Comparison Between Dickinson and Whitman’s View of the Sea Essay Example

is only logical to believe that the sea is a female in his mind because a woman is the one that rocks the cradle. Moreover, he understands both faces of the sea; the loving one and the angry one. We recognize this when he calls the sea a “fierce old mother” (133). It is both “fierce” and still it remains a “mother”. In addition, because of the motherly figure he has identified the sea as we recognize his view on what position he has placed himself in regarding the sea. He feels it’s a rather high position because the sea answered to his call for the “clew” (158) he seeks.

Finally, Whitman reconciles himself with the faces of nature and the sea and is able to create a useful and successful connection with them. This is projected when, at the end of the poem, he states “Lisp'd to me the low and delicious word death” (168) which means that he finally understood what the sea said to him in his younger age. On the other hand, when reading Emily Dickinson’s “I started Early-Took My Dog”, poem #520, we view almost the exact opposite opinions and beliefs. Dickinson feels she does not belong on the beach or near the sea.

It is plainly said when she states that she visits the sea. Her statement “And visited the Sea” (2) does not represent any sort of comfort. As if the sea is some spectacle that she can only be in contact with from afar. “Mermaids Came out to look at me” (2,3) promotes alienation as well. It’s as if the inhabitants of the sea view

her as an outsider and are monitoring her every move. Another reason she feels more isolated from the sea is because she has personified it with the male gender with which she does not have any real experience and so she does not know how to handle it.

Moreover, she does not fully understand both faces of nature, and thus the sea. “And made as he would eat me up” (13) is a phrase that shows us how focused she is on the aggressive side of the sea. Because she was so focused on the angry side of the sea, even before it tried to take her, she feels greatly inferior to it. She states “Presuming Me to be a Mouse”. This phrase is what shows us her feelings of inferiority because she feels as defenseless against the sea as a mouse.

Because of this inferiority she feels towards the sea, she is not able to communicate with it, like Whitman did, and is unsuccessful into forming a useful connection with it. She forms a connection of fear and apprehensiveness when she is frightened to the extreme and runs away. On the whole, even if there are slight similarities in what is mentioned in the two poems, the differences mentioned above cannot be ignored. Dickinson’s view of the sea is one of fear and apprehension while Whitman’s view of it is one of mutual understanding.