Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman Overview

1. Emily Dickinson
and
Walt Whitman

2. What do you know about poetry?
Rhyme
Meter
Stanzas
Punctuation
Literary Elements
Style
Subject matter

3. Subject Matter of Victorian
and Modern Poetry
The “I” experience, my thoughts, my
feelings, what is going on around me.
Realism. But is it really real? You decide.

4. Emily Dickinson 1830-1886
• Lived in Amherst, Massachusetts ~ a town that preserved old Puritan
ways
• Shy, reclusive, unique, reluctant to show her work
• Intense personality / Intense inner life
• 1862 is her most prolific poetry year
• 1862 is also when an unrequited love, Charles Wadsworth, moved away
• After he left, she took to dressing entirely in white (many theories
abound about why)
• During the last 10 years of her life, she refused to leave the house
“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can
ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if
the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”

5. Emily Dickinson 1830-1886
Her poetry is
• unique
• informal
• mysterious at times
• abrupt
• personal
• rhymes and sometimes doesn’t
• She writes on a SLANT.

6. Emily Dickinson 1830-1886
Task:
1.Do the “Before Reading” task.
2.Read the poem.
3.Do the “After Reading” task.
4.Explain what the poem means. Explicate the poem!

7. “This Is My Letter to the
World”
Before reading ~
What would your letter or message to the
world be?
After reading ~
What was Dickinson’s message to the world?
How does your message compare with hers?
Back to E.D. titles

8. “Exultation is the Going”
Before reading ~
What would cause you or someone
exultation?
After reading ~
What does Dickinson compare exultation to?
Do you feel this comparison is worth “exultation” or not? Why?
Back to E.D. titles

9. “Hope” Is a Thing With
Feathers
Before reading ~
What object could you use to symbolize hope?
After reading ~
What is the “Gale” Dickinson refers to? Why
might she say hope never asked “a crumb – of
Me.”
Have you noticed anything unusual with the punctuation of her
poems? What is it? Why do you think she uses this type of
punctuation?
Back to E.D. titles

10. “The Soul Selects Her Own
Society”
Before reading ~
What society would your “soul” or personality
select?
After reading ~
What does Dickinson say happens once the
soul selected her own society?
Do you feel this happens with some people? Give an example.
Back to E.D. titles

11. “I Took My Power in My Hand”
Before reading ~
Do you think someone can have the power to
“go against the world?”
After reading ~
What happened to the writer when she took
her power in her hand?
Are there any real life examples you can relate?
Back to E.D. titles

12. “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”
Before reading ~
Who could be a “narrow fellow in the grass?”
What’s your reasoning?
After reading ~
Even though the narrator likes nature, what is her
reaction at the end of the poem? What does
“Zero at the Bone” mean?
Is there a similar subject you could write about that would cause you
to have a similar reaction? What would it be?
Back to E.D. titles

13. “Because I Could Not Stop For
Death”
Before reading ~
After reading this title, what do you think this
poem might be about (besides death)?
After reading ~
What evidence of personification is in this poem?
What do we realize about the narrator at the end of her poem?
Back to E.D. titles

14. “There’s a Certain Slant of
Light”
Before reading ~
How can light be slanted?
After reading ~
There is more than just light being slanted in this
poem. The author says, “But internal
difference,/Where the Meanings, are—” pointing the
reader in the direction of deeper thought. Make a
two-sided list of the depressing words and the
hopeful words.
Why is this poem like an oxymoron? How would you interpret it?
Back to E.D. titles

15. What is Slant Truth?
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant---
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind---
Back to E.D. titles

16. Describing in Slant.
Your task…
Pick an object from the bag.
Peek at it without removing it from the
bag.
Describe the object a little at a time
(without saying what the object is). Be
somewhat vague and ambiguous. See if
your classmates can guess it.
Give only the slightest hints. Make it
interesting. See how long you can keep
them in suspense.
Back to E.D. titles

17. Writing in Slant
Personification & Metaphor
Your task…
Cut out an image from one of the magazines.
List on scratch paper all of the qualities and
feelings your image portrays. Be vague but
descriptive at the same time.
Use sophisticated adjectives and imagery (all 5
senses).
Now, transfer those qualities you just listed to a
person. Personify your magazine image. Make
it an extended metaphor.
Back to E.D. titles

18. Walt Whitman 1819-1892

19. Walt Whitman
Born 1819 in Long Island, NY
Influenced by his mother; father was a carpenter
The society he grew up in was concerned with surroundings
He considered life in a broader context and was open-minded.
School teacher in his late teens in Cold Harbor – a peaceful place which
made a good impression on him.
Founded “The Long Islander” – a journal/magazine
In NY, learned the trade of printing and wrote for magazines and
newspapers
His poetry celebrates life and nature, landscapes, injustice, optimistic
democracy
Loved the theater and opera
Traveled to New Orleans for 3 months to establish a newspaper. Had
to leave because of his voiced opposition to slavery.

20. Walt Whitman
Supported Abe Lincoln
Brother joined the Union army and became wounded.
Whitman searched for his brother in the Washington, D.C., hospital base
and ended up becoming a medic/orderly/nurse to help the infirm.
At age 36, he wrote and self-published Leaves of Grass, his most
celebrated book – a collection of poetry. He continued to update and add
to this book, publishing it a total of 6 times in his lifetime, as well as
having a “deathbed edition” for an actual total of 7.

21. I Hear America Singing –
If you could hear America singing today, what type or
style of song do you think it would be?
What might the lyrics say?
After reading Whitman’s version, summarize what he
hears America singing about.

23. When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
What is astronomy?
Have you ever learned about a subject better on your
own? What was it?
After reading Whitman’s poem, why do you think he
was in “perfect silence?”

25. Reconciliation –
What is reconciliation?
After reading, how are Death and Night personified?
Who is the author seeing in the coffin?
How does the author attempt reconciliation?

27. I Dream’d in a Dream
From whom (author) have we heard this similar phrase before?
What would be your ideal dream world?
After reading, what do you think Whitman’s dream
world is?
What reasons might he have to write such a poem?