Whitman/Dickinson Project

Introduction

Emily DickinsonMost scholars and critics include Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman among the very best poets in American history. Each of them contributed so much to the evolution of modern poetry that their influence continues to this day.

Aside from their status as great poets, these two individuals bore little resemblance to one another, as people or as poets. Whitman traveled throughout America and developed free verse, in part, to help in his quest to become the "American Poet" called for by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Dickinson, on the other hand, rarely left her father's house in Amherst, MA, and published only a few of her intense, minimalistic poems in her lifetime.

For this project students should read a selection of poems from each author (links provided below) and write an essay discussing the obvious but somewhat surprising differences in their perspectives on a relevant literary theme.
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The Task

Walt Whitman Readers tend to note one similarity between them--the strong individualism and non-conformity most readers see reflected in their poetry and lifestyles. While this individualism creates a basic similarity in perspective in some of their poetry, one cannot help but notice a strong divergence in their view and treatment of specific topics. One example involves their poems on death, a common Romantic period theme.

Readers may not prefer to think about what they regard as depressing topics, but writers in all periods consider death an important theme. Of course, some writers treat the theme obliquely or incidentally as part of their consideration of some other topic, but Whitman and Dickinson wrote frequently and fairly directly about death. Careful readers soon understand each poet's message on death and then begin to see interesting and unexpected differences between their treatment of this common theme.
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The Process

Students should consult the resources section below and read the material there. As students read the poems and biographical material provided for them, they should try to think about the ways these poets discuss death.

The best approach involves looking for specifics. Asking various specific questions will assist in formulating a characterization of the poets' perspectives on death. Consider the following examples with which to get started:

-What does each poet want us to know about death?
-How would they have us consider and view death?
-How persuasive are they in bringing us around to their view?

Having arrived at some answers, students should consider the poets' lives and ask to what degree the poets' perspectives on death fit with the details of their lives and personalities, as revealed through the biographical material provided in class, the text, and the resources below.
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Resources


-- Dickinson, Emily (from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)
--Emily Dickinson (from Wikipedia)
--Emily Dickinson's The Complete Poems
-- Because I could not stop for Death
-- I heard a fly buzz when I died
-- I felt a funeral in my brain
-- Let down the bars, O Death
-- The bustle in a house

-- Whitman, Walt (from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)
--Walt Whitman (from Wikipedia)
--Leaves of Grass
--Leaves of Grass
-- The City Dead-House
-- Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field
-- To One Shortly to Die
-- The Dresser
-- Come up from the Fields, Father

Don't be surprised if you need to consult a dictionary
in order to understand these poems.

-- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
-- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

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Evaluation

This project should require some independent thought from students. This is not designed as a research paper, but as a personal exploration of a topic. Students should not blindly relate the insights of scholars and critics; instead, they should write about the poems they have read, look in the poems for key statements and determine their implications, and take quotations from the poems that illustrate the points they want to make.

Papers that reflect the most logical and original thinking will receive the highest grades. Papers reflecting a lack of revision and editing will receive very low grades indeed!
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Conclusion

Walt's crypt in Camden, NJ Writers explore themes and ideas that may not strike us as all that pleasant; still, thinking about these themes often can prove useful and valuable. That explains why writers write about these and why readers may consider it worthwhile to read about them.
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Designed by Michael Byers
Orange High School
Hillsborough, NC
Last updated June, 2008.
Based on a template from The WebQuestPage

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