Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson both revere nature, thought for markedly different reasons. To Whitman revels in explaining the human condition and really exposing the intricacies of life through the stalemate of a flank of grass. For example, read "On the Beach at Night", and you will find the metaphoric explanation of life and death.
Though both speak of the themes of self and death, Dickinson focuses more on a philosophical exploration of the elusive realities of these themes, while Whitman focuses more on a celebration of these themes. Both Whitman and Dickinson use nature as a metaphor for human life. Natural themes are prevalent in both their poetry, and both use the animals and places to tell us something about human nature. For example, Dickinson describes a frog in "I'm Nobody" and Whitman also uses animals and creatures.…show more content… Dickinson never meant to her work to be published, from what we can gather, and sent her poems mostly to close relatives. She only gained fame after her death. Thus the scope of her poetry is restricted to the everyday, the America of the individual and her unique take on it. Whitman, by contrast, deliberately set out to write grandiose works capturing the experience of America as he saw it. He set out to be a poet and have his work published in his lifetime. This result is an essential difference between these two poets and the sphere of their work.
There are many differences between Dickinson and Whitman in their perspectives on self. Dickinson reflects on life as an individual and how that works in life, death and the universe. Whitman reflects on life as part of a collective, as individuals who are free to be themselves, but are also connected to one
