One dictionary defines a hero as a remarkably brave person. Another dictionary describes a hero as somebody who has shown an admirable quality. But what does it mean to be remarkably brave, and what does it mean to have an admirable quality? According to those dictionaries, it means having a strong sense of character. However, these two definitions are so conventional and watered-down. If there were two American writers in the nineteenth century that could define a hero, it would be Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Although they were both Romantics, Whitman and Dickinson were so different from each other. Whitman grew up reading various literary works, including Homer’s Odyssey and the Bible. His poetry is reflective of the works he read in his early years. Dickinson, on the other hand, learned how to read and write in a time period of male authority. Her poetry is metaphysical, and expressive of her soul. Together, Whitman and Dickinson marked a turning point in American poetry.
In the poem, “Song of Myself,” Whitman opens with an oceanic scene of a skipper who struggles to save the weary passengers of a sinking ship that is hit by a violent storm. As the skipper watches the wrath of the storm, Whitman uses personification to bring life out of the scene. “How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steam-ship, and Death chasing it up and down the storm” (Whitman 1). The death that chases the ship up and down the storm is the waves that relentlessly crash against the hull. In the same way that death is the end of life, the wrath of the waves is the end of the passengers. When the skipper cannot bear the tragic scene no more, and decides to save all the stricken passengers, Whitman uses a Biblical allusion to add a deeper meaning to the skipper’s heroic act. “How he follow’d them and tack’d with them three days and would not give it up, how he saved the drifting company at last” (Whitman 1). The skipper’s strife to save the drifting passengers for three days is an allusion to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Bible, Jesus dies to save mankind from sin, and resurrects three days later. Whitman uses this Biblical allusion to bring the skipper up to the level of Jesus Christ, making the two saviors equal. As the skipper looks onward at the faces of the survivors, Whitman applies imagery to describe the passengers. “How the silent old-faced infants and the lifted sick, and the sharp-lipp’d unshaved men” (Whitman 1). The passengers that survive the ship wreck are no longer the same people that stepped foot on that ship. The image of old babies doesn’t describe their age, but their sense of maturity, even though babies cannot be mature. Likewise, the image of the sharp-lipp’d unshaved men doesn’t describe their lips and hair, but their burden of being unable to save their own families from the storm, even though that is the duty of a father. At first, it may seem as if the skipper is the sole hero in the poem, but that is not the case. Through “Song of Myself,” Whitman illustrates that a hero is not defined by an act of salvation, but rather by the hardship a person endures. The skipper and the survivors of the shipwreck are all heroes, because they endure a hardship nobody knows. The skipper endures the hardship of saving each passenger and the passengers endure the waves of the violent storm. Their endurance through troubling times is what counts them as heroes.
In the poem, “Success is Counted Sweetest,” Dickinson centers all attention on an ambitious soldier who comes close to victory, but fails to grasp it in his hands. As the soldier lays wounded on the ground, Dickinson uses taste to interact the reader’s senses with the moment. “Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed” (Dickinson 1). Something that is sweet tastes very good, because it creates a very pleasing sensation. In the same way that a candy bar is sweet, success is also sweet because it feels good. However, Dickinson expresses that success is sweetest to those who almost reach it. Victory means the most to the wounded soldier because he comes so close to winning, but ends up losing. It’s as if he can almost taste victory, but his tongue never touches it. When the dying soldier sees the opposing army in victory, Dickinson adds irony to apply a deeper meaning to the poem. “Not one of all the purple Host who took the flag today can tell the definition so clear of victory” (Dickinson 1). The army that has the flag is the army that wins the battle. However, Dickinson expresses that the victorious army does not know the true definition of victory. This is ironic, because the one that wins should be able to describe victory, and the one that loses should be able to describe failure. It is not the other way around. As the soldier and his comrades listen to the sound of the other side’s victory, Dickson uses imagery to end the scene. “As he defeated – dying – on whose forbidden ear the distant strains of triumph burst agonized and clear” (Dickinson 1). The solider is dying on the ground from his battle wounds and he is in complete agony. However, his agony is amplified because the soldier can hear the sound of victory from the other side. This is more painful to him than his physical wounds, because their sound of victory is the impending sound of his failure. Although it may seem as if the heroes in the poem are the victors, the dying soldier is the actual hero. Through “Success is Counted Sweetest,” Dickinson illustrates that a hero is not defined by his victories, but by his sacrifice for a cause. The dying soldier is a hero because he sacrifices his life for the cause of his army. Likewise, the victorious soldiers are also heroes because they also sacrifice their lives for the cause of their army. It doesn’t matter which cause emerges victorious, because not every army succeeds. It’s because heroes don’t always win – they sacrifice.
As the greatest Romantics of their age, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson influenced American literature and poetry to the highest degree. Not only was Whitman a writer, he was also a renowned public speaker that spoke for those who could not speak for themselves. He hoped that America would accept his ideas of unity and democracy. Through his works, Whitman changed poetry by creating cadence and free verse. “Again the long roll of the drummers, again the attacking cannon, mortars, again to my listening ears the cannon responsive” (Whitman 39). By using free verse poetry, Whitman tore down the boundary and structure of traditional poetry with the rhythm of cadence, allowing all types of people to use poetry as a form of expression. Aside from Whitman, Dickinson was a lonely woman who wrote poetry to express her inner feelings. Having never found true love, she spent many days isolated from others, allowing her imagination to grow wild. She found ways to superficially describe objects, ideas, and feelings. However she only meant for her writings to remain in a box. Through her works, Dickinson expanded poetry by way of rhyme and meter. “If you were coming in the fall, I’d brush the Summer by with half a smile, and half a spurn, as Housewives do, a fly” (Dickinson 1). By using rhyme and meter, Dickinson opened American literature to women, showing that men were not the only ones who knew how to use ink and paper. Through her unique writing style, she took poetry to a higher level, making it a complete and concise language of the soul. Together, Walt and Emily are the reason behind today’s American literature.
Although Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson could paint pictures with words, their contributions to American Romantic literature were not equal. They often wrote about the American hero, but both authors are the living American heroes. The greater author is Walt Whitman, because he didn’t solely speak for himself. He spoke and wrote for the American people. This is important because he wanted the voice of all American people to be heard as testimony to world peace. Dickinson, on the other hand, only hid in her house to write, not making her voice heard. She made poetry metaphysical, but Whitman made poetry powerful. Dickinson opened doors for women, but Whitman opened the houses of America’s ideology. Through cadence and free verse, or rhyme and meter, Dickinson and Whitman changed American Romantic poetry. However, Walt Whitman gains the title, Master of the Word.
