with WhitmanÆs the concern for immersing ourselves in the ônow,ö the concern with the nature of death and immortality, and the investigation of the truth of things beyond the immediate, material reality. In DickinsonÆs poems, opposing forces work together at the heart of things. DickinsonÆs poems, ôSuccess is counted sweetest,ö (#67)*, ôI like the look of agony,ö (#241), ôMuch madness is the finest sense,ö (#435), and ôTell all the truth but tell is slant,ö (#1129) all seem to focus on how opposites meet, clash, and are resolved or left in dynamic tension. Segments of WhitmanÆs ôSong of Myself,ö and ôCrossing Brooklyn Ferryö will be compared to these poems of Dickinson in order to discover something more about the nature of spiritual inquiry and the similarities and differences in the way these two poets proceed. We shall see that Whitman arrives at a vision of spiritual wholeness by quite another route.
In ôSuccess is counted sweetest,ö (#67) an early poem, (written as early as 1858), Dickinson is already exploring the powerful nature of opposing forces:
In the opening lines of this poem, the poet is reflecting on the irony of opposites. She says, here, that success is appreciated most by ôthose who donÆt succeed,ö pointing out that all things in life have their opposites, and it is by recognizing an opposing force that the thing itself comes into clear, sharp relief. This poem is not about success, then, but about how success can best be defined when it is held up next to its functional opposite, failure. This early lesson in the nature of the human spirit focuses on how opposition itself yields truths that otherwise might not be discernable.
Functioning opposites are also the way Dickinson explores the nature of death in ôI like the look of agony,ö (#241):
The eyes glaze onceùand that is Deathù
Here, the poet opposes the ôreal thingö against what itÆs like to ôfake it,ö when she s...