Styles of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, Essay Example

“Style, as it pertains to writing, can be defined as a patterning of the medium — the specific nuances, word selection, grammar and sentence structure that the writer uses to convey a point” (Brundage).  Walt Whitman often used multiple repetitions through his works to emphasize specific phrases or points to the reader.  His style also included using iambic pentameter that was useful for forcing stylized stresses on particular words during the reading.  He also wrote about very serious and sometimes unpleasant topics that focused on the pains of man and the many difficulties of life.  On the other hand, Emily Dickinson had a much different style.  Dickinson is well-known for her refusal to follow the inherent grammatical and styule rules that she supposedly viewed as restrictions on the quality of her writing (Melani).  Instead, she places punctuation, adjectives and pronouns in the order that made sense to her, which clearly reflects her liberal writing style.  Dickinson also used similar structural meters to that of common hymns to create her poetry.  Therefore, both authors utilized particular writing styles and structures that characterized their poetry.

While Whitman’s content is very serious, and often has a particular message about the lives that people choose to live, Dickinson often wrote poetry to reflect love, marriage, death and social status.  This is odd because Dickinson was secluded within her home for most of the time she was writing her poetry.  Both authors chose to concentrate on real issues that had various social importances, but Whitman is the better author for me.  I enjoy reading his style, especially the iambic pentameter which makes his poetry easy to follow and creates a common rhythm throughout his work.  While Dickinson is a world-renowned author for her liberal writing, her works are often vague and mysterious.  Some of her word choices make it difficult to understand what she is saying.  Whitman’s poems are far clearer and hold a higher quality in my opinion.

References

Melani, L. (2009, February 24). Emily dickinson: an oerview. Retrieved from http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/dickinson.html

AmericanPoems.com. (n.d.) Walt Whitman – poems and biography. Retrieved from http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/waltwhitman

Brundage, M. (2009, February 28). Analysis of Walt Whitman’s “salut au monde!”: and a summary of “song of the ope”. Retrieved from http://mattbrundage.com/publications/whitman-analysis/

PoetSeers.org. (n.d.). Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Retrieved from http://www.poetseers.org/early_american_poets/emily_dickinson/emily_dickinsons_poetry/