Edgar Allan Poe's "To Helen"

 Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was one of the most influential figures in American literature, widely recognized for his mastery of Gothic fiction, horror, and detective stories. He was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father and mother, both professional actors, died before the poet was three years old. He was taken in by the Allan family (John and Frances Allan) as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia, and adopted the name as his middle name. However, his relationship with his foster father was often strained. John Allan, a prosperous tobacco exporter, sent Poe to the best boarding schools and, later, to the University of Virginia, where Poe excelled academically. After less than one year of school, however, he was forced to leave university when Allan refused to pay Poe’s gambling debts.

The Poetic Version of Emily Dickinson

 Emily Dickinson is one of the most original poets in American literature; her genius contribution was recognized only after her death. Though she lived a quiet and secluded life, her poetry shows a powerful and intense imagination. She wrote nearly 1,800 poems, most of which were published after her death. Her work broke away from traditional poetic rules and helped shape modern poetry. When she died in 1886 at Amherst, she left behind more than a thousand unpublished poems. Very few people were aware that she had written them. Some of these poems were mere drafts or ideas written on scraps of paper, while others had been carefully revised. Dickinson had instructed that her poems be destroyed after her death. Although her sister initially began destroying her papers, she soon realized their exceptional value and preserved them. These poems were later given to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and within a few years they were published in several volumes, announcing the arrival of a unique and original American poet.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ by Langston Hughes

The poem 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers' is the earlier production of Langston Hughes' poetic career. He was only eighteen years old and a recent graduate from high school. He wrote this poem on a train while he was going to Mexico to live with his father. When the train was crossing the Mississippi River, the sun was setting, and the poet was attracted by the beauty of the sight. He was reminded of its role in thriving and sustaining human civilization, along with its role in slavery and the slave trade in America. He had a long journey ahead of him. He took out an envelope containing his father's letter, and at the back of it he drafted the poem within ten to fifteen minutes.

At a glance: 'The Death of the Hired Man' by Robert Frost

 The poem "The Death of the Hired Man" is a dramatic narrative poem. It describes the death of an old servant (hired man) in the house of his master, Warren. Warren and his wife, Mary, have sharply divided opinions on the old servant, and their attitudes to him are diametrically opposite. It vividly describes the humane considerations of Mary, and the cruel feelings and unkind considerations of Warren, for their old servant Silas, who comes back to their house after quite a long time in a very weak condition of health, and dies there within a short time after his arrival.

Whitman as a poet of Democracy

Walt Whitman, the representative poet of America, is primarily the poetic spokesman of Democracy. He is considered one of the greatest poets of democracy, and that, not only in American literature, but in the world literature as well. He believed in the inherent dignity and equality of all men and women.  He gave priority of individual over society. All individuals should be developed so that they produce. He brought about innovation in poetry. The realistic tradition in American literature is strengthen by Whitman. He liberated the American sense and sensibility from the shackles of conservation and Puritanism. He celebrated the beauty of everyday things and works democracy and common people whom he hailed as the most important force in society. He greeted the revolutionary event and developments of his time and advocated international craftsmanship. His conception of democracy is based on this belief.

Whitman as a mystic poet

 Whitman as a mystic poet:

It is an established fact that Mysticism is not a philosophy, or doctrine, but rather a temper of mind. A mystical experience, according to Bertrand Russell, involves insight, a sense of unity and the unreality of time and space, and a belief that evil is mere an appearance. Whitman’s poetry is full of mystic and transcendental strains. He had no coherent philosophy of life, but he certainly shows a strong note of mysticism and transcendentalism in his poetry. Here it is important to note that he was deeply influenced by Emerson, the American transcendentalist.