Reference no: EM133580192

Question: "In the first half of the nineteenth century", we can read in the Norton Anthology, "lobbying for the existence of an American literature in magazines seemed to take up more space than the literature itself" (389), and the idea of literary greatness was a commonly discussed topic. The nation, it was said, "must have a literature to match Niagra Falls and the Rocky Mountains" (Norton 389). How do Whitman and Dickinson meet this demand in their respective writings? Consider both form and content.