Walt Whitmans Poem, To a Locomotive in Winter and Emily...

From Grandeur to Arrogance Walt Whitman s poem, To a Locomotive in Winter and Emily Dickinson s I Like to See It Lap The Miles are two different poems about the same subject, the steam engine. Where Whitman uses solely free verse, Dickinson’s poem more closely follows standard writing practices, with very structured line breaks. Another key difference in these works is the speech they use; Whitman uses old English laden with thee and thy, whereas Dickinson uses fairly modern terminology. Whitman describes the elegant and powerful grandeur of the locomotive from the shining brass and steel to the twinkling of the wheels. Dickinson describes the arrogance and nuisance of it as she imagines it staring down upon the†¦show more content†¦For all of its awkwardness Whitman’s poem is vibrant and a joy to read, with a dictionary close at hand. He makes the steam driven locomotive come to life on the page with the â€Å"ponderous side-bars, parallel and connecting rods, gyrating† (W hitman line 5) you can see the metal violently swinging back and forth. When he describes the thick, purple hazed, smoke rising from the machine one can almost feel the oily vapors on the face and nostrils. As the â€Å"warning ringing bell †¦ sounds (sic) its notes† the reader can’t help but hear it in the distance, and at the end as the machine â€Å"Launch’d o’er the praries wide, across the lakes, To the free skies unpent and glad and strong† (Whitman lines 24-25) the same reader can glimpse the ghost train gliding into the sunset. Works Cited Whitman, Walt. To a Locomotive in Winter. Literature; An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 6th Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Boston: Longman, 2010. 426. Print. Dickinson, Emily. I like to see it lap the Miles. Literature; An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 6th Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Boston: Longman, 2010. 427. Print. - I really liked how you analyzed the two poems, and their tone towards steam-engine trains. Here is something that you said that caught my attention: o â€Å"Whitman attempts, and succeeds at making the train come to live as a regal and powerful entity. The engine’sShow MoreRelatedWhitman And Dickinson1368 Words   |  6 Pagesplenty of poems, concentrating on important themes such as the developing America/independence, and creating beautiful works of art by exceeding the norms of Iambic Pentameter in conventional poetry. These poets exercised great influence among the coming generations of poets, while also exemplifying their traditional uses of poetic devices. But an important aspect that distinguished the uniqueness of both poets was the tone that was exemplified in their works. As a result, Dickinson and Whitman’s poems