Journal Entry four

The Poetry of Dickinson and Whitman

Dickinson 's poetry is reminiscent of old ' poetry - full of rhymes and imagery , which is not very commonly used now . The poetess also showed keen observation of her environment and wrote about them . As is evident in her poem , she made frequent use of the clouds , the sea , and the nights as metaphors for the various themes that she explored in her poetry . She explored death , the depth of the mind and the process of thinking and how the brain can contain so many things at the

same time She also explored the of love and portrayed it well in her short verses , as well as in the long ones . Dickinson also explored the ideal and other-worldly themes

On the other hand , Walt Whitman 's poetry tends to explore the mundane aspects of everyday life and provide new twists to it . In addition , he makes full use of his senses and the way that he exalted the human body and the material world . In a manner of speaking , Whitman 's poetry is more of this world and elevated the status of the ordinary in his poetry . Another recurring theme of Whitman is in reprising the role of the individual in his environment and how the individual fares in his society

Given a choice between the two authors , I would rather choose Whitman because his poetry seems to be more grounded on the here and now as compared with Dickinson . Moreover , Whitman does not back down from exploring sensuality and portraying the human body without shame . In addition to that , his poetry as exemplified Song of Myself is unabashedly a portrayal of himself , which is in turn a portrayal of the common individual in the American society . Poetry should both exalt and bring us beyond to a world beyond ourselves . Yet , poetry should also help us appreciate the things that make our world and ourselves special which is what Whitman 's poetry does...