How can Whitman and Dickinson be considered Romantic poets?

While Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson came to prominence at the end of the Romantic/Transcendentalist movement, they both share aspects of the Romantic writers. First and foremost, they both share a love of Nature and find a spirituality in Nature. For instance, in Whitman's Song of Myself, particularly in canto 6, he speaks of the grass, where he contemplates the many definitions of it. First, he sees the positive aspects of the grass, calling...

While Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson came to prominence at the end of the Romantic/Transcendentalist movement, they both share aspects of the Romantic writers. First and foremost, they both share a love of Nature and find a spirituality in Nature. For instance, in Whitman's Song of Myself, particularly in canto 6, he speaks of the grass, where he contemplates the many definitions of it. First, he sees the positive aspects of the grass, calling it "the handkerchief of the Lord" (94), "the produced babe of the vegetation" (97), and "a uniform hieroglyphic" (98). But the tone shift to a more somber meaning of the grass in line 102 when he envisions the grass as "the uncut hair of graves." In this second section of the canto, Whitman attempts to come to terms with those who have died, especially those who were in the prime of their lives, like young men who were taken because of war (104) or children who died in infancy (106). But the spirituality of this contemplation comes when he realizes that "They are alive and well somewhere; / The smallest sprout shows there is really no death; / And if ever there was, it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it" (117-119). This cycle of life aspect is reminiscent of other Romantic writers such as William Cullen Bryant in his poem "Thanatopsis."

Emily Dickinson shows another characteristic of Romanticism, namely that knowledge can be gained through intuition, which is shown in poetry through strong senses, emotions, and feelings. This characteristic can be found in Dickinson's poem "Success Is Counted Sweetest." In this poem, Dickinson uses two metaphors to explain feelings of success and victory. In the first stanza, she attributes feeling success to someone who has a great thirst; that person tastes nectar in the drink because he "Requires sorest need" (4). Thus, if one is not truly thirsty, he will not think the water (or other drink) tastes as sweet. The second metaphor Dickinson uses is that of the fallen in battle. They "Can tell the definition...of victory" (7-8) far better than the winners because of the agony and defeat they feel while listening to the celebration of the winners. In this poem, Dickinson uses the two metaphors to make concrete an abstract concept. She cannot define success or victory through reasonable means; she must use emotions and feelings that the reader understands in order to come to her conclusion, thus making her poem a Romantic piece.

Overall, Whitman and Dickinson share aspects of Romanticism in their poetry even though many take their works as unique from all other poets of their time.