* Walt Whitman is considered a key figure of American Transcendentalism, a movement that valued intuition, individualism, and a connection with nature. His poetry is characterized by free verse, long lines, and a celebration of democracy and the common man.
* Emily Dickinson is considered a unique and independent voice, resisting categorization within any specific literary school. While her work has elements of Romanticism (emphasis on emotion and individuality), Gothic (dark themes and imagery), and Realism (focus on everyday life), it ultimately defies easy classification.
So, while both poets were American and contemporaries, they had distinct styles and approaches that placed them in different literary contexts.