Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal for Emily Dickinson



Author Quote:

“Faith” is a fine invention
For Gentlemen who see
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency!






Internet Quote: Emily Dickinson is now considered a powerful and persistent figure in American culture. (Wikipedia)





Summary: It seems like Emily was a little “different.” Unmarried, possibly bi-sexual, obsessed with death and flowers, and a recluse dressed in white…




Response: I like Dickinson’s dark dwelling on death, and her quirky personality. I like it that she refused to fit in at the seminary school preferring instead to think for her self. I like how she also refuses to follow the rules regarding punctuation. I think Dickinson is the inspiration for the Gothic cartoon character Emily the Strange.

Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal for Whitman



Author Quote:
“I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,
Stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with the stuff
that is fine,
One of the Nation of many nations, the smallest the same and the
largest the same” (Norton 41).

Internet Quote: “‘Song of Myself’ is a sprawling combination of biography, sermon, and poetic meditation....composed more of vignettes than lists: Whitman uses small, precisely drawn scenes to do his work here.” (sparknotes)


Summary: “Song of Myself” is a very long poem of un-rhymed verse that seems to combine many different topics.


Response: When I first read this I was overwhelmed by the length and what seemed multiple subjects all grouped together like a series of lists. I have to admit, I don’t get it. The second time, I decided to just let it wash over me and see how it goes. This time, I feel like I am going through a pile of photographs with different scenes. I especially like the way he describs different images as if he is walking through a city and taking snapshots of everything. I’m still not sure what to make of all this, but his manner of describing everything is very interesting. I got the impression he is saying he is part of everything. That there is no place where one things stops and another begins. It reminds me of the Beatles' I Am the Walrus:

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.