Ideas of Gender and Domesticity in Leaves of Grass and Some Poems by Emily Dickinson Although Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were both highly autonomous and individualistic, he found importance in "boundaries" and believed that the soul was only accessible through a physical connection with nature, while he chose to isolate himself and s isolating himself from his community in order to concentrate solely on his writing. In this analysis, I will examine excerpts from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and Emily Dickinson's poems, "I Am 'Woman' — I Have Finished That," "What Mystery Permeates a Well!" and “I'll tell you how the sun rose,” to contrast their depictions of self-realization and domesticity and the implications of that domesticity for their gender. The first topic I will discuss and compare is their different attitudes towards “domesticity”. This is, of course, the opposite of everything Walt Whitman believed in. As I mentioned, he believed that the only way to have a pure soul and true connections to Earth was to venture there. Physical, rather than emotional, connections with nature were absolutely necessary for life and full self-realization (Commentary, 62). Section 33 of Leaves of Grass begins by cataloging all the wonders of nature he has seen: "Where the panther comes and goes... where the otter feeds on fish... where the black bear searches for roots or honey …In the course of sugar growth, on the yellow-flowered cotton plant…On the western persimmon tree, on the long-leaved corn…” (L, 33), and is later followed by “no guard can stop me, no law doesn't stop me from stopping. me". Whitman explains how he is free and living on the American frontier and attests that this is the only true way to be free, to find... middle of paper... and the end of his ability . writing. Domesticity for her – the only circumstances in which she would be able to do so. Works Cited Commentary, Kristin M. “Wasn't She a Lesbian?” Teaching Homoerotic Themes in Dickinson and Whitman. 2009): 61. General OneFile Internet. May 9, 2014. Hughes, Gertrude Reif. “Subverting the Cult of Domesticity: Emily Dickinson's Critique of Women's Work” Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers 3.1 (1986). : 17-28. MLA International Bibliography Internet. May 9, 2014. “City in Decay: Walt Whitman’s New York and the Science of Life and Death.” MUSE Internet. May 9, 2014. Wrobel, Arthur. “Whitman and the Phrenologists: The Divine Body and the Sensual Soul.” PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association 89.1 (1974): 17-23. MLA International Bibliography. Internet. May 9 2014.