In a short essay,compare and contrast Dickinson’s poem 1675 (it begins, “Of God we ask one favor”) with section 20 of Whitman’s Song of Myself (this section of Whitman’s poem begins “Who goes there?”).

In a short essay, compare and contrast Dickinson’s poem 1675 (it begins, “Of God we ask one favor”) with section 20 of Whitman’s Song of Myself (this section of Whitman’s poem begins “Who goes there?”). Dickinson’s poem is on page 1691 of our text; Whitman’s is on 1325-1326. Your most important task is to capture the themes or implied messages of these poems. To do that well, you must discuss the key images and metaphors of the poems. You must, in other words, demonstrate that you understand the writers’ language and ideas. (Because Dickinson’s poem is very short, you’ll want to discuss the movement of ideas line-by-line; for Whitman, you’ll want to do this in a more summary way, or perhaps stanza-by-stanza.) Some of the differences in style and voice will be obvious (though not always easy to describe). But comparing the themes or messages or attitudes will be a tougher–but most important–job. Both poets are eager to share ideas, to share a perspective on life. What are those ideas and attitudes? In what ways are they alike and different?