1. American Masters: Whitman and Dickinson
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Interactive Time Line
Milestone: Walt Whitman
Milestone: Emily Dickinson
Milestone: Civil War
What Have You Learned?

2. American Masters: Whitman and Dickinson
Choose a link on the time line to go to a milestone.
1819–1892
Walt Whitman
1861–1865
Civil War
1830–1886
Emily Dickinson
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What do you know about Walt Whitman? [Whitman wrote Leaves of Grass.]
What do you know about Emily Dickinson? [Dickinson wrote many poems, including “Because I could not stop for Death.” She was a recluse.]
What do you know about the Civil War? [The Civil War was fought between the North and the South over the issue of slavery. The North won.]
1800
1850
1900

3. Walt Whitman 1819–1841 Student of the World
Born on Long Island, just outside of Brooklyn on May 31, 1819
Dropped out of school at age eleven and became a printer’s assistant
Spent five years teaching school
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Lived just outside of Brooklyn, so he experienced both life in the country and life in a new city.
After he dropped out of school, Whitman worked as an office clerk, printer’s assistant and teacher.
He spent his weekends on the beach and in the woods.
He read many different authors and works of literature—Sir Walter Scott, the Bible, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, and ancient Hindu poetry.

4. Walt Whitman 1819–1841 Student of the World
Traveled to New Orleans; saw American frontier firsthand
Returned to New York, became an editor, and began writing poetry
Supplemented income working as carpenter and contractor
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The trip to New Orleans involved traveling by train, coach and riverboat. Once there, he worked for the Crescent.
On his way home he detoured to the Great Lakes and Niagara Falls.
Once he returned to Brooklyn, he worked as the editor of the Brooklyn Freeman.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What might Whitman have learned from his varied experiences—traveling and working different jobs? [Whitman probably learned the value of hard work. He probably met a lot of different people and learned about the regions that he traveled in.]

5. Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass
Self-published in 1855 and sent to select people to raise interest
Praised by Emerson as “extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom”
Expanded and revised nine times
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The first publication went unnoticed. Many people found it too bold and strange.
To generate interest, Whitman sent sample copies to people from whom he wanted endorsements.
In some ways, the work is an autobiography of the author, who revised it up until his death.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Why do you think Whitman sent a copy of his book to Emerson? [Emerson was an important literary figure. Whitman was probably hoping that Emerson could help raise interest in Whitman’s book. Also, perhaps Whitman valued Emerson’s opinion and wanted to see what he thought of the poems.]
Why might Whitman have revised his book nine times? [Whitman may have wanted to add new poetry and improve his work. Also, he may have wanted to update the poems to reflect his changing views over the years.]
“Deathbed edition” published in 1891

6. Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass Introduced bold new style of poetry
Celebrated American life and the power of the individual
Technique based on cadence and free verse
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Whitman used an expansive voice in his poetry.
He was a public spokesman of the people.
Ironically, during his lifetime, his most financially successful piece of writing was a novel called Franklin Evans; or, The Inebriate: A Tale of the Times.
Incorporated lists, repetition, and contradiction

7. Walt Whitman
Cadence—the natural, rhythmic rise and fall of a language as it is normally spoken.
Listen to the cadence in these lines from Whitman‘s poem Song of Myself, number 10.
The boatmen and clam-diggers arose early and stopt for me,
I tuck’d my trowser-ends in my boots and went and had a good time.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
How does Whitman’s use of unusual spellings affect the reading of these lines? [It makes them seem more like informal speech.]

8. Walt Whitman
1861–1892
During Civil War, traveled to Virginia to nurse his injured brother
Stayed to help thousands of other injured soldiers
Profoundly affected by experience
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Long before the war, Whitman showed strong opposition to slavery.
Whitman’s brother was injured in the First Battle of Fredericksburg.
Whitman continued to help after his brother recovered. He comforted and fed injured and dying men, helped clean and bandage their wounds, read to them, and wrote letters home for them.
By the end of the war, Whitman had met thousands of soldiers and heard their stories.
Union Hospital at Fair Oaks, Virginia

9. Walt Whitman
1861–1892
After the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, published Drum-Taps
Included elegies for Lincoln—“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” and “O Captain! My Captain!”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
His elegy for Lincoln served as the public voice for the nation’s grief over Lincoln’s death.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
A quotation from Leaves of Grass says “The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he absorbed it.”
How might a country absorb a poet? [Possible response: by making that poet’s work part of its national consciousness.]
How can a poet absorb a country? [Possible response: by capturing the character of the land and giving its people a voice.]
Lived in Camden, New Jersey, from 1884 until his death

10. Emily Dickinson Recluse of Amherst Born in Amherst, Massachusetts
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Dickinson had led a normal, quiet youth, even attending college for a year.
However, even as a child she seemed quieter than others. She called herself “a mourner among the children.”
Attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for one year

11. Emily Dickinson Recluse of Amherst Traveled to Washington, D.C.
After trip, retreated from society, rarely leaving her house
Began writing poems—sent some as birthday or valentine greetings
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Her father was a congressman and took her on a trip to Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia in 1854, when she was 24. Something happened on that trip that caused her to begin to retreat from society.
There’s debate about what happened. Some say she had fallen in love with an older, married man who died that year. Others say she fell in love with a married pastor named Charles Wadsworth. He moved to San Francisco, and his departure caused great sadness for Dickinson.
She eventually started wearing all white and rarely left the house or associated with anyone other than her family members.
Dickinson started sending her poems to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who was an editor of Atlantic Monthly, but she didn’t hope to find a wider audience than friends and family. Higginson was one of the few visitors to Amherst that Dickinson met in person after she retreated from society.

12. Emily Dickinson Style of Writing
Delicate, careful observations of life from behind curtains
Language concise and evocative
Stanzas controlled by rhyme and meter commonly used in hymns
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What are differences in the lives Whitman and Dickinson led? [Whitman traveled the country, engaging people and society. Dickinson lived a quiet life, most of it as a recluse.]
What are some differences in their styles of writing? [Whitman’s style is expansive and inclusive. Dickinson’s style is extremely detailed and controlled.]
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Dickinson was raised by devoutly religious parents who were members of the Congregationalist Church. However, she did not attend church as an adult.
Her poetry still exhibits religious themes in both style and substance.
Most of her poems are written in the “common meter” stanza used for Protestant hymns.
She chose subjects such as God, eternity, death, and the soul, but with her own personal sense of belief and devoutness.

13. Emily Dickinson Hymn Stanzas
Dickinson often used “common meter,” a four-line hymnal stanza.
First and third lines have eight syllables.
Second and fourth lines have six syllables.
The rhyme scheme is either abcb or abab.
Let every mortal ear attend, And every heart rejoice, The trumpet of the gospel sounds With an inviting voice.
from “Hymn 1:7” by Isaac Watts
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Dickinson’s poetry was influenced by the hymns of Isaac Watts, which were often sung at the church she attended as a child.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. What rhyme scheme is used in this hymn by Isaac Watts? [The rhyme scheme is abcb.]

14. The Civil War War between the States (1861–1865)
Issue of slavery divided the nation.
Union forces fought Confederate forces.
President Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in South.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
After President Lincoln was elected to office in 1860, several southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Lincoln was determined to preserve the Union and insisted that secession was unconstitutional.
The war divided many families, with some members fighting for the Confederacy, some for the Union.
More than 620,000 soldiers died during the war.
At first, the South was victorious in battle, but the North eventually won.
Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, after the war ended.
“Home Sweet Home”

15. The Civil War Whitman, Dickinson, and the Civil War
Whitman had firsthand experiences of the war— he cared for wounded soldiers and worked as a war correspondent. He wrote extensively about the war and his experiences.
Although Dickinson did not experience the war firsthand, she was aware of happenings of the war. Dickinson produced the majority of her work during this time period.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Whitman published a collection of war poems, Drum-Taps, in He also wrote about his war experiences in Specimen Days (1882).
Although Dickinson does not make any direct references to the Civil War in her works, many scholars have made connections between Dickinson’s poetry and the Civil War.

16. What Have You Learned?
Indicate whether the following statements refer to Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman.
Walt Whitman
_____________ Wrote Leaves of Grass
_____________ Became a recluse as an adult
_____________ Used rhyme and meter of hymns in poetry
_____________ Used cadence and free verse in poetry
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson
Walt Whitman

17. The End

18. Viewing the Art Solitary Man
This photograph shows a man in a baseball cap crossing an old planked bridge. His head is down and his hands are in his pockets.
Activity: What might this solitary figure suggest about the writers in this collection?
[Possible responses: The writers may have worked in isolation from others; the writers may have dealt with subjects close to the heart of the average American; the writers may have cherished nature and the opportunity to reflect on its lessons in solitude.]

19. The partially hidden face of the man suggests that he is deep in thought, perhaps unaware of his surroundings.