Koehler Dickenson/Whitman Blog

The two poets are immensely different. Whether the focus is on style, tone, form, or content, both poets would be characterized in different categories. However, sometimes, though not often, the poets share a common theme creating a slight similarity in their work.

One connection they share which is relevant throughout a lot Whitman’s Song of Myself and some of the Dickinson poems, is the acknowledgement of the inevitably of death. Although Whitman is celebrating life in his poem he also at times celebrates death “I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know/it.” He claims that we should consider ourselves lucky to be born because we could just as easily not have been, and since we lucky to be born, we are lucky to die. Dickenson approaches the same topic in her poems “My life closed twice before it’s close –“ and “I died for Beauty – but was scarce.” Both poets are well aware of their own mortality and focus on that aspect sometimes heavily in their poetry.

The second most noticeable similarity between the two poets is their emphasis of nature. Dickenson uses this topic often, like in her poem, “I started Early – Took my Dog—“ where she goes to the sea.  Or in “A Wounded Deer – leaps highest”, which although it isn’t discussing nature, it’s imagery is rooted in it. Whitman, like Dickenson, has many chants that connect to nature, “Alone far in the wilds and mountains I hunt” or “The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night.” Both use nature references in similar ways. They can either stand alone as a presentation of beauty or they can be used a metaphor or a contrast which is related to some aspect of human culture.

The finally connection I will touch on is the presentation of human relationships. In dickenson’s poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” The first line presents her as being apart from other humans, but then there is another person that is nobody. They don’t want to tell anybody, so there could countless nobodies in the world. This presents a connection between human, similar to what Whitman presents heavily through the entirety of “Song of Myself.” Even though the person in the poem is nobody, they can’’t avoid connecting with another nobody. It shows how human connections are unavoidable, an idea also present by Whitman.