Whitman and Dickinson will serve as two poles (though not necessarily polar opposites) around which we will orient our approach to American literature in the late nineteenth century. After Emerson had, in 1837, demanded an “original relation to the universe” and a “literature of insight and not of tradition,” American writers responded in remarkable ways. Whitman took up Emerson’s charge whole-heartedly and in a deeply public way. Dickinson, on the other hand, though she is quite as “insightful,” is infamous for her self-seclusion. By attending closely to these two representative responses to a rapidly developing America—with a western side becoming less and less (or more and more) “wild”—we will examine whether and how American writers were able to achieve the original relation Emerson called for. From Whitman and Dickinson, we’ll move westward to search for the effects of their enterprise on Americans living (and dying) at the other end of a nation newly connected by the Transcontinental Railroad, from the immigrants forced to build the tracks to the Indians forced to vacate their ancestral lands to make more picturesque the “Democratic Vista” those in the East might have imagined.

Specific texts yet to be determined, but expect heavy early emphasis on Whitman (including the several editions of “Leaves of Grass” as well as “Democratic Vistas”) and Dickinson’s poems and letters. Other writers may include Emerson, Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, Frank Norris, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Zitkala Sa, Chief Seattle, John Muir, and others.

Evaluated work for the course will likely include a final essay, two exams (midterm and final) and a collaborative annotation project.