Ashley Everidge

Dr. Fuller
Major American Writers- Exam #1
7 October 2014
Poetic Formal Elements
Early American poets are proclaimed for their talent and their formal poetic elements,
though forms among these poets range in style from one extreme to the other. Some poets are
especially revered for their styles, including Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily
Dickinson. These three poets are all famous for their works, and all are talked about for the
specific flair each adds to their writing.
Poe is quite the traditional poet, at least in his form. He is known for using a structured
format, including sonnets and villanelles, to shape his poetry. Meter is important to his work, but
he is good at keeping the flow without making the meter overly obvious. In his poetry, Poe uses
both iambic and trochaic meter. His poems also include many rhyming words, following some
rhyming rules, while ignoring others. He is extremely clever with using rhyme within a single
line, as well as using true end rhyme. Poe uses punctuation both in his own stylistic ways and in
classic ways. For example, throughout his poetry, he uses commas and periods in systematic
ways to aid in the reading of his poems. Stylistically, he often uses dashes in the middle and at
the end of lines, and joins words with hyphens. Lastly, line length is varied for Poe. Most poems
contain lines of medium length, with occasional shorter or longer ones; however, this is not
always the case, seeing as to how he uses more lengthy lines in The Raven.
Poes style may be the result of his life and his history. He did use traditional styles of
form, which allows one to think he has a pretty normal life. These seemingly perfect forms are

interrupted, though, by dashes implying a dramatic pause and in-line rhyming. This is similar to
Poes life; he never could hit a winning streak and miserable things happened to him.
Additionally, Poe may want the readers to pause to take time to think about what should be right
and just in life. His anti-slavery views support the idea that Poe wants people to really think
about what they do before they give in to views that other people hold; dashes physically display
on the page a way that readers should take time for contemplation.
In contrast, Whitman writes as he pleases, not worrying with forms and structures. He
does not care to add meter or rhyme to his poetry. Similarly, he does not add specific, theatrical
punctuation. Whitman does favor longer lines and catalogues, which can be seen throughout
Song of Myself. Generally speaking, his poetry only adheres to the rules he has created for
himself and for his work.
Whitmans style of writing represents much of what he stands for in life. He embraces the
working class, who do whatever they can to survive. In this same way, his poetry does what it
needs to, rhyme or not, in order to portray the message. His free flowing style also shows how he
wants to have joy and celebrate life in a spontaneous way. In addition, Whitman is establishing
his belief in the individuals sacredness by being unstructured and original through his poetry.
Dickinson also added to the world of poetry in a non-traditional way. She certainly does
not follow generic rules and forms, including the lack of titles for her poems. She does not
follow perfect meter in her poetry, but does include both iambic pentameter and iambic
tetrameter. Dickinson also uses slant rhyme more than true rhyme, which is a trademark of her
poetry. Another characteristic of her poetry is the dash, which she uses frequently, especially at
the end of lines. In some places where Dickinson does not use a dash, she chooses to use

enjambment. This technique is part of the reasoning for the consistency of line length in her
poetry.
In her poems, Dickinson addresses roles of women and begins to challenge these roles, as
well as tradition in general. She also embraces contradiction and uncertainty. These themes are
assisted by the structure of her poems. She pushes against tradition by being a female poet and
by creating her own form to follow while writing. She also creates uncertainty and hesitation
through the use of dashes; this especially encourages her poems about death to allow time for
thought. Finally, her poetry may be paradoxical because it differs from other poetry of the time.
As a whole, poets bring their own experience into their form, even if they write in a
structured way. Poets make stylistic choices to aid in their messages and to be able to write in a
way that is comfortable for them. No matter the style or form, as long as there is a purpose, the
poem can be successful. Poe, Whitman, and Dickinson all have techniques that set them apart
from others and that is one of the reasons their poetry is so greatly known.