• Opposites create – only similar in need to break away from conventions

• Both observers of people – but through different vantages

• Whitman published “Leaves of Grass” independently – Dickinson published only 6

A New American Poetry

Comparison of their poetry

Models for the modern writer; inspired generations of poets.

• Believed documenting society and knew it would be carried into the future.

• Thought his poetry was important enough to publish at his own expense.

» He wrote in free verse: Cadence is the rhythm or musicality of sounds that great speakers use.

• Her poetry came from her rich internal life and her love for nature.

» Most of her poetry was published posthumously (after death).• Only 6 poems were published

anonymously in her life time.• She used rhyme and meter, but

created a unique poetic form with her word choice and grammar usage.

Free Verse & Slant Rhyme• Free verse

– Uses multiple techniques: metaphor, alliteration, imagery, parallel structure, but never RHYME

– Cadence found in free verse - flow of words that have a rhythmic rise and fall in sound, not fixed, but natural

• Slant rhyme– Used to emphasize certain words– “Eye” rhyme, half rhyme, or near

rhyme– today / Victory, Gate/mat, NOT

scarce/lain

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all.

• Innocence to Awareness/Experience: – a mental, spiritual, and physical

movement (Leaves of Grass)• To Salvation/Pilgrimage:

– Dickinson poems reveal her journey to know God through nature

• Self-made Man: – Rags to riches story found in Whitman’s

poetry, but rich in knowledge and experiences

• The New Frontier: – Whitman discovered not only the land,

but also who we are and what we can be through travel

• Community vs. Society: – Both poets desired a movement towards

community and away from society, though their ideas of community and society were slightly different.

American Lit Themes

American Journey