Romantic Poets! ^+ L8 S1 s. t9 ^6 W4 B; A
I. Walt Whitman8 e5 C( j' t. B- h; J3 V1 ?1 k( s
1. life- G0 o8 S! C8 `* Z2 c
2. work: Leaves of Grass (9 editions)9 ?, x ~7 s0 T# U |* p0 S, [
(1) Song of Myself) L/ Y. i* b* t9 Y, w/ a
(2) There Was a Child Went Forth# h" T' W; T, S. ` [9 M
(3) Crossing Brooklyn Ferry2 x" X8 L( ~! j
(4) Democratic Vistas
: d' c' u# F( t) Q4 u (5) Passage to India- E' X* ~ Q# d" }/ ?. I5 R8 ]
(6) Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking3 b7 f$ r. R+ a/ A* ^) \
3. themes –“Catalogue of American and European thought”
, y* h' {2 ], |, ]' ^ He had been influenced by many American and European thoughts: enlightenment, idealism, transcendentalism, science, evolution ideas, western frontier spirits, Jefferson’s individualism, Civil War Unionism, Orientalism.
, j; s, @- V/ r% I( R! Z3 `0 h* H Major themes in his poems (almost everything):
' X! q+ l" U: @9 N3 I! t l equality of things and beings
, S/ R D3 z* D# L9 L% W* m1 A l divinity of everything
+ p2 B! Z& `4 i& P% L q l immanence of God
8 v* ^2 b! h, s' b9 m9 S7 x l democracy
M, i# F: N4 D' [, Z5 K l evolution of cosmos1 U9 X9 Y) m$ O% s
l multiplicity of nature
7 L- Z' j _5 U9 k l self-reliant spirit% V- X* l4 L& M2 g
l death, beauty of death
) b! _6 I- b( d F1 |3 `9 x l expansion of America
6 }4 {7 @$ p$ D3 ]- G$ } l brotherhood and social solidarity (unity of nations in the world)" e8 p k% a/ K6 z
l pursuit of love and happiness# N" r7 p+ t5 C* Y/ O6 o
4. style: “free verse”
$ F# H+ q0 \9 K" U) i (1) no fixed rhyme or scheme
4 t6 Q( C! \6 u) ` (2) parallelism, a rhythm of thought
9 L4 \% s6 r5 J- M$ D; y (3) phonetic recurrence
* X4 Y; f% n/ ]7 O3 ]$ L (4) the habit of using snapshots; H1 i7 e) N% D) W& ?- V
(5) the use of a certain pronoun “I”
3 t: r, {. y1 U0 I5 ^4 I) l" ~ (6) a looser and more open-ended syntactic structure
' V* d- v) f& {+ b) S: i3 a" n (7) use of conventional image
; v( J' D5 `3 j3 [5 v1 ?/ g (8) strong tendency to use oral English6 F, B/ K( f! y
(9) vocabulary – powerful, colourful, rarely used words of foreign origins, some even wrong
, |: Q8 N4 |7 x' p9 E8 p5 j (10) sentences – catalogue technique: long list of names, long poem lines. p9 Y0 X1 W' r* D- @
5. influence/ Q; J. b x$ T, `2 l" |6 j, E9 y' p
(1) His best work has become part of the common property of Western culture.8 y% o( M- Q5 K: G# ~- o
(2) He took over Whitman’s vision of the poet-prophet and poet-teacher and recast it in a more sophisticated and Europeanized mood.
- K. C" p( D* S! `: Y! U7 b; \ (3) He has been compared to a mountain in American literary history.
# K* {7 @. O; H7 Z (4) Contemporary American poetry, whatever school or form, bears witness to his great influence.5 S; H3 D; G) d( g3 c% C6 V; F/ h& I% c" M
II. Emily Dickenson
* Y0 D9 V) l' {/ W; _ q, ]1 N! n* X 1. life1 U" U6 P7 X2 Z2 I0 {
2. works
. C1 i2 [! o2 m2 G8 D5 x (1) My Life Closed Twice before Its Close
- Y. x, L2 `3 r3 o1 c+ P (2) Because I Can’t Stop for Death" Q) Z$ U% _" @! \& o6 n" }4 k9 i
(3) I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I died
! ^& V- A0 v3 N1 L$ E0 H (4) Mine – by the Right of the White Election8 P7 Y+ c4 j. i- j
(5) Wild Nights – Wild Nights3 k, |9 H, F- y. S
3. themes: based on her own experiences/joys/sorrows7 e. a% t$ |) N* v
(1) religion – doubt and belief about religious subjects
$ Y/ n% u( {4 e' s/ ^ (2) death and immortality$ f/ j; f0 D( V1 x7 y5 [) L
(3) love – suffering and frustration caused by love+ D# i- g4 @8 _' \- C
(4) physical aspect of desire% |% U7 A! X# Z& b6 a
(5) nature – kind and cruel
% ?% |) |$ D/ W% z* {. ]/ E: U (6) free will and human responsibility
; t; j. t, N( I/ r; y 4. style
" K: W; v* f; f7 z (1) poems without titles
9 R. ]5 F2 Z7 T4 M (2) severe economy of expression2 [1 e* {! D& K7 \6 q
(3) directness, brevity
+ F) q* Z U6 v1 \& y4 B" O (4) musical device to create cadence (rhythm)
7 M( V9 A; W9 N4 [( p7 k6 E (5) capital letters – emphasis
4 ^( {2 @1 m u$ F2 O& z (6) short poems, mainly two stanzas" Z4 g3 Y3 c3 u, x. q
(7) rhetoric techniques: personification – make some of abstract ideas vivid' R* E2 O# w4 K# O$ I7 z% H
III. Comparison: Whitman vs. Dickinson
7 Y7 W! r6 L8 u8 T 1. Similarities:
) Y1 k8 W6 M* K" X! z' l. [ (1) Thematically, they both extolled, in their different ways, an emergent America, its expansion, its individualism and its Americanness, their poetry being part of “American Renaissance”.
# {( q& N0 a9 P3 {0 V$ q" { (2) Technically, they both added to the literary independence of the new nation by breaking free of the convention of the iambic pentameter and exhibiting a freedom in form unknown before: they were pioneers in American poetry.8 \* Z1 v; P7 S" `0 n+ A, f: e Z
2. differences:1 T& o3 z- L4 ?: e
(1) Whitman seems to keep his eye on society at large; Dickinson explores the inner life of the individual.
1 f8 w* q/ L" ? (2) Whereas Whitman is “national” in his outlook, Dickinson is “regional”.
- {. Y) g- c5 u* K Dickinson has the “catalogue technique” (direct, simple style) which Whitman doesn’t have. |