Unit 3 Author Facts Flashcards
Grew up in circumstances that allowed him to experience both country life and city life
Whitman
Never went to college; by age of 20 they were working as a journalist
Whitman
Took a working vacation from NYC down to New Orleans and then back to NYC by way of the Great Lakes
Whitman
Published their masterpiece, Leaves of Grass(1855), but the publication went all but unoticed
Whitman
Ralph Waldo Emerson sent them a letter of admiration for their work
Whitman
Their poetry is filled with long lists and catalogs
Whitman
They revised Leaves of Grass nine times until they published the final “deathbed edition” in 1891
Whitman
They modified standard diction and abandoned traditional rhyme scheme and meter in favor of the rhythms and speech patterns of free verse
Whitman
Their poetry is a series of open-ended units of rhythm that flow one into another and demand to be read in totality
Whitman
As a child they seemed “normal” to their family and friends
Dickinson
They always felt something sad and reserved in their nature that made them a “mourner among the children”
Dickinson
At age 24, their father took them on a trip to Washington, DC and Philadelphia to get them away from a married lawyer with whom they had fallen in love with
Dickinson
After they returned home, they withdrew from all social life and turned in a state of seclusion
Dickinson
After they died, their family found nearly 1800 poems they left behind and sent them in to be published
Dickinson
While in Philadelphia, they found another love in Charles Wadsworth, who was a married pastor
Dickinson
This lost love seemed to have caused a great crisis in their life
Dickinson
They sent a few poems to Thomas Higginson of The Atlantic Monthly, who was kind of a mentor to them
Dickinson
They only wore the color white
Dickinson
It wasn’t until 1955 that all for their poems were published in an unedited edition
Dickinson
The untold secrets of their emotional life are secondary to the greatest secret of their genius
Dickinson
70 years after they died, they were finally recognized as one of the greatest poets America has ever produced
Dickinson
Also an accomplished novelist
Neither
Close observer of people and of life’s daily activities
Both
The public spokesperson of the masses and the prophet of progress
Whitman
In adulthood, only wore white
Dickinson
An obscure homebody
Dickinson
Attended Harvard
Neither
Poetry career began after their death
Dickinson
Their mode of expression is still used by American Writers
Both
Served as a model for 20th century poets
Both
Poetry is meticulous and economical
Dickinson
Lived in a state of seclusion
Dickinson
Ralph W. Emerson wrote them a letter of admiration
Whitman
Sent poems to Thomas Higginson
Dickinson
