A comparison of the poems “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” by Emily Dickinson and “The Slave’s Curse” by John Whitman
Emily Dickinson and John Whitman are two prominent figures in American literature. Both poets are considered innovators of poetry as their ways of writing, although different from one another in various aspects, inspired people to write by following their own style and unique way of expressing themselves. Also, their forms of writing showed a departure from the British model which was traditionally used by most poets of the 19th century and gave birth to what is now known as American poetry.
In the poem “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”, Dickinson expressed her love and awareness of nature despite distancing herself from people. Briefly, and with the use of writing styles uniquely her own, she was able to relate to the readers an otherwise common occurrence and developed it into a bone-chilling fear. In the poem, Dickinson talks about encountering a snake, a creature she considers to be “nature’s people”. This exhibits her respect for the environment and its creatures, reinforced by her reference to the snake as a “fellow in the grass”, as well as meeting “nature’s people” with “cordiality”. Also, her observation about the snake preferring “Boggy Acre” as opposed to “A Floor too cool for Corm-“ shows how deep her awareness is regarding this creature. She also described how a snake slithers and disappears when one tries to pick it up, illustrating her belief that snakes are not really to be feared of. However, she contradicts this by describing the feeling of fear that reaches the bone when encountering the snake. Dickinson’s alternate use of “I” and “you” in the poem shows how she invites the readers to consider the experience from their own points of view.
Walt Whitman, on the other hand, illustrated he was considered an American poet of democracy through the poem “The Slave’s Curse”. The poem talks about Whitman’s desire to eradicate discrimination against the blacks and eliminate slavery. Similar with Dickinson’s method, Whitman also changed the speaker alternately in this poem. At one point, Whitman was the one speaking as the black man, his way of giving voice to the slaves who were not allowed to talk unless permitted by their white masters. The concept of death was also discussed in the poem, with the empowered black slave promising to extract revenge against the whites who “defiled” him, that even “the lappets of God shall not protect them”.
As opposed to Dickinson’s poem, Whitman’s poem arouses a really strong emotion right from the start. This shows the difference between their styles, that although both do not subscribe to the use of rhyme, Whitman makes his point clear using direct words albeit longer lines. Dickinson is also able to evoke a strong feeling of fear, but done in a subtle way and with lesser words. In addition, Dickinson’s poem contains lines that have twisted syntax and grammatically wrong, unconventional capitalization, the use of punctuation marks where not necessary and the lack of it where expected. These are not present in Whitman’s poem. Whitman’s subject was approached aggressively by directly referring to it, while Dickinson used words that alluded to the subject. There was also a big difference with the subject used in both poems, and this can be attributed to the disparity in their background. While Dickinson grew up in a relatively well-to-do family, Whitman came from a working class family. In the same way, their orientation in life also differs as Dickinson chose to live a life in reclusion while Whitman did otherwise. Despite the differences, both are hailed as the best poets of the nineteenth century.
