Uncle Walt
Although Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are often paired together as "New" American poets--they were writing roughly around the same time, and they both broke away from the traditional meter embraced by the Romantics--they varied dramatically from each other in terms of personal and poetic style.
Think back to Emily Dickinson's photograph and her poetry for a moment. Then, click on the following link to browse pictures of Walt Whitman and to read his commentary on his own pictures: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/photos.htm
What can you infer about Walt Whitman from these pictures and captions? What questions do you have about him? How does he differ from Ms. Dickinson?
Think back to Emily Dickinson's photograph and her poetry for a moment. Then, click on the following link to browse pictures of Walt Whitman and to read his commentary on his own pictures: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/photos.htm
What can you infer about Walt Whitman from these pictures and captions? What questions do you have about him? How does he differ from Ms. Dickinson?
posted by Kristin L | 9:27 AM
20 Comments:
From the pictures of Mr Whitman, I would say that he had ad much brighter view of life. He seems to have a more happy looking face than Dickinson. He probably liked wearing hats. He looks like a deep think. One who would contemplate the meanings of life and the origins. He and Darwin would probably have gotten along well!
Ha I beat Clay to the first post!
Whitman looks much more relaxed than Emily Dickinson did in her photo. In his older photos he looks like he could be someone’s grandpa. His beard makes him look approachable and by the way he is standing he doesn’t look uptight like Dickinson did. I agree with Jordan and Clay that his view on life was probably much more positive and light-hearted than Dickinson’s. What did he write about, did he focus on one topic or write about a variety of topics like Dickinson?
The pictures and captions definitely show Walt Whitman as a much more easy-going and social person. He seemed to interact with people, and had a good sense of humor, especially when describing himself. Jennifer W. talked about that in her post too. As other people have said, it can be assumed that his light-heartedness is connected to his poetry.
To conclude all of this, Mr. Whitman and Ms. Dickinson seem very polar to each other; black versus white. He seems socially accepted and friendly, while she seemed very reserved and slightly crazy.
I agree with Jordyn's comment about his overwhelming self-conciousness. However, I believe that this degree of introspection allowed Whitman to write the level of poetry that he did. I also believe that this is where he is most similar to Dickinson. Presumably unique for its time, both authors display this self-searching in their writing.
The first things that I notice about Whitman's pictures are his eyes. They have much of the same depth and penetrating quality that Dickinson's do. Still, he has a certain ferocity, one might describe as a zest for life, that I do not see in Dickinson. I would like to know who Whitman's inspirations were since he influenced so many countless American poets.
Walt Whitman seems like a very outgoing man that gets excited about living. He enjoys socializing where as Emily Dickinson was much more secluded and introverted. At some points in her poetry Emily almost looked forward to death. Walt was a really intriguing and approachable guy sometimes judging himself a bit too much from what his captions show. I do not think Emily cared what she looked like but Walt at least to some degree did, he just didn't want to appear fake. However, both were very unique for their time. I think they both look inward to get inspiration for some of their poetry. I wonder if the two poets were put in a room together would they clash or get along. That would be interesting to see.
From the pictures and captions, I agree with Jordyn and Spencer, he seemed very self-conscious in his comments about them. Although he had doubts about himself, I think he also was a friendlier and more outgoing person than Dickinson, who would obviously have a very different style of poetry than her. Also, I think it's interesting that he had so many pictures taken of himself while there was only one of Emily Dickinson. That says a lot about their personalities.
These pictures reveal a much different person than Emily Dickenson! Like Jen said, Walt Whitman seems to have a sense of humor and feels OK with making fun of himself. It also seems that Dickenson wrote poems because she didn't know what else to do with herself. Whitman seems like the kind of person to write poems because he wants to...he has the choice. Like Clay, I wonder why he chose to persue poetry when he could have done many other things.
P.S. I liked Jessica's comment about them being in the same room together and whether or not they would get along. I think it would be interesting
I agree with Spencer in that Whitman's eyes jump out of me. They have a kind of shine in them that makes him look young and inteligent. I don't think he was vain, because in his pictures his stance and clothing looked a little "devil may care" to me. He seemed able to realize his physical flaws, but not scrutinize. I believe that Whitman was more full of life than Dickinson, who seems drained of joy.
I disagree with Spencer and Jordyn and others when they say that Whitman is overly self- conscious, his commentary of the photographs seems to be a little self-critiquing, but not self- conscious. In the 1st two pictures especially, he seems to be fairly outgoing and eager to pose, however, he does say that he is worried about the sadness in his eyes. I think that his eyes do look sad and it is interesting he denies it; he seems to be bottling up a depression that is inside of him. Unlike Dickinson, who embraces her desires of death, Whitman seems to repress it and cover it up with fake happiness.
Looking at Whitman's photographs, he seems much more confident and emotionally "sturdy." As with Emily, he doesn't seem too bothered by appearance and clothes. He also doesn't seem very lonely. He looks very rugged and kind of reminds me of some sort of mountain man. He seems much more satisfied with his social and personal life.
Someone could describe Walt Whitman as a modest man through these series of pictures, but his comments of himself do not match what I see in him.
It seems that Whitman must comment on any small detail of himself; not the typical grandpa so to speak. The way he critiques himself gives an idea of how he perceives the world from his eyes. Spencer, Noel, and Emilee acknowledged his piercing eye that captivates ours the most, however Whitman describes his posture and state of the photograph. Examining his photo is one, but reading his works of writing, even small captions gives a different perspective of the real Whitman. From all of his criticism the most favorable picture he would have is him standing straight with no expression, though there would not be one because Whitman can not describe or criticize it himself.
After seeing the pictures of Walt Whitman, I concluded that he is much happier with himself and the world than Dickinson was. He is content with himself, but he always was criticizing something about himself in the pictures. Although he seems much happier as a person than Emily did, he still is self conscious about himself. He is also very pleased with the world around him, opposed to Dickinson. Whitman accepts the world as it is, and forgives people. What did Whitman write about, was there an ongoing theme or style that he used?
Contrary to most of the blogs, I see several similarities between Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. While Whitman seemed to have been an extrovert and Dickinson an introvert, both poets have the same fire coming from their eyes. Both believed passionately in certain ideas, although their interpretations did vary. And both decided to express their deepest thoughts, dreams, and hopes through the written word.
I think that people ignore the fact that although Emily was reclusive in her lifestyle, she maintained an active correspondence with several people throughout her life. Because of this, I cannot help but think that Emily must have demonstrated the same humor and strength of personality through writing that Whitman presented in speaking.
The two poets remind me of two of the high school personalities: the outgoing, social character and the quiet, reserved individual. Although one is more vocal in their thoughts and beliefs, both posess a determination and strength that rises to the surface in different ways.
Looking at the first picture of Walt Whitman, he looks a lot more social than Emily Dickinson. He looks more natural in front of the camera, or at least like he has done that before. And he does look like Santa Claus in some of the pictures!
But after looking at some of the pictures, i want to know more about him. Like how old is he? Because even though he and Ms. Dickinson wrote around the same time he looks a great deal older than her. Also, did her write about death as much as Dickinson?
I think that he was a more sophisticated and social man. It looks like he would have written things that were more positive about life, and some of his own experiences. He looks like he has seen the world, and he's very down to earth. I think that he was a bit happier than Emily and had a brighter outlook on life in general. I think that he really tried to enjoy life and get all that he could out of it. I think that in most ways, he and Emily are complete opposites.
I agree with Clay in that he did look more social than Emily did. I almost think that he looks like he is a sort of sarcastic or humorous person because of his expression. He looks slightly amused. I also agree with Jennifer when she says that he looks more relaxed than Emily. I think the similarity between them though, is that they both are self conscience in some way. Jordan said that he always had something to say about his appearance in each picture, and Emily was self conscience as well, but more with how others treated her. I think poetry helps these two individuals to express themselves and their deep insecurities for others to see, without confrontation. Alot of people vent through writing and dont even realize that they are letting out underlying thoguhts. One more similarity is that Walt looks like a mountain man in touch with nature, and we have discovered that Emily is very intact with nature as well.
The thing that first popped out at me about Whitman was his eyes. They were very relaxed and calm where as Emily looked very distraught and serious about something. In his comments about the pictures, I could tell that Whitman seemed to have a bit more of a personality and could joke around about himself. Emily seemed very serious and reserved, as if she didn't have time or didn't want to joke around. Both Poets looked like they really didn't care too much about outside opinions and were a little bit mores sucluded than most normal people.
From these pictures and captions I can infer that he was a laid back sort of man. It seems as if he is very thoughtful and comes across as one who would love to put their thoughts into words. He comes across to me as a person who has a lot to say but would be a quiet type of person, more thoughtful. I wonder what his childhood was like because I envision him growing up on a farm or around an orchard, reading books and pondering then for long periods of time. He is different from Dickinson in the sense that he is more laid back and relaxed. I feel like Dickenson would be a more precocious person.
In these picture Walt looks like a don't mess with me kinda guy. He looks a lot more friendly and socail than Emily. He seems a lot more optimistic and in general happy than Emily did. From the captions he seems like a pretty laid back guy and at ease with himself. I also agree with Mackenzie and Jen about his sense of humor. I wonder what he would have to say about our world today.
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