LITR 4232 American Renaissance

LITR 4232 2004 final exam
Sample Answers to Question 3
on Whitman & Dickinson

copy of final exam

A lyric poem is a poem that is “strongly marked by imagination, melody, and emotion,” and it “usually expresses the feelings and thoughts of a single speaker […] in a personal and subjective fashion.” Whitman and Dickinson are two authors who write this style of poem, examples of which have been given. The first poem, “Come Up from the Fields, Father,” is definitely a Whitman poem, while the second, “Going to Heaven!” is by Dickinson.

            “Come Up” is very obviously a Whitman poem, and it is a prime example of his style of poetry. As with other poems we have read this semester, such as “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and Song of Myself, “Come Up” is divided into numbered stanzas. Whitman does not do this with every poem, but it is something commonly characteristic of his works. Whitman is considered a “revolutionary” poet and enormously influential in his time. He made strides in changing the subject matter of poems, as well as the style, and one of those styles is free verse. Free verse is “verse in which the metre and line length vary, and in which there is no discernible pattern in the use of rhyme.” Whitman is one of the first major poets to write in this style, and “Come Up” is most definitely written in free verse.

            There are other giveaways as to the identity of the author of “Come Up;” the subject matter, for example. As we discussed in class one day, Whitman was involved in the Civil War through visiting hospital wards and meeting the fallen soldiers of the war. The time he spent with these sick and dying men must have had an impact on him, and “Come Up” easily fits as one of his “war poems.” Two other typical Whitman aspects of this poem are the inclusion of the use of parallelism and catalogues. Parallelism is a type of structural arrangement of words. Usually, important parts of sentences or phrases are repeated or developed over and over again. Whitman does this several times within the poem, but perhaps one of the most perfect examples can be found in the last line of the last stanza: “to follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.” A catalogue is simply a list, of names, items, adjectives, anything, and Whitman tends to use catalogues in many of his poems. In “Come Up,” he has a short catalogue in the fifth stanza: “in the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing.”

            If the first poem is so obviously written by Whitman, then the second poem, “Going to Heaven!” must be by Dickinson. This poem certainly has aspects that support this, but there are one or two things that mark it as a little different from Dickinson’s usual work. Many of Dickinson’s poems are broken up into four-line stanzas, or quatrains. “Going to Heaven,” however, is not. As a matter of fact, the stanzas of this poem do something quite unusual. The first stanza is made up of ten lines, the second, nine, and the last stanza is eight lines long. The number of lines do not even add up to a multiple of four. Dickinson generally also uses a great number of dashes in her poems, but again, this is changed here in this poem. “Going to Heaven” has only two dashes in the entire work! Some of her poems end close to every line with a dash, or even have an internal dash here or there, but that is just not the case with “Going to Heaven.”

            Despite the fact that there are some atypical Dickinson moves within this poem, a few things stand out, specifically stylistically and subject wise, as very traditional Dickinson. “Confrontation with death” is among the most common themes used by her as subjects for her poems. Lines like, “going to heaven” and “since the mighty autumn afternoon / I left them in the ground,” generate images of death that fit in along with this theme. Also, Dickinson tends to use something called “synesthesia” in her poetry. Synesthesia is the technique of interpreting one sense in the terms of another, and she does use this at one point within “Going to Heaven.” In the first stanza the line, “how dim it sounds,” can be found. The adjective “dim” is typically used to refer to the sense of sight, but here, in this poem, Dickinson uses it to refer to the sense of sound, instead. Finally, a third characteristic of this poem that is a usual convention of Dickinson is slant rhyme. Slant rhymes, or half rhymes, are like forced or “opportunistic” rhymes. Several examples of slant rhyme can be found in “Going to Heaven.” At the ends of the first and second stanzas, she ends with slant rhyme: “done/arm” and “crown/home,” and at the beginning of the third stanza, she has another set in “breath/earth.”

            By reading through these two poems, the differences in the style of Whitman and Dickinson can be compared and contrasted quite easily. Whitman tends to typically be more lengthy and drawn out, writing in a free verse style that, at times, seems almost reminiscent of prose. Dickinson, on the other hand, is more concise with her poems, and though she tends to use slant rhyme schemes within them, she never quite approaches the free verse style. Dickinson’s poems also tend to revolve around death, nature, and the “intrusion of the infinite into everyday life,” but Whitman’s poetry, while sometimes centering upon the individual, seems to lean more towards seeking a sense of identity, equality and inclusion. While both authors are quite different, they both still write lyric poetry in a way that is engaging and lasting. Dickinson may be more appealing, easier to read, and more personal, but Whitman opens the mind to a deeper search for answers to problems that are not easily solved. To ignore one or the other is to miss out on a piece of American poetry and history. [JD]

            The first poem “Come Up From the Fields, Father” is by Walt Whitman, and in many ways characteristic of his style.  As with all of Whitman’s poetry, this poem is written in free verse and has no set rhyme scheme.  He uses vivid language and descriptions to paint expressive literary pictures for the reader that encompass many senses– sight, sound, touch, and smell.  For example, he uses catalogues of descriptive words such as “deeper green, yellower and redder, cool and sweetin” to describe attributes of autumn.  Furthermore, he writes “leaves fluttering in the moderate wind” to give the reader a sense of sound and the physical feeling of the wind on this particular autumn day.  The catalogue of descriptive words and the use of expressive language is extremely characteristic of Whitman’s poetic style.

            However, this poem does have some significant differences from Whitman’s style.  This poem is much shorter than much of Whitman’s poetry.  Furthermore, it lacks the parallelism that is present in much of Whitman’s other work.  Whitman generally repeats certain words or lines of the poem over and over throughout the poem.   Although Whitman uses the word “all” several times in the poem it does not seem to have the same cohesive effect.  Perhaps it is because this poem is uncharacteristically shorter than other Whitman poems, and in a practical sense leaves fewer opportunities for the use of parallelism. 

            Another significant difference in this poem and other Whitman works is its theme.  As so eloquently stated in (DG)’s Final Exam answer in Spring 2003 Whitman’s poetry is traditionally known as “the verse of American optimism.”  However, the theme of this poem is far from optimistic.  Although the letter reveals the son has survived his war injury the mother is still terribly distraught.  She does not embrace the positive aspects of his survival, but instead contemplates the inevitability of his death.  Whitman further distances his poem from optimism by highlighting the mothers despair by writing that she is “longing, O that she might withdraw unnoticed–silent from life.”

            The second poem is by Emily Dickinson, and  in many ways fits the characteristic of Dickinson’s poetry.  It is relatively short; however, some of Dickinson’s poetry is much shorter.  The theme of this poem deals with death and the Christian beliefs of the afterlife, and both religion and death are powerful and popular subjects of Dickinson.  As discussed in class, this poem uses vague language and leaves the reader feeling confused.  This poem forces the reader to think more deeply and analyze from shifting perspectives. 

            Furthermore, as characteristic of Dickinson, she alters rhyme scheme and uses paradoxical language in this poem.  Dickinson uses half rhymes to avoid the “sing-songy”(as mentioned in class) effect.  This gives Dickinson’s poetry a more serious demeanor, and this is productive since her themes generally deal with loss, sadness, or death.   She also uses paradoxical language.  The phrase in this poem that most sounds typical of Dickinson is “curious earth.”  This is a paradox because “earth” is tangible and “curious” is an abstract idea, and you generally would not use these words together to form an idea. 

            However, this poem does have some elements that are uncharacteristic of Dickinson.  Foremost, the appearance of the poem is different.  For example, in this poem Dickinson has abandoned the use of quatrains, and she has used very few dashes.  The loss of these two elements make the poem appear “wordier”(for lack of a better word) than a typical Dickinson piece. 

            Both of these poems are interesting for comparison.  They both deal with the inevitability of the nature of death.  However, they approach the theme from very different perspectives and techniques.  Dickinson uses her style to give the reader a vague perception of her ideas.  In contrast, Whitman uses vivid descriptions to paint literary pictures for his readers.  These stylistic differences can be related to their lives.  Dickinson, in a self induced seclusion, approaches her poetry from a more abstract frame of mind.  However, Whitman uses the tangible aspects of nature in his poetry, and this is reminiscent of his life that is fully devoted to experience in nature.  [TP]

The two selections, “Come Up from the Fields, Father” and “Going to Heaven” are quite distinct, but not necessarily stereotypical of the two authors works. 

            The first selection “Come up from the Fields, Father”; is probably written by Walt Whitman. The use of free verse throughout the poem is very distinctive to his writing patterns. Whitman is also known for his use of extensive cataloguing or listing done in his poems, but very little of that is seen in this particular selection.  Only a few lines follow the form of cataloguing; starting with “Lo,” in stanza 2 and “O” in stanza 3. Whitman is dealing with a serious observation, and goes into quite a bit of detail; however, it is written without the norm of cataloguing. . . .

            The second selection, “Going to Heaven”, is probably written by Dickinson, although it lacks many of her writing characteristics.  The stanzas are quite a bit longer than the quatrains typical of Dickinson’s writings. They are not only longer but also uneven in the number of lines. Another characteristic of Dickinson that this poem is lacking is the use of dashes.  Dickinson uses many   dashes in her writing, but this selection only uses 2. The poem’s ending is also atypical of Dickinson’s work. More often Dickinson leaves an open ending, yet this selection has quite a closed ending for her work, “I left them in the ground.” There are, however, aspects in this selection that are abounding in Dickinson’s work. One of these aspects is the near or close rhyme that is used throughout the poem, for example, in stanza 2 first/lost, and crown/home.  Another example of rhyme that is used and almost in an atypical fashion is the exact rhyme in the ending, found/ground. This exact rhyme almost gives the ending a more closed feeling.   Dickinson’s use of nature and transcendent symbols is also seen in this selection. The subject matter of “Going to Heaven” brings the infinite into everyday life or everyday thoughts; this is a very transcendent view and subject, also typical of Dickinson. Another transcendent aspect of this poem is the use of “robe” and “crown” in stanza 2, referring to the Lord’s crown and robe worn in Heaven. I was not able to find much gothic in this selection, nor the use of paradox; however, the personification that is typical of Dickinson can be found.  A few examples of this personification are in stanza 3, “curious earth” and “mighty [autumn] afternoon”. . . . [AC]

 . . . Whitman’s example is indicative of his style in that it uses parallelism and catalogues.  Parallelism is seen in the repetition of “lo in the first two lines, and in the “O’s” in the third stanza.  This is also uncharacteristic, however, in that he usually uses this technique more extensively in his poetry.  The catalogues are also present, like when he lists words from the broken sentences of the letter his mother receives, but again, it does not seem as widely used or easily noticed as it has been in other poems we have read.  One thing that had remained entirely in character in this poem is the extremely descriptive way that he writes.  The poem is about the receipt of a letter from a son, who had died in war, and Whitman aptly portrays an image of a grieving mother through his verse.  The words he uses to describe the scene are artfully chosen and arranged; he paints a picture through details, and, as usual, the picture he paints is easy to relate to and timeless.  As was mentioned in regards to the poem from last years final, this poem is less positive that most of his others.  He does show that, though there are many wonderful aspects to life, there are incidents, such, as the one mentioned in this poem that are full of grief and hardships. . . . [LA]

The first poem, “Come Up from the Fields, Father” is written by Walt Whitman. Several features of the poem make it indicative of what is “Whitman’s style.” The poem is written in traditional “Whitman free- verse,” not being constricted by either rhyme or meter. The poem further displays Whitman’s frequent use of catalogues, or the listing of names, titles, or articles in poetry. His use of catalogues is present in that the trees are “deeper green, yellower and redder,” and how the mother is “waking, weeping, longing” to see her dead son. Another quality characteristic of Whitman’s poetry, which is present in this poem, is the use of nature. Whitman refers to the trees, ripe apples, orchards, and even speaks of the sweet smell of grapes. This paints a very descriptive picture of nature, even down to the sense of smell, and is typical of Whitman’s style. 

Also apparent with this poem is Whitman’s use of repetition. Whitman repeats the words “Lo” and “O,” as he often does in his poetry. Also, the simple use of the words “lo” and “o” in the poem, whether repeated or not, is characteristic of Whitman. In this poem, the use of repetition is epanaphora, or initial repetition, which while indicative of Whitman, is in contrast to the repetition in some of his poetry, which is epanalepsis, or repetition within the line. There are no instances of epanalepsis in this Whitman poem.

            Further lacking in this poem is the long length which is usually characteristic of Whitman’s style. I would say this poem is of medium length, yet nowhere near the typical length of Whitman’s poetry, as can be expressed by poems such as “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” Additionally, the frequent use of the word “I” in Whitman’s poetry is missing. Whitman usually seems to personalize his poetry, so that he and the reader seem to be right there together, both enjoying the same experience at the same time. I did not get that feeling with this poem, as it seems more a reiteration from him.

            The second poem is written by Emily Dickinson. Stylistic elements that make this poem representative of a Dickinson poem include her confrontation of death as a subject, her use of nature. Dickinson speaks of going to heaven, and how she longs to finally be there. This also touches on her frequent use of religion as subject matter, since it is due to her faith that she knows she will go to heaven. Dickinson’s use of nature can be seen in the phrase “mighty autumn afternoon,” and is typical of much of her poetry.

            Dickinson’s typical structural mode is exemplified by her use of dashes. While she only uses two dashes in this poem and usually implements them more frequently in her work, they are still noticeable to the reader. Also significant is her use of synesthesia, or using one sense to be interpreted as another. In speaking of heaven she says “how dim it sounds.” We usually would associate dimness with sight, but here Dickinson associates it with sound, which she commonly does in her work. The one thing non conformant in this poem is her use of stanzas. She usually writes in quatrains, but here uses ten lines per stanza.

            Overall, I would say each poem is very indicative of its writer, containing only a few variations in structure and style. Both Whitman and Dickinson effectively elaborate on their frequent use of nature as imagery, and while they are quite different both stylistically and according to subject matter, they each offer something to the reader. With Whitman it is usually a lesson in life, while Dickinson tends to center on the hereafter, ad both of these poems successfully demonstrates theses tendencies among each author. [RB]

. . . there are a lot of women in [Whitman’s] poem. Even though Dickinson was a woman, Whitman writes about them more. In “Song of Myself,” he says, “I am the poet of the woman the same as the man.” He always seems like he is trying to understand women. Unlike in Poe where they are just a pretty face or in Hawthorne where they are pure and perfect or in Melville where they are nonexistent, Whitman really seems to be trying to dive into a woman’s mind and really understand her as a person. I see this in “Come Up From the Fields, Father.” Instead of identifying with the father, Whitman tries to get into the head of the mother and fully understand her suffering. “O that she might withdraw unnoticed—silent from life, escape and / withdraw, / To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.” This is probably actually how a mother who loses a son would feel, and Whitman puts it onto paper nicely. Unlike the men of his time who would mostly want to understand the father’s feelings at losing his only son, Whitman goes straight to the mother, reminding us that she is a person, too, and that he was also her son, so she has as much of a right to suffer as his father does.

. . .

I know “Going to Heaven!” is a Dickinson poem because it is short, and it seems like something she would write. There are a lot of religious references in her poetry, so it is not surprising that she should write a poem about heaven. Also, her religious references do not necessarily mean she was a devout Christian. In fact, most of her religious references turn out to be something bad or at least not as good as one would originally think of it. For example, in this poem, she says, “Going to heaven!— / how dim it sounds!” Most people would not think of going to heaven as being a “dim” prospect, yet Dickinson does. She does this a lot in her work, such as in her poem “I know that He exists” (2985). The first line would suggest a Christian poem full of faith; yet in the second line, she says, “Somewhere—in Silence—,” which implies that God is hiding from us and not answering our prayers. Later in the same poem, she speaks of “Death’s—stiff—stare—“ and also about “fun” and “jest,” which I take as meaning that God is playing a game with us that will ultimately end in death. It seems like Dickinson is bringing God down to our level; instead of praising him, she is making him petty and vicious. The same goes in “Going to Heaven!” If she has to go to heaven, it seems “dim” to her because she will have to meet this petty, vicious God.

However, there is more to this poem. I don’t really think Dickinson is saying anything bad about God; perhaps she is just annoyed with him. She tells one going before her to “Save just a little place for me / Close to the two I lost!” She is probably upset about the two she lost, but what really shows in this passage is that she believes she will see them again, and she is happy about it. Also, she ends that stanza by saying, “we are going home.” With this line, the idea of going to heaven does not seem so “dim,” and God does not seem so bad. I think this is both traditional and untraditional of Dickinson. It is traditional because throughout a lot of her poetry, she seems like she is having trouble making up her mind. She says one thing, but then she reminds the reader of something else. But it is untraditional because, like I said before, she does not always seem too happy about religion when she brings it into her work. To me, it seems weird that Dickinson would equate going to heaven with “going home.” However, in the last stanza, she does go on to say, “I’m glad I don’t believe it.” But this is another traditional thing of Dickinson, in that one cannot always tell what she means. With this line, I’m unable to determine if she means she doesn’t believe she is ever going to heaven or if she doesn’t believe she is going anytime soon.

. . .

I’m not sure if I can compare Whitman and Dickinson. It is easier to contrast them because they write about such different things and in such different ways. But at the same time, they do both write about sex and death. Whitman seems more open about it, and Dickinson hides it in her language. And Whitman talks more about sex and Dickinson more about death. When comparing these two poems specifically, it is easy to see that both authors are not ready for death. This is a little untraditional for Dickinson because she usually seems quite comfortable with death, but in this poem, she says, “I’d like to look a little more / At such a curious earth!” And of course, in the Whitman poem, the mother is not ready for her son to die. Most of their poetry, I think, is not really comparable, but these two are similar, in that they’re both about the dread of death and losing a loved one.

These two poems by Whitman and Dickinson are both good and showed me a few similarities between the two that I had never noticed before. Overall, they are traditional Whitman and Dickinson, but the few untraditional things make them a little more interesting. [NC]

 . . . It’s also common that Dickinson’s subject matter is confrontation with death or at least the subject of her beliefs of going to heaven. Typical of Dickinson, sarcasm, wit, and perhaps mockery of God is present in this poem especially with the phrases, “The smallest ‘robe’ will fit me, / And just a bit of ‘crown’ ” (Line 16-17). She seems to be making fun of religious references and allusions. Her typical rebellious attitude of religion is definitely coming out in this poem especially with the line “I’m glad I don’t believe it.” She sort of slaps the reader in the face because it almost seems that she’s interested in religion and God, but she makes sure she makes her distinction in attitude and beliefs are clear that she doesn’t want any part in what she thinks is nonsense.

            Dickinson also does not provide any rhyme in this poem until the final stanza, which is atypical of her. She usually begins with rhyme and it tends to fade out at the end. She attempts to rhyme with “breath and earth” but ends with a perfect rhyme of “found’ and “ground.”

            Traditionally, according to JT 2001, “Whitman offers lengthy details, seemingly leaving nothing out while Dickinson’s poetry is sparse, seemingly carefully choosing each individual word.” Dickinson’s poetry, although she does write riddle poems, most of her poems seem like a puzzle or a riddle, but in the readers’ case, they have to explore the words and put the abstract and varied pieces together to create meaning. However, the classic quality of her writing allows the reader to read and solve the meaning of her poems into a multitude of ideas, so maybe most of her poems can be described as unsolvable puzzles. Whitman poems will leave you with more satisfaction because it’s usually clear where he is taking you. Even if he resists the temptation to pretty things up by writing in a straight forward manner, the reader still obtains a sense of hopefulness. [SM]