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AMERICAN MASTERS

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AMERICAN MASTERS Whitman & Dickinson WALT WHITMAN & EMILY DICKINSON Known as the two greatest poets of the 19th century Both poets were close observers of people and ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: AMERICAN MASTERS


1
AMERICAN MASTERS
  • Whitman Dickinson

2
Walt Whitman Emily Dickinson
  • Known as the two greatest poets of the 19th
    century
  • Both poets were close observers of people and
    lifes daily activities
  • Howevercomplete opposites in character and
    personality

3
Two Opposite Individuals
  • Whitman
  • Dickinson
  • Sociable and loved company
  • Was a traveler
  • Public spokesman and an advocate of progress
  • Expected his poetry would be well read and useful
  • Private and shy
  • Happy staying in one isolated spot throughout her
    life
  • Homebody found metaphors for the spirit in
    nature
  • Didnt expect popularity through her poetry

4
Emily Dickinson Background
  • 1830 1886 (56 yrs)
  • At 24, her father (U.S. Congressman) took her
    with him to D.C. and Philadelphia.
  • This journey seems to mark a turning point in her
    life.
  • While in Philadelphia, she fell in love with
    Charles Wadsworth (a married pastor). He inspired
    her
  • Wadsworth ended up taking a new assignment in San
    Francisco caused a crisis for Dickinson.
  • Dickinson quietly withdrew from all social life
    except with her immediate family.
  • Wore all white clothing - Went into a state of
    seclusion
  • Her only activities writing poems, housework
  • Mostly kept her poetry to herself (lacked concern
    for an audience) told her family to destroy her
    poems left behind after her death (although
    bundled and hid them before death)
  • Poems that were discovered were eventually
    published (after some changes)

5
  • Dickinsons Poem on Fame
  • Fame is a bee.
  • It has a song
  • It has a sting
  • Ah, too, it was a wing.
  • What do song, sting, and wing represent?
  • Example of how her poetry had been changed
  • We passed School, where Children
  • strove
  • At Recess in the Ring
  • We passed the Fields of Grazing Grain -
  • We passed the Setting Sun
  • What it was changed to by an editor
  • We passed the school where children
  • played
  • Their lessons scarcely done
  • We passed the fields of grazing grain,
  • We passed the setting sun.

6
Walt Whitman Background
  • 1819- 1892 (73 yrs)
  • Lived in Long Island
  • Never became a scholar never went to college
  • Worked as an office clerk, printers assistant and
    teacher
  • Eventually gained an interest in journalism and
    became an editor
  • Supplemented his income by working as a carpenter
    and building contractor
  • During this time, he quietly kept notebooks and
    put together a collection of poetry
  • 1855 published Leaves of Grass

7
Leaves of Grass
  • I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of
    the Soul...
  • I am the poet of the woman the same as the man
  • I am not the poet of goodness only, I do not
    decline to be the poet of wickedness also
  • Leaves of Grass
  • Collection of 12 poems a spiritual autobiography
  • Tells the story of an enchanted observer who says
    who he is at every opportunity and claims what he
    loves by naming it
  • Was too bold and strange to get notice
  • Sent copies to reviewers and other readers,
    including Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Emerson responded with a positive and supportive
    letter
  • Went through many revisions
  • Final edition was published in 1891.
  • Whitmans poetry changed the traditional way that
    poetry was written.

8
WHITMANS RATIONALE
  • His rationale for the free verse style that he
    used
  • Should be free to express naturally an idea or
    picture
  • A detailed list of component parts is more
    effective than a selection of fundamental
    elements
  • This justifies his long catalogues of nouns,
    participles, and parallel phrases within his
    verse.
  • The primary aim of poetry is to teach and inspire
  • Meaning style should be secondary
  • Simplicity is better than fanciness
  • Rhyme and elaborate figures of speech may become
    too artificially decorative
  • Subject matter should be as broad as life itself

9
Two poets Different Individuals
  • Whitmans poetry boldly published during his
    life Dickinsons poetry career began after her
    death
  • Whitman aimed for the large overall impression
  • Filled his pages with long lists as he struggled
    to catalog everything in sight
  • His technique
  • Based on cadence the long, easy sweep of sound
    that echoes the Bible and the speeches of orators
    and preachers
  • Cadence is his basis for free verse poetry
    without rhyme or meter
  • Dickinson aimed to evoke the feeling of things
    rather than simply name them
  • Careful in word choice and phrases
  • Her technique
  • Stanzas are controlled by rhyme and meters (like
    she found in her hymn book).

10
Models for the Future
  • Whitmans cadences of free verse have become a
    part of current public speech and modern
    literature
  • Dickinsons demanding rhyme and meter still
    attract young writers who regard poetry as
    experiences rather than statements
  • Ezra Pound (poet)
  • Admired Dickinsons strictness and disliked the
    expansiveness of Whitman.
  • Wrote A Pact (an agreement)
  • Serves as a blessing that represents the feeling
    of every poet who has envied the artistry of
    Dickinson and the power of Whitman.

11
Ezra Pound A Pact
  • I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman
  • I have detested you long enough.
  • I come to you as a grown child
  • Who has had a pig-headed father
  • I am old enough now to make friends.
  • It was you the broke the new wood,
  • Now is a time for carving.
  • We have one sap and one root
  • Let there be commerce between us.

12
Vocab. For Poetry Unit
  • Cadence
  • Free Verse
  • Catalogues
  • Alliteration
  • Assonance
  • Imagery
  • Onomatopoeia
  • Parallel Structure
  • Exact Rhyme
  • Slant Rhyme
  • Personification
  • Irony
  • Paradox
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