...Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are two of America’s greatest poets. They both wrote about death, life, and God. They also both had a love for nature and included it in their works. They led drastically different lifestyles and their writing styles were very different but the messages they presented through their writing were actually fairly similar. Their Life Dickinson and Whitman had very different upbringings. Dickinson came from a very wealthy family, attended an elite school, and also attended college. She lived a very introverted and reclusive life. She made few attempts to publish her work, choosing instead to share them privately with family and friends. During her lifetime only 7 of her poems were published only because she wrote them to others who had them published. Dickinson's youthful years were not without turmoil. Deaths of friends and relatives, including her young cousin Sophia Holland, prompted questions about death and immortality. Since her house was located near the town cemetery, Dickinson could not have ignored the frequent burials that later provided powerful imagery for her poems. Not having conventional religious views may have also contributed to her isolation. She did have a belief in God but it was different than the views held by her peers. Although Dickinson's friends, sister, father, and eventually brother all joined the church, Emily never did. In her later years, Dickinson increasingly withdrew from public...
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...Similarity, Differences, Dickinson and Whitman During the Ninetieth century, two critical poets that came about were Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. These two poets are credited with laying the foundation of modern poetry because of the different poetic styles and messages they presented in their work. Dickson and Whitman came from two different types of lifestyles, which can be credited with shaping their core values. The main differences that exists between Dickinson and Whitman were their poetic styles, goals, and concerns. Even though there are many differences between Dickinson and Whitman, these two poets based all of their poems on their life experiences and memories that were made during their lives. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman lived two completely different lives, but both had the same passion when it came to poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts and lived most of her life on her family’s farm. She lived a very secluded life that was based on her father’s...
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...Poetry Battle This work of art can be seen all around us and some find poetry entertaining. Two of the greatest American poets are Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. These 1800s poets have a unique writing style; however, on opposite ends of the poetry spectrum. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman only share a few similarities. They were extravagant composers in the late 1800s; furthermore, they both contributed to the American literature collection. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman poems enclosed poetic lines and stanzas. Their poems were modern and challenged the traditional characteristics, and they both choose to write about mundane principals (Howard). The two poet’s contents are extremely different. Emily Dickinson would write about the conventional circumstances and discus the brutal side of life. Emily Dickinson would place a vast amount of symbolism and imagery. Since Emily Dickinson isolated herself, her verses would contain ample amounts depressing thoughts. She would also devise about her own ideas and what she was passionate about (Calvano). Walt Whitman uttered his courageous personality in his writings. Needing an idea to write about, Walt Whitman would take something that was decent in life and then just...
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..."The two giants of 19th-century American poetry who played the greatest role in redefining modern verse are Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson" (Burt). Both poets Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are considered as the founders of today’s modern American poetry that are tried to revalue the poetry of the last century. Sooner or later, but they succeeded. They put the keystone of the modern American poetry which drifted in the breeze. The poetry has been redefined in a way to be able to get to the modern society's cultural level. The modern poetry becomes more discreet and it uses the topics of everyday life spiced with emotions. The emotions of the human being began to depict a higher quality. By the poets, so to speak, the mankind adjusts to...
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...Essay Did Emily Dickinson take part in literary break found in the traditional 19th century? Yes her poetry came forth with boldness during this time. Her writings were so unique it made her readers capture and believe what she was writing about. Within her poems, she demonstrated mixed feelings in her writings, although she uses imagination to communicate with particular ideals in some poems. During the early 1900’s many poets decided to get away from the normal way of writing American Poetry. By doing this many poets began to write in different styles other than the traditional American way to write poetry. Three criteria’s we can elaborate on in regards to great poetry would be first, the work is relevant to normal life situations. Second, the poetry work is worth reading and is comforting to read. Third, the poets all had great ideas to write on. Walt Whitman had his part in the literary break which causes American Literature to gain new styles of writing poetry. He was a journalist who wrote to fulfill the needs of his audience. He often time would write poetry that would run on and on. Whitman and Dickinson new ways of writing poetry has brought about a great change in our modern literature classes. This new style of writing qualified them both to be listed as great poets during their time. Darlene 2 “Dickinson’s poetry is also considered...
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...Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are both influential poets, who have inspired many young writers. The two authors vary significantly from one another. They both have unique style, content, and approach to writing. Whitman writes in a lengthy manner. “Song of Myself” spans many pages and contains long and descriptive lines. An example of his elongated style is, “I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women/And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon/out of their laps” (Norton Anthology 1028). This thought is expressed over three lines of his poem. This style contributes to the descriptive and eloquent nature of Whitman’s poetry. The reader absorbs much from his writing. In contrast to Whitman, Dickinson writes in an incredibly choppy style. For example, she states, “Flow plain – and foreign /On my homesick eye -/Except that You than He/Shone closer by-…”(Norton Anthology 1210). This style is evident in all of her works. It evokes a haunted feeling from the reader....
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...Her family had deep roots in New England. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was well known as the founder of Amherst College. Her father worked at Amherst and served as a state legislator. He married Emily Norcross in 1828 and the couple had three children: William Austin, Lavinia Norcross and middle child...
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...American nationalism evolved with the Gilded Age and New Imperialism school of thought. The American Renaissance produced major influential literary works from some of the most brilliant minds in U.S. history, including Ralph Waldo Emerson's the "Representative Man (1850)", Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlett Letter (1850)" and "The House of Seven Gables (1851)," Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," Henry David Thoreau's "Walden (1854)," and Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass (1855)." American Renaissance Literary Masterpieces The American Renaissance, a literary and cultural period circa extending from 1820 to the mid-1860s, gained inspiration from the unresolved issues of the American Revolution. The American Renaissance literary style was coined as "Romanticism," an international philosophical movement that redefined the perceptions of Western cultures, and seldom refers to the preconceived notions of love. Some important authors arising out of this era include: James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Jacobs, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allen Poe, and Herman Melville. These brilliant scholars herald with American literature's hallmark of literary excellence expounding on the fundamentals of classical...
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...influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality. Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and – in addition to publishing his poetry – was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. After a stroke towards the end of his life, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. He died at age 72 and his funeral became a public spectacle. Whitman's sexuality is often discussed alongside his poetry. Though biographers continue to debate his sexuality, he is usually described as either homosexual or bisexual in his feelings and attractions. However, there is disagreement among biographers as to whether Whitman had actual sexual experiences with men. Whitman was concerned with politics throughout his life. He supported the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the extension of slavery generally. His poetry presented an egalitarian view of the races, and at one point he called for the abolition of slavery, but later he saw the abolitionist...
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...http://www.historytoday.com/jerome-de-groot/signposts-historical-fiction These were some of the questions raised at a recent conference at the Institute of Historical Research at which History Today Editor, Paul Lay, hosted a discussion between Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall, and the Tudor historian David Loades. Historians often describe themselves as detectives, seeking out a kind of truth among the conflicting evidence of the past. There is, furthermore, a large and growing subgenre of historical crime fiction. From C.J. Sansom to Philip Pullman, from Orhan Pamuk to Walter Mosley, from Ellis Peters to Boris Akunin, novelists have been keen to use the past as a backdrop for their stories of detection and mystery. The most famous historical detective might be Brother William of Baskerville in Umberto Eco’s peerless The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, 1980). Recently we have seen a flowering of historical crime fiction as the subgenre attains maturity and becomes increasingly popular and innovative. Jason Goodwin, Philip Kerr and Susan Hill were all shortlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers Association Dagger this year (recent historical winners include Arianna Franklin, Jake Arnott and Craig Russell). Clearly the combination of thriller, crime and historical detail is compelling. Anne Perry’s new Inspector Pitt novel, Betrayal at Lisson Grove (out in paperback from Headline this year) is a pacy, twisting thriller. It is 1895 and Pitt is up against a conspiracy...
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...Beginning theory An introduction to literary and cultural theory Second edition Peter Barry © Peter Barry 1995, 2002 ISBN: 0719062683 Contents Acknowledgements - page x Preface to the second edition - xii Introduction - 1 About this book - 1 Approaching theory - 6 Slop and think: reviewing your study of literature to date - 8 My own 'stock-taking' - 9 1 Theory before 'theory' - liberal humanism - 11 The history of English studies - 11 Stop and think - 11 Ten tenets of liberal humanism - 16 Literary theorising from Aristotle to Leavis some key moments - 21 Liberal humanism in practice - 31 The transition to 'theory' - 32 Some recurrent ideas in critical theory - 34 Selected reading - 36 2 Structuralism - 39 Structuralist chickens and liberal humanist eggs Signs of the fathers - Saussure - 41 Stop and think - 45 The scope of structuralism - 46 What structuralist critics do - 49 Structuralist criticism: examples - 50 Stop and think - 53 Stop and think - 55 39 Stop and think - 57 Selected reading - 60 3 Post-structuralism and deconstruction - 61 Some theoretical differences between structuralism and post-structuralism - 61 Post-structuralism - life on a decentred planet - 65 Stop and think - 68 Structuralism and post-structuralism - some practical differences - 70 What post-structuralist critics do - 73 Deconstruction: an example - 73 Selected reading - 79 4 Postmodernism - 81 What is postmodernism? What was modernism? -...
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...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...
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...Proceeding for the School of Visual Arts Eighteenth Annual National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists: Art and Story CONTENTS SECTION ONE: Marcel’s Studio Visit with Elstir……………………………………………………….. David Carrier SECTION TWO: Film and Video Narrative Brief Narrative on Film-The Case of John Updike……………………………………. Thomas P. Adler With a Pen of Light …………………………………………………………………… Michael Fink Media and the Message: Does Media Shape or Serve the Story: Visual Storytelling and New Media ……………………………………………………. June Bisantz Evans Visual Literacy: The Language of Cultural Signifiers…………………………………. Tammy Knipp SECTION THREE: Narrative and Fine Art Beyond Illustration: Visual Narrative Strategies in Picasso’s Celestina Prints………… Susan J. Baker and William Novak Narrative, Allegory, and Commentary in Emil Nolde’s Legend: St. Mary of Egypt…… William B. Sieger A Narrative of Belonging: The Art of Beauford Delaney and Glenn Ligon…………… Catherine St. John Art and Narrative Under the Third Reich ……………………………………………… Ashley Labrie 28 15 1 22 25 27 36 43 51 Hopper Stories in an Imaginary Museum……………………………………………. Joseph Stanton SECTION FOUR: Photography and Narrative Black & White: Two Worlds/Two Distinct Stories……………………………………….. Elaine A. King Relinquishing His Own Story: Abandonment and Appropriation in the Edward Weston Narrative………………………………………………………………………….. David Peeler Narrative Stretegies in the Worlds of Jean Le Gac and Sophe Calle…………………….. Stefanie Rentsch...
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...C h a p t e r 1 Prewriting GETTING STARTED (OR SOUP-CAN LABELS CAN BE FASCINATING) For many writers, getting started is the hardest part. You may have noticed that when it is time to begin a writing assignment, you suddenly develop an enormous desire to straighten your books, water your plants, or sharpen your pencils for the fifth time. If this situation sounds familiar, you may find it reassuring to know that many professionals undergo these same strange compulsions before they begin writing. Jean Kerr, author of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, admits that she often finds herself in the kitchen reading soup-can labels—or anything—in order to prolong the moments before taking pen in hand. John C. Calhoun, vice president under Andrew Jackson, insisted he had to plow his fields before he could write, and Joseph Conrad, author of Lord Jim and other novels, is said to have cried on occasion from the sheer dread of sitting down to compose his stories. To spare you as much hand-wringing as possible, this chapter presents some practical suggestions on how to begin writing your short essay. Although all writers must find the methods that work best for them, you may find some of the following ideas helpful. But no matter how you actually begin putting words on paper, it is absolutely essential to maintain two basic ideas concerning your writing task. Before you write a single sentence, you should always remind yourself that 1. You have some valuable ideas to tell your reader,...
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