What were Whitman's and Dickinson's attitudes towards death?

Both Whitman and Dickinson present death not as a final ending point, but as something that can be transcended. To explore this, let us look at two oft-quoted passages from each poet.

Here is an excerpt from Dickinson:

Because I could not stop for Death—

He kindly stopped for me—

The Carriage held but just Ourselves—

And Immortality.

First, death is personified. Death is a character (as evidenced by "he") who is seemingly driving a...

Both Whitman and Dickinson present death not as a final ending point, but as something that can be transcended. To explore this, let us look at two oft-quoted passages from each poet.

Here is an excerpt from Dickinson:

Because I could not stop for Death—

He kindly stopped for me—

The Carriage held but just Ourselves—

And Immortality.

First, death is personified. Death is a character (as evidenced by "he") who is seemingly driving a carriage. Initially, the scary abyss that is death is made human, companionable, and subservient. Also in the carriage is a third character, Immortality. Immortality is the ability to live forever or to survive death. For Dickens, death is not a fearful entity. Death is a common occurrence, intrinsically paired with immortality. It is an idea that points to common adages today, such as "In death, there is life."

From Whitman, let us consider the epigraph to "Leaves of Grass":

Come, said my Soul,

Such verses for my Body let us write, (for we are one,)

That should I after death invisibly return, 

Or, long, long hence, in other spheres,

There to some group of mates the chants resuming,

(Tallying Earth's soil, trees, winds, tumultuous waves,)

Ever with pleas'd smile I may keep on,

Ever and ever yet the verses owning--as, first, I here and now,

Signing for Soul and Body, set to them my name. . . 

In this epigraph, Whitman directly addresses the function of his writing as it relates to his own mortality. He is writing as a way of marrying his soul to his human body in order to propagate his own life. As a result, when others, "some group of mates," goes on chanting his rhymes, he may keep on with a "pleas'd smile." In essence, when we breathe life by reading Whitman's words today, we breathe life into him.