11-21-2014, 04:19 AM
Whitman I suppose is difficult in some ways but worth the struggle (although being from NZ and not being steeped in the history from a young age might hinder you). I think there is justification behind why he, as you say, is revered. I took a class on both he and Dickinson. Dickinson for what she does is pretty good, it's just she does not do much. Whitman brings not only the emotional and historical America at the time, but also the awe of the physical land and all that it encompasses. There is no doubt that Whitman is difficult because he is so rooted in that time period even though the human interaction is transcendent. I think if Dickinson were a live and writing today, with her innate intelligence, command of the short form (great for ADHD), and focus on the (for lack a better term) sweeter emotions, she would have been very popular (of course popular does not equal good). Personally I think what she did was closer to a Japanese haiku/senryu than any of these American haiku/senryu of today.
I'll leave you this cautionary tale
dale
Emily, the death of me
“Because I could not stop for Death,”
he would not stop for me,
refusing pleas for some more time,
he took unwilling me.
So please take heed my mortal friends,
yield your foolish pride,
and if you greet him properly,
he just might let you slide.
–Erthona
I'll leave you this cautionary tale
dale
Emily, the death of me
“Because I could not stop for Death,”
he would not stop for me,
refusing pleas for some more time,
he took unwilling me.
So please take heed my mortal friends,
yield your foolish pride,
and if you greet him properly,
he just might let you slide.
–Erthona
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.