Whitman and Dickinson - Influence Outside the USA?

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Right now I'm taking a class on Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, commonly seen as the mother and father of American poetry. They really helped develop America's "voice." I am curious, though, how popularly read and/or taught Whitman and Dickinson are in other countries. I would think they would at least have some modicum of impact outside the USA as both of their poetry was incredibly unique and groundbreaking for the time.

[LitNetIsGreat]

They're not studied very much if at all in the UK, certainly for GCSE English Literature (14-16 year old) beyond that age I'm not 100% certain. I suspect that the odd poem might find its way in somewhere but certainly not to a large degree.

[JCamilo]

Whitman is imense. He is the basic influence on latin-american poetry from Ruben Dario, Borges, Neruda, Drummond... (One can say, the basic field of Latin American poetry was Borges and Neruda arguing over Whitman). It is also one of the main ideas behind Fernando Pessoa and you can find him in spanish modern poetry as well.

Dickinson is something slower, because her discovery is later, you have her on Manuel Bandeira poetry in Brazil and women poetry.

[OrphanPip]

I've been led to believe that Whitman had a major influence on South American poetry. I think Dickinson has had less of a direct impact, especially since she was largely ignored until the mid 20th century. She's critically popular largely because, with hindsight, we can see how much she predicated a lot of the trends in Modernist poetry. Poe is really the other 19th century American author who has had a global impact.

Edit: JC beat me.

Edit2: I don't think they are widely studied in Canada either, but I did encounter Dickinson in college English courses.

[Intuition]

Whitman is imense. He is the basic influence on latin-american poetry from Ruben Dario, Borges, Neruda, Drummond... (One can say, the basic field of Latin American poetry was Borges and Neruda arguing over Whitman). It is also one of the main ideas behind Fernando Pessoa and you can find him in spanish modern poetry as well.

Dickinson is something slower, because her discovery is later, you have her on Manuel Bandeira poetry in Brazil and women poetry.

Without a doubt.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/977855

[Lokasenna]

They're not studied very much if at all in the UK, certainly for GCSE English Literature (14-16 year old) beyond that age I'm not 100% certain. I suspect that the odd poem might find its way in somewhere but certainly not to a large degree.

I'd agree with that. I hadn't encoutered either of them until I went to university, though I seem to remember that some of the other classes in school did a bit of Whitman...

That said, I think most British people who know about poetry consider both figures important. I like Whitman, but I really love Dickinson - my complete collection of her poetry is one of the most thumbed books I own. I can open it at a random page and always find something of value.

[dfloyd]

whether they are taught in colleges or universities or not. Evelyn Waugh isn't taught in Amercan Schools, but I've read almost all his novels. One of the pleasantist things about literature is discovering authors the pedagogues have dismissed.

[stuntpickle]

Of the two, Whitman has surely been more influential. I, however, much prefer Dickinson. Whitman, like Shakespeare, seems always to comprehend you; he's a like a big circle wherein your smaller one is located. Dickinson, on the other hand, is completely foreign and strange and is always located beyond the periphery of your own mind; when you pair that with her unsettling calm and absolute control, the result is nearly terrifying. Generally, when a poet encounters death, he beats his chest or weeps; Dickinson shrugs, chuckles and keeps going. I've really never encountered anything like Dickinson anywhere else in all of literature.

[mal4mac]

Outside the insular confines of school & university, I think they are given their due in the UK. They pop up quite often on Radio 4. For example, Emily had a programme devoted to her just last month:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0137ynp

.. and here's a programme on Whitman devotees in Bolton(!):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lf0vj

[Arrowni]

Whitman by a landslide. He and Ponge are among the most influential 20th century poets.

Dickinson is a much better travel partner though.