A New American
Poetry
Walt Whitman
If you want me again look
for me under your boot-soles
Emily Dickinson
I am nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
The Two Greatest American
Poets of the 19th Century
 Broad strokes on a broad
canvas
 Social and gregarious; a
traveler
 Public spokesman of the
masses & prophet of
progress
 Celebration of universal
brotherhood and destiny of
democracy
 Expected message to be
carried to the world
Walt Whitman
The Two Greatest American
Poets of the 19th Century
Emily Dickinson
 Delicacy of a miniaturist
 Private and shy; remained
secluded in one spot for
entire life
 Obscure homebody
 Metaphors for the spirit in
nature
 Expected nothing but
oblivion for her poetry
Essential Questions
 What were the innovative contributions of
Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson?
 What are the differences between the
backgrounds of these two poets?
 What are the stylistic differences of
Whitman and Dickinson?
Essential Questions
 What is the relevance of each poet’s work
to contemporary culture?
 What is the value of poetry and what role
should poetry place in modern life?
 How does one read a poem for both style
and meaning?
Two Seams in the Fabric
Whitman’s career = American success story
 Drifter into thirties, going from one job to next
 Published Leaves of Grass (1855) at own
expense
 Made him famous around the world during his
lifetime
Dickinson’s career = Secret genius
 Only publishes a handful of poems during life
 Family finds poetry after Dickinson’s death
 Fame after death when poetry is published in
1955
Two Seams in the Fabric
Whitman’s poetic style
 Extravagant with words
 Careless repetition and self-contradiction
 Aimed for large, overall impression
 Filled pages with catalogs or long lists
 Used cadence and free verse
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you
Two Seams in the Fabric
Dickinson’s poetic style
 Precision of a diamond cutter
 Meticulous choice of words
 Aimed to evoke feelings, not just list them
 Searched for right phrase
 Economical technique with neat stanzas controlled by
rhyme and hymn book meters
This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me—
The simple News that Nature told—
With tender Majesty
Models for Future Poets
Whitman
 Poetry as public speech, statements
 Written in cadences of free verse
Dickinson
 Poetry as private observation, experiences
 Crafted carefully in rhyme and meter
Poetry in your life
 What are your thoughts and feelings
about poetry?
 What do you think about the value of
poetry?
 What roles can poets and poetry serve in
contemporary life?
How to Read a Poem
 Most readers make three false assumptions
when addressing an unfamiliar poem:
 That you should understand the poem on the first
reading, and if you don’t, that something is wrong
with you or with the poem.
 That the poem is a kind of code, that each detail
corresponds to one, and only one, thing, and unless
you can crack this code, you’ve missed the point.
 That the poem can mean anything you want it to
mean.
How to Read a Poem
 Understanding poetry is difficult, because poetry
is difficult.
 Reading poetry is a challenge, but like so many
other things, it takes practice, and your skills and
insight improve as you progress.
 You have to tear a poem apart before you can
start to understand it.
 "A poem is an artistic representation of what it
feels like to experience the emotional life of a
human being." -- Linda Sue Grimes
How to Read a Poem
 First reading
 Read the poem out loud
 Don’t try to interpret what the poem means
 Just get a feel for the poem and the way it
sounds
 Try to follow the punctuation cues to help you
read it well
A Pact
by Ezra Pound
I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman—
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as a grown child
Who has a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends.
It was you that broke the new wood,
Now it is time for carving.
We have one sap and one root—
Let there be commerce between us.
How to Read a Poem
 Second reading
 Read the poem again, slowly, a line or two at a
time, trying to figure out the concrete (literal)
meaning of the lines
 Don’t try to interpret what the poem means
 Underline or circle words or phrases that you
don’t understand
 Try to determine what just those words or
phrases mean literally with the help of a
dictionary or online research
A Pact
by Ezra Pound
I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman—
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as a grown child
Who has a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends.
It was you that broke the new wood,
Now it is time for carving.
We have one sap and one root—
Let there be commerce between us.
How to Read a Poem
 Third reading
 Now, try to start to make sense of the poem
and interpret the meaning
 Try to identify the speaker and the situation of
the poem and the “plot” of the poem
 Paraphrase the poem into your own words
 Ask yourself, what is the poet trying to say
about the subject, about human nature, about
the world?
A Pact
by Ezra Pound
I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman—
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as a grown child
Who has a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends.
It was you that broke the new wood,
Now it is time for carving.
We have one sap and one root—
Let there be commerce between us.
How to Read a Poem
 Following these steps will allow you to read a
poem with more understanding and deeper
appreciation.
 When you are able to do that, you are on your
way to becoming a skillful reader of poetry and a
better critical thinker.
 You may find that you can read a particular poem
for a whole lifetime and still discover additional
meaning every time you read it.
 Remember, poetry is dense and contains more
meaning than we can figure out at once.
 Also, you will change as time passes, which
changes what the poem means to you.