Both of them are considered by many people all over the world to be the greatest and most loved American poets of all times. But their lives weren’t filled up with poetry from the very first day, because writing wasn’t a very profitable business at that time. They both had tried many other jobs before they were engaged in writing. But, in my opinion, the experience they had gained while working hard, made them understand that their real occupation was poetry and nothing else.
Although they both lived in the 19th century, the things they wrote about differed. It’s because they belonged to different literary schools: H. W. Longfellow was close to abolitionists, whose goal was to abolish slavery in USA and W. Whitman’s poetry was influenced by transcendentalists, who tried to make American life more democratic.
But we can also find some similarities between their poetry, because both literary schools popularized democratic ideas. To support democracy H. W. Longfellow wrote his most famous poem “The Song of Hiawatha”, which reflected the dissatisfaction with the discrimination of the Indians. W. Whitman wrote a book of poems “Leaves of Grass”, where he poeticized nature and democracy. In his essay “The Distances of the Democracy” he criticized USA’s style of life and cherished his own ideal of democracy.
Talking about nature I should mention that it’s their second similarity, which proves that belonging to different literary schools doesn’t mean total difference of ideas and ideals of the poets. H. W. Longfellow’s “The Song of Hiawatha” was the symbol of democracy, but it was also the beautification of nature. W. Whitman had the same intention in “Leaves of Grass”. So we can make a conclusion that in their poetry nature is the symbol of freedom and democracy, and the one who understands and loves nature is the real democrat.
That’s why H. W. Longfellow chose to describe Indian culture and traditions, that’s why he showed the adventures of the fearless Hiawatha. Indians always depended on nature, but the Europeans came and destroyed the harmony of their lives. In that way of writing H. W. Longfellow appeals to the readers feelings and tries to make the humanity inside of them wake up. In my opinion, he also wants the readers to care about nature more.