, Nikola Tesla and Edwin Hubble, William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. In the field of poetry, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson simply must be recognized as two of these american geniuses. Should one ask which of these were the better poet it would be quite hard to comment, let alone formulate a reason as to why. They are masters of vastly differing styles, “apples and oranges” as the common idiom states. However, if one were to ask who had the greatest effect on poetry, the answer is quite apparent. On the one hand, it seems that Dickinson wrote on many of the themes that interest poets today, to a greater extent
The fear of death is something that drives the decisions that we make in our life. One popular saying about the phenomenon of life and death that come to mind is: Life is short. The fact that many people believe that life is too short is a major influence in the way they live their lives. However, some believe that they don’t need to worry about making life as worthwhile as they can, as there is an afterlife of eternity that will greet them after death.. Emily Dickinson was one of those people.In the poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, Dickinson argues that Death is not something to be feared, as there is always eternity that follows life.
The 18th century was a time of discovery, and the age which inherited many of the renaissance philosophical ideals. During this time period, the enlightenment had just culminated, and writers wished for a deeper and brighter style which gave birth to many movements such as romanticism and transcendentalism. This time period came to shape the identity of "young America". The nation had been born not too long ago, and this innovative stage of literature gave people a new sense of self-worth and inner exploration. It is widely known, literature has a very strong effect on society. Those genres of literature changed the way in which individuals came to see the world, and the main reason why these three styles had so much effect was due to their strong connotation, slightly controversial style and unique sense of connection to nature. This peculiar combination of artistic writing was the cornerstone and backbone of many influential movements.