Compare this with a more rhymed and classical sounding piece by Whitman's contemporary, Edgar Allan Poe, entitled "Hymn to Aristogeiton and Harmodious": "Ye deliverers of Athens from shame! ... Endless ages shall cherish your fame embalmed in their echoing songs (Poe 50) !" ... This poem seems to embody every aspect of Walt Whitman and possibly every aspect of each person in the world. ... The extremely popular, rhymed, and melodramatic poem "O Captain! ... This poem shows very much Whitman's belief that it is important for one to stand up for what one believes in and to make it clea...

• Word Count: 1471
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Matthiessen was influential in determining the canon of American writers from this period: Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman. ... Walt Whitman Whitman's poem, "Song of Myself," from "Leaves of Grass" is often considered the most stunningly original poem ever written by an American. ... " The poem is innovative both in terms of style and content, forever altering the course of American poetry. The poem clearly participates in the invention of a myth of a democratic America. ... Poe's work often explores questions of individual psychology, but can c...

• Word Count: 917
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The first draft of "Thanatopsis," his most famous poem, was written when he was 16 years of age, and he was only 27 years old when his first published volume, Poems, appeared in 1821. ... Emily Dickinson- Heralded as one of the most gifted American writers, Emily Dickinson authored nearly 2,000 poems. ... Edgar Allan Poe- The short stories and poetry of 19th-century American Edgar Allan Poe reflect the writer's haunting imagination. Poe, one of the earliest masters of short story writing, created the first detective stories. ... In 1917 her collection Renascence and Other Poems was publis...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."1 Therefore, it makes sense that if mortals cannot bear the darkness, they [should not] not go there. If man dislikes "black night and yawning chasms,"2 then should he not even consider them? Shouldn't man seek out the sunshine, instead? The remedy is very simple: Avoid the darkness and seek the light. But, no. ...

• Word Count: 3126
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School