Dickson Vs Whitman
Essay title: Dickson Vs Whitman
Dickson vs. Whitman
America experienced profound changes during the mid 1800âs. New technologies and ideas helped the nation grow, while the Civil War ripped the nation apart. During this tumultuous period, two great American writers captured their ideas in poetry. Their poems give us insight into the time period, as well as universal insight about life. Although polar opposites in personality, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman created similar poetry. Dickinsonâs âHope is a Thing with Feathersâ and Whitmanâs âO Captain! My Captain!â share many qualities.
“Hope is a Thing with Feathersâ and âO Captain! My Captain!â contains a similar scansion. Both have a predominantly iambic meter. The unaccented beat followed by the accented beat creates a rising meter. Each poem also contains notable exceptions to the iambic meter. In “Hope is a Thing with Feathers,â the first line âHope is the thingâ contains a trochee followed by an iamb. âO Captain! My Captain!â contains even more exceptions to the iambic meter. Line five, âBut O heart! heart! heart!â consists of an imperfect root followed by two spondees, or feet with two equally accented syllables. Both line six âO the bleeding drops of redâ and line eight âFallen cold and deadâ have trochaic meters with an imperfect root at the end. The remainder of the poem has an iambic meter until the last two lines: âWalk the deck my Captain Lies, Fallen cold and dead.â The iambic meter makes the poem rise until the end where the switch to trochaic meter helps emphasize the conclusion of the poem.
Along with the irregularities in meter, neither