Answer - You are looking for why they were considered radical, what was radical about the form and content of their work. We know both writers were considered radical because of their take on identity; especially Gender, political, sexual and religious “Christian” identity. Emily Dickinson’s and Walt Whitman’s poetry deal with the same themes, where Emily Dickinson’s poems are short, strictly metered and seem anti-American Walt Whitman’s are free verse and patriotic. Whitman celebrates the American way in anthem like poetry and Dickinson’s are more critical, more defiant to class and culture.
The major difference with Emily and Walt was that Emily had short and seemingly simple poems. But Walt's poems were long and often complex. ... Also Whitman uses lengthy and wordy descriptions in his poetry, but Dickinson is very straight to the point.
