Ray Dickinson/Whitman Blog

While on the surface Dickinson and Whitman’s writing seems to be at opposite ends of the spectrum, there are many places where the authors overlap. Areas of synchronicity include subject matter (such as the discussion of death and evaluation of the self), their unique writing styles that break with tradition, and their religious/transcendental roots that ended up leading them in very different directions. While Dickinson is more introspective and isolated, Whitman’s transcendentalist nature led him to celebrate a sense of camaraderie or brotherhood with all those around him. Mysticism or the fantastical experiences influenced both authors; “Song of Myself” is based on a series of fantastical experiences had by Whitman, and the cause of Dickinson’s withdrawal from the social world was her desire to further involve herself with mysticism.

Though Whitman has a more optimistic view than Dickinson on most subject matters, their tendency to choose many of the same certain events in life to focus on is obvious. The first line of Whitman’s epic poem reads:

                “I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself,” (Whitman, 1)

This reads quite differently from Dickinson’s comparatively quiet approach to the self:

                                “I’m Nobody!...How dreary – to be – Somebody!”  (Dickinson, “Because I”)

Similarly, both poets address the idea of death. Dickinson’s poetry has a more anticipatory, mysterious, and sorrowful tone than Whitman’s. Whitman’s work has a more light-hearted approach. Dickinson’s bizarre tone in “I Heard a Fly buzz—when I died” ends rather abruptly, and doesn’t give any optimistic or pessimistic lines to accompany the speaker into the afterlife:

                                “With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –

                                Between the light – and me—

                                And then the Windows failed – and then

                                I could not see to see –“ (Dickinson, "I heard a Fly buzz")

A similar sudden, suspicious tone can be noted in “My life closed twice before its close—“:

                                “Parting is all we know of heaven,

                                And all we need of hell.

However, Whitman’s view of death more closely resembled the “circle of life” mentality rather than Dickinson’s severe transcendental individualistic view:

“The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the
end to arrest it,
And ceas'd the moment life appear'd.” (Whitman, 5)

                Their transcendental nature caused them both to value the individual evaluation of the world, and it also caused them to break with the typical writing tradition. Rather than a straightforward essay-as we saw with Emerson and Thoreau-we are given poetry, both short and epic. Dickinson’s short poetry is minimalistic and exclusive; Whitman’s long, essentially run-on epic poem is very inclusive, in every sense of the word. He is able to identify with those very different from him, those from other cultures, et cetera. Dickinson’s individualist nature made her isolated. While Whitman "Stops somewhere waiting for us," we are left wondering with Dickinson's work.