Lesson 11: American Poetry - Withman & Dickinson

What defines 19th-century American poetry?

• Break with European tradition

• Focus on individual experience

• Democratic ideals

• Experimentation with form

• Poetry as national voice

How does American poetry differ from British Romantic poetry?

• Less tradition-bound

• More democratic and inclusive

• Focus on America’s identity, history, and trauma

• Greater formal freedom

Why is the Civil War crucial for American poetry?

• Shatters Romantic idealism

• Introduces mass death and trauma

• Poetry becomes witness, mourning, and testimony

Who was Walt Whitman?

An American poet (1819–1892)

author of Leaves of Grass

known for free verse

democratic ideals, and Civil War poetry.

What defines Whitman’s poetic style?

• Free verse

• Long lines

• Repetition & catalogues

• Inclusive “I”

• Oral rhythm

How does Whitman view the poet?

As a representative voice of the people and the nation.

Situate The Wound-Dresser.

Civil War poem (1865) focusing on care for wounded soldiers rather than heroic battle.

Main themes of The Wound-Dresser?

• Trauma

• Memory

• Compassion

• Anti-heroic war vision

Heroism in the Wound-Dresser?

Heroism becomes care, endurance, and empathy rather than violence.

“An old man bending I come among new faces”

Walt Whitman, The Wound-Dresser (1865)

aging, memory, witness

“Years looking backward resuming in answer to children”

Whitman, The Wound-Dresser (1865)

retrospective narration

“I resign’d myself, / To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead;”

Whitman, The Wound-Dresser (1865)

compassion & acceptance

“I remember well—many of the hardships, few the joys, yet I was content.”

Whitman, The Wound-Dresser (1865)

trauma, emotional restraint

“Whoever you are, follow without noise and be of strong heart.”

Whitman, The Wound-Dresser (1865)

moral endurance

What kind of poem is When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d?

An elegy mourning Abraham Lincoln after his assassination.

Why is this When Lilacs important in American poetry?

It is the first great American national elegy, combining personal grief with collective mourning.

Themes in When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d?

• Death

• Mourning

• Healing

• Acceptance

• National trauma

“When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,”

Whitman, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d (1865)

memory, mourning

“And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865)

Lincoln’s death

“And thought of him I love.”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865)

personal grief

“Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave, / Night and day journeys a coffin.”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865)

collective mourning

“Sing on, sing on you gray-brown bird,”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865)

poetic voice, healing

“Come lovely and soothing death,”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865)

acceptance of death

“For the sure-enwinding arms of cool-enfolding death,”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865) —

death as comfort

“Dark mother always gliding near with soft feet,”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865) —

personified death

“Approach strong deliveress,”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865) —

death as release

“Laved in the flood of thy bliss O death.”

Whitman, When Lilacs… (1865) —

transcendence through death

How does Whitman’s war poetry differ from traditional war poetry?

It rejects glory and focuses on suffering, care, and psychological aftermath.

How do The Wound-Dresser and When Lilacs complement each other?

One shows individual trauma; the other shows national mourning.

How does Emily Dickinson fit into American poetry?

She represents the inward, psychological side of American poetry, focusing on death, faith, doubt, and the individual mind rather than the nation.

What are Dickinson’s main poetic themes?

• Death

• Immortality

• Faith and doubt

• Nature

• Inner consciousness

Who was Emily Dickinson?

An American poet (1830–1886) from Amherst, Massachusetts, known for short, intense poems exploring death, belief, and the mind.

How does Dickinson view the poet?

As a private thinker who explores inner truth rather than public or political ideals.

What are key stylistic features of Dickinson’s poetry?

• Short lines

• Dashes

• Slant rhyme

• Hymn meter

• Ambiguity

After great pain, a formal feeling comes

The aftermath of suffering, when feeling is frozen and mechanical.

“After great pain, a formal feeling comes –”

Emily Dickinson, After great pain, a formal feeling comes (c. 1862) —

emotional numbness

“The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –”

Dickinson, After great pain —

emotional death

Situate Because I could not stop for Death.

Situate Because I could not stop for Death.

How is Death personified?

As polite, patient, and civil rather than frightening.

“Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me –”

Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death (c. 1863) —

gentle death

“We slowly drove – He knew no haste”

Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death —

timelessness

Situate Much Madness is divinest Sense.

A critique of social conformity and authority.

“Much Madness is divinest Sense –”

Emily Dickinson, Much Madness is divinest Sense (c. 1862) —

social critique

“Assent — and you are sane — / Demur — you’re straightway dangerous —”

Dickinson, Much Madness —

oppression of dissent

Situate There’s a certain Slant of light.

A nature poem expressing spiritual despair rather than comfort.

Inner suffering, spiritual oppression, existential pain.

“There’s a certain Slant of light, / Winter Afternoons –”

Emily Dickinson, There’s a certain Slant of light (c. 1861–62) —

spiritual despair

“Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –”

Dickinson, There’s a certain Slant of light —

sacred suffering

How does Dickinson treat nature differently from Transcendentalists?

Nature reveals inner pain rather than harmony or spiritual unity.

Why is Dickinson essential to American poetry?

She expands poetry inward, exploring psychological and spiritual truth with radical form.