Other essays and articles in the Literature Archives related to this topic include : The Role of Nature in Transcendentalism : Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson • Transcendentalism and the Poetry of Walt Whitman •   Analysis and Summary of “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau •  Persistent Themes in the Poetry of W.B. Yeats  • Summary and Analysis of the Poem “Departmental” by Robert Frost  •  Poem Analysis of “Traveling Through the Dark” by William Stafford

 Ruben Dariò also writes about the loss of a friend, although he loses his friend to a physical distance, not to death. In “Antonio Machado”, Ruben Dariò talks about his friend Antonio, who brimmed with charisma, intelligence and love. According to the poem, Antonio Machado was faithful and fiery about his beliefs, however, one day “He mounted a rare wing’s hose” (19), and disappeared. The treatment of the situations varies here in the poem by Ruben Dario, “Antonio Machado”, between the sailors’ reaction and the friend of Antonio. While the sailor in the poem by “Antonio Machado” by Ruben Dario is stuck in shock and laments only that there are so many people waiting to meet his father, the friend of Antonio focuses more on the features of the man that he will miss the most, ending the poem with a prayer to the gods.

The loss of a loved one is not the only place in which Whitman and Dariò differ on their poetic means of dealing with situations. The two poets have a similar distaste regarding the art of war within their poetry, although their methods of expression are again, very different. In Whitman’s poem “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night”, a soldier recounts the loss of his son, a fellow comrade, on the battlefield. He sees the shot that hits him, but he must charge on into battle to do his duty. However, once the battle is over, he returns to the spot where the body lays and sits in a silent vigil, watching over the person that he cared for in life, “Vigil of silence, love and death, vigil for you my son and my soldier” (line 17). As the sun begins to rise, the son is lowered into the ground. In Dariò’s similar poem, “Song of Hope”, he rails against the injustice of war, using powerful images. The Wind is portrayed as being horrified, while the population is filled with awe; the heart of the world is full of grief and Life is attempting to pour out on all of those who are wounded. The narrator finds his solace in prayer, begging to God to come and free the world from the confines of war. The main difference in these poems of war is the way in which the characters react to seeing destruction. Whitman’s character simply sits in silent vigil, while Dariò’s character cries out in vain for God to save them.

Although Ruben Dariò and Walt Whitman write about very similar experiences and feelings, there seems to be a key difference between the two. What seems to be a common thread of difference between Dariò’s poems and those of Whitman is the reliance on God in times of trouble. In the first poem, Dariò’s narrator begs the Gods to watch over his missing friend, and to keep him safe from woe. The same line is followed in the second poem, where he prays to God to cease the pains of war on the world, whether through the infusion of life or the second coming of the Christ. The transcendentalist poet Whitman seems to almost shy away from these sorts of entreaties to a higher power. In the first poem, the sailor son finds solace in pacing the deck where his father lay, reveling in the cold silence of reflection. The same can be true for the second poem, where the father sits in silent vigil over his son’s body, until the light of dawn breaks free. Perhaps the differences in culture and various nurturing effects are the cause of this split between reliance on God and reliance on Self. However, surprisingly, when one examines the poetry of these great writers, it seems that this split is the only solid difference between the Father of Modernism and the Poet of Democracy. Perhaps it would be safe to say that the focus on emotion that both poets share is the greatest possible binding agent of all.

Works Cited

Borges, Jorge. “Walt Whitman: Man and Myth” Critical Inquiry vol 1 (1975): pp. 707-718.

Boyd, Lola. “Lo de Dentro” in Ruben Dariò. Hispania, Vol. 45, No.4 (Dec, 1962), pp. 651-657.

Dariò, Ruben. “Antonio Machado.” Retrieved December 9, 2007 from http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/30008-Ruben-Dariò-Oracion-por-Antonio-Machado–With-English-Translation–wbr-

Dariò, Ruben. “Antonio Machado.” Retrieved December 9, 2007 from http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/30012-Ruben-Dariò-Canto-de-Esperanza–With-English-Translation–wbr-

Whitman, Walt. “Oh Captain, My Captain.” Retrieved December 8, 2007, from http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/o_captain_my_captain.html

Whitman, Walt. “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field one Night” Retrieved December 9, 2007 http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/vigil_strange_i_kept.html