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How does Whitman portray death in "Song of Myself" and how does it differ from Dickinson's portrayal in "Because I Could not Stop for Death"?
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Whitman in "Song of Myself" portrays death as a natural, positive process, emphasizing its role in the eternal cycle of life and rebirth, rather than an end. He views death as a transition that leads to life's continuation. In contrast, Dickinson in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" personifies death as a courteous guide leading to the afterlife, highlighting its finality yet acknowledging the eternity that follows. Both poets use allegory but differ in their perspectives on death's nature.
In "Song of Myself", Walt Whitman does not apply to death the qualities of personification that are used by Emily Dickinson in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death". Rather, the poem "Song of Myself", treats death as a process, in fact, as a beginning process, rather than an ending. Whitman denies the significance of death as a negative aspect of life and gives it positive qualities. Among these positive qualities, he treats death as a door that opens the passageway from one world to another, allowing for life to re-start and perpetuate its eternal cycle. Whitman is fearless about it and he addresses it directly.
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
And what do you think has become of the women and children?They are alive and well somewhere,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does...
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not wait at the
end to arrest it,
And ceas'd the moment life appear'd.
The use of nature as the setting for his ode to death is significant because it is in nature where we witness the most pure and clear processes of life, from the moment a sprout grows, to the moment when a tree is fully-grown, and until the last leaf dies in the Fall. However, he is clear in that this is just one part of an ongoing process that, like life itself, never ends.
To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,
All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.I know I am deathless,
I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,
I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt stick at night.
Dickinson treats death differently in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death". She uses personification by describing death as a gentleman that will lead her to the place where we all have to go sooner or later.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
Dickinson contrasts greatly from Whitman in her views of Death in that she points out its finality while Whitman emphasizes on its quality of perpetuity. However, the element of eternity is also addressed by Dickinson in that she admits that death will eventually be the way to get to eternal life.
Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
Therefore, both Whitman and Dickinson treat death in an allegorical way. Whitman does it by exalting the mystery of life and awarding death the honorable ability of bringing closure to life so that it can begin again. Contrastingly, Dickinson personifies death by awarding it human qualities and by treating it as a person whom will escort us toward the end of our days and, eventually, to eternity.