Whitman and his peers

 In the Village Blacksmith, I am reminded of the part of Whitman's poem when he is describing the farmer, or the slave working. He speaks about his strong arms and the way his hair looks. They both write about the obvious hard work and strength of these men, but Whitman's is more of just a view, presenting the man as he is. In Wadsworth's he draws form this man a lesson, he creates a story with him as oppose to Whitman allowing you to create the lesson for yourself. He speaks about him going to church, hearing his daughter sing and he gives him thanks for teaching him a lesson,

"Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
 Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
 Each burning deed and thought."

I also looked at Smith's, An Incident,

It was similar to Whitman in the way that she sees animals and draws conclusions on life from them.

I noticed these poets are not as forward as Whitman is in his works. They write about what they see, how they perceive things.They are also more rhythmic and focus on themselves more. I know Whitman does focus on himself but he does it in a way that can be transferred onto the reader.