* Whitman's Free Verse: Whitman is famous for his free verse poetry. This means he didn't follow traditional rhyme schemes or meter, favoring a more conversational, natural flow. Blank verse, with its strict iambic pentameter, would have felt restrictive to him.
* Dickinson's Unique Style: Dickinson's poetry is also unconventional, but in a different way. She often used short, rhyming lines with irregular rhythm, pushing against the boundaries of traditional form. While she sometimes employed regular meter, blank verse wasn't her preferred choice.
Finding Blank Verse Examples:
While not their primary forms, you *might* find *hints* of blank verse within their works:
* Whitman: Some lines in "Song of Myself" or "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" might *accidentally* fall into iambic pentameter. But this isn't a conscious use of the form, and the surrounding lines would likely deviate.
* Dickinson: Certain lines in "Because I could not stop for Death" or "The Soul selects her own Society" might also approach iambic pentameter, but again, this is more coincidental than intentional.
The Big Picture:
Instead of seeking out specific blank verse examples, it's more valuable to appreciate Whitman and Dickinson for their unique styles: Whitman's groundbreaking free verse and Dickinson's enigmatic, often irregular rhyming.