Modpo - Week 1 - Whitman & Dickinson, Two proto-modernists

       In the first week Modpo instructors have introduced two poets, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman and also the difference between the writing styles of both.

  

Click on the below image for information about all weeks:

Emily Dickinson	Walt Whitman
Intensive poet	Extensive poet
Succinct, Short, pithy, torque lines.	Poet of long lines
Ballad form, variations of the ballad form	Free verse.

 

Here I am sharing two poems by Emily Dickinson:

I dwell in Possibility — (#466)

I dwell in Possibility —

A fairer House than Prose —

More numerous of Windows —

Superior — for Doors —

Of Chambers as the Cedars —

Impregnable of eye —

And for an everlasting Roof

The Gambrels of the Sky —

Of Visitors — the fairest —

For Occupation — This —

The spreading wide my narrow Hands

To gather Paradise —

      In this poetry we can observe the writing style, use of dashes and use of words by Emily Dickinson. The word “Possibility” suggests probability or reality and in the second line we find that Dickinson has compared prose with poetry writing. The use of capitalization can be observed here in some words like “Possibility”, “House”, “Prose” and many more.

   

     The poem has argued for the importance of possibility in poetry. Dashes are more open than most other forms of punctuation because they connect ideas and images rather than separating them into discrete units. Because the poem is about possibility, it makes sense that Dickinson would choose a form of punctuation that leaves her poem open rather than closed. (Some lines from the course)

Volcanoes be in Sicily

1705

Volcanoes be in Sicily
And South America
I judge from my Geography—
Volcanos nearer here
A Lava step at any time
Am I inclined to climb—
A Crater I may contemplate
Vesuvius at Home.

 

       In this poem “my Geography—” suggests the writing style of Emily Dickinson. This poem is about her poetry mode. She clearly says that reading poetry is “A Lava step” because reading becomes the walking near the volcano; step near volcano is similar to climb near the poem. This Volcano is within ourselves and when we start reading, we find it.

      

      In this week there was some poetry by Walt Whitman like, “Song of Myself”  and also some poetry of Emily Dickinson like “Tell all the truth but tell it slant—”, “The Brain within its Groove” and discussion of the Whitmanian and Dickinsonian modes for further reading and information.