Echoes of loss in William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra and Walter Whitman’s “My Captain” : a comparative study

Abstract EN

In the area of comparative studies, influence plays an important role in shedding new lights on literary works.

This study compares an extract from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra with a modern poem written by Walter Whitman.

In the two texts, the speakers are lamenting the death of someone special.

The direction of the feelings of loss is from the personal to the public.

Despite the gender differences between them, both want the whole world to share their desolation and sadness.

Points of similarity and differences are tackled in the paper.

Genre, diction, imagery, tone and tension are diverse areas of concern to be deliberated.

It is interesting to read examples of communicating history through literature and especially poetry.