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Walt Whitman Research Paper

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There is no simple explanation for the term “American Literature.” Encyclopedia Britannica defines it as “the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States” but this definition does not reveal what specific qualities designate the writing as “American Literature.” A vast array of traits including but not limited to freedom and equality, individuality, death, and nature. All these elements are present in the writings of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickenson confirming that both are embodiment of American Literature.
America was founded on the principles of Individuality and endeavored for population diversity and equality. These aforementioned traits are notable in Walt Whitman’s poem, Song of Myself beginning with individuality. He begins “I celebrate myself, and sing myself,/And what I assume, you shall assume/for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” Here Whitman is celebrating his identity and expressing that individuality is as much a part of him as it is to everyone else and for reason everyone shares their uniqueness. Whitman hints to his belief that all races should be considered equal and this equality …show more content…
My Life had stood – a loaded gun encompasses both of these themes. The narrator identifies themselves as the inanimate object of a gun that brings death about the living things in nature. “To foe of his – I am deadly foe/None stir the second time” (Dickenson) Dickenson declares the inanimate narrator as a vessel of death for all nature that are prey of the hunter that posses it. Surely, they will perish at the first attempt of destruction. She concludes this poem with the opinion that though death may end life, the existence of death itself lives on. “Though I than he – may longer live/He longer must – than I/For I have but the power to kill,/Without – the power to die.”

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