Dao Nguyen
Prof. Louisa Spaventa
ENGL 2328
Paper 1
Nature, love, pain, happiness, death, or relationship are all pieces and parts of poetry. Great writers look at these vast topics and they individualize them. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are considered two of the most American prominent poets, their personally styles are totally different and similar in comparative ways. Walt Whitman in “I Sing the Body Electric” examines the beauty of the human body and decribes its importance in connecting with the soul. However, the poem “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”, by Emily Dickinson, is an abstract statement on the relationship between the body and the soul during a time of mental suffering.
In “I Sing the Body Electric,” the poet goes over …show more content…
The treatment of the body is something that is holistic, not just a matter of treating the body with food or treating the soul with meditation. It is also about what is good for the soul, and that is what Whitman means by that line. Any corruption of the body, whether it malnourishment, sexual exploitation, or anything else capable of corrupting the vessel itself, must be cured holistically. Overrall, Whitman makes a claim about the body that is indeed pertinent to the present. The body is more than just skin and bone. The poet concludes with his notion that the body is the soul.
The poem states that, “O I say these are not the parts and poems of the body only, but of the soul, O I say now these are the soul.” (164-165) In “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Dickinson conveys what seems to be a funeral for the death of her mind. This is not a funeral for her brain but a funeral that takes place within her brain, where thought and logic occur. This is the death of her thoughts and the process they play a role in. For this funeral to be taking place in her brain this means she alone in thoughts while she descends into insanity. The poem states, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, / And Mourners to and fro” …show more content…
However, in “I Sing the Body Electric” Walt Whitman makes the poem long and complicated. In Dickinson’s poem, it divides into five sections and includes four lines of each stanza. Her style of language is very concise and simple, but expressive and meaningful. Nevertheless, compared to Dickinson’s poem, Whitman’s poem entirely has nine sections. He completely ignores rhyme scheme and meter. The shape of each stanza changes throughout the poem. Even though some lines are lengthy, each line is carefully structured and carries meanings. Additionally, in Dickinson’s poem, each sentence is composed of no more than seven words. On the other hand, each sentence in Whitman’s poem is composed of more than ten words. Therefore, Dickinson and Whitman are completely different in the strutures of their
Prof. Louisa Spaventa
ENGL 2328
Paper 1
Nature, love, pain, happiness, death, or relationship are all pieces and parts of poetry. Great writers look at these vast topics and they individualize them. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are considered two of the most American prominent poets, their personally styles are totally different and similar in comparative ways. Walt Whitman in “I Sing the Body Electric” examines the beauty of the human body and decribes its importance in connecting with the soul. However, the poem “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”, by Emily Dickinson, is an abstract statement on the relationship between the body and the soul during a time of mental suffering.
In “I Sing the Body Electric,” the poet goes over …show more content…
The treatment of the body is something that is holistic, not just a matter of treating the body with food or treating the soul with meditation. It is also about what is good for the soul, and that is what Whitman means by that line. Any corruption of the body, whether it malnourishment, sexual exploitation, or anything else capable of corrupting the vessel itself, must be cured holistically. Overrall, Whitman makes a claim about the body that is indeed pertinent to the present. The body is more than just skin and bone. The poet concludes with his notion that the body is the soul.
The poem states that, “O I say these are not the parts and poems of the body only, but of the soul, O I say now these are the soul.” (164-165) In “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” Dickinson conveys what seems to be a funeral for the death of her mind. This is not a funeral for her brain but a funeral that takes place within her brain, where thought and logic occur. This is the death of her thoughts and the process they play a role in. For this funeral to be taking place in her brain this means she alone in thoughts while she descends into insanity. The poem states, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, / And Mourners to and fro” …show more content…
However, in “I Sing the Body Electric” Walt Whitman makes the poem long and complicated. In Dickinson’s poem, it divides into five sections and includes four lines of each stanza. Her style of language is very concise and simple, but expressive and meaningful. Nevertheless, compared to Dickinson’s poem, Whitman’s poem entirely has nine sections. He completely ignores rhyme scheme and meter. The shape of each stanza changes throughout the poem. Even though some lines are lengthy, each line is carefully structured and carries meanings. Additionally, in Dickinson’s poem, each sentence is composed of no more than seven words. On the other hand, each sentence in Whitman’s poem is composed of more than ten words. Therefore, Dickinson and Whitman are completely different in the strutures of their