Melville and Dickinson

After reading Emily Dickinson’s poetry, the straight forward nature of Melville’s style seems harsh. Each of the two poets has a different way of describing aspects of the war. Emily Dickinson delivers her views of the Civil War through sublime messages and different rhetorical devices that leave the reader guessing at both their implications and the true topic she is discussing. Contrastingly, Melville provides his readers with more direct images and language clearly expressing various battles and events that took place. The differences in their styles could be attributed to their proximity and knowledge of the war, as well as what was acceptable for that time period. It may have been more acceptable for the males to integrate, more directly, the grotesque images of the war as well as their feelings about it.
Melville’s poem “The Portent” gives details of the hanging of John Brown for his participation in “John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry.” The initial image focuses on the dead body hanging from a tree branch and the deformation that was done to it. The slow rhythm of the poem mirrors the swinging motion of Brown’s body. The progression into the second stanza takes a more macroscopic view as it hints to the uncertain future, mostly the future of the United States at this point in the war. Even the “shadow” in the first stanza could symbolically represent the darkness that is coming over the United States during this period. Melville is able to strategically combine strong images as well as historical references to give a warning to his readers and the country