Even though Emily Dickinson wrote poems and Mark Twain wrote stories both had something in common;

tastes of both Naturalism and Realism. Neither Twain nor Dickinson were Realist or Naturalist, in fact, Twain was a Regionalist above all else and Dickinson was more focused on stretching the bounds of poetry and religious themes. But, due to their influences and the style typical of their day both have Realist and Naturalistic tendencies in their writings. Dickinsons Realistic tendencies can be seen in her poems such as 236, 446, and 788. Some of these poems require more of a stretch of the imagination than a die-hard realist would like but the everyday, and thus the beauty of truth that Howells spoke of, shines through. In poem 236 Dickinson talks about going to church in her garden rather than at church. Here her distrust of man-made religion is displayed. The personifying of the Bobolink and the metaphor of the Orchard, for a dome, lie beyond the bounds of Realism however the struggle is an everyday one and this is what attracts the Realist. Poem 446 is closer to Realism. Its subject matter is a poet. An ordinary character set in ordinary society, who befalls the fate set upon him. Like all ordinary poets he creates for society only to have editors steal it and rob it of its true meaning. This has many of the technique and content aspects of Realism. It has a realistic setting, and character, the poem is logical and precise and light on the symbolism. Poem 788 is like 446 only it talks about writers in general. Though 788 has a lot more symbolism than any Realist would care for. Dickinsons poems with Naturalistic ideas are 339, and 591. The poems are close to Naturalism in technique because Naturalism is an extension of Realism and therefore follows much of the same criteria, realistic settings, and characters, close observations, a presentation of facts and a referential narrative. Poem 339 holds true to the pessimistic view Naturalism has on the honesty of people. She starts the poem with the ironic line I like a look

of agony. Here we see the truthful and ugly side of people. She exposes man to be the animal he is. A liar until he cannot fake it no more. Poem 591 focuses on death and the truly ordinary experience it is. I heard a Fly buzz when I died This line reveals the ordinary in death. Although everyone is waiting for when the King/Be witnessed in the Room there is only a fly. Showing the reader that there is no after. Death is simply a final look there is no soul that carries on whether to Heaven or Hell. Twains short story The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is a work of Regionalism with a touch of Naturalism and thus Realism. True to the nature of Regionalism the story has Eye Dialect. The Characters language is written as it was spoken. Rather than writing Smiley had a mare Twain wrote This-yer Smiley had a mare. This was to show the reader how the character Simon Wheeler spoke. The Realistic techniques found in Twains short story are a realistic setting, characters, and conversation, close observation, and a referential narrative. The setting, characters and conversation are all realistic. Unlike Dickinson who in many of her poems had unrealistic settings and characters Twains stories hold true to this Realism technique. There is close observation in the story in the way the characters talk and in the descriptions of Smileys various gambling endeavors. The story has a referential narrative because although the characters are fictional they could be real. And although the story ends in the narrator simply leaving one can imagine that Smileys story ends in tragedy because he cannot stop gambling. And Smileys unbreakable habit of gambling and even the narrators disinterest in the story show the Naturalistic ideas that humans are inherently driven by their instincts. Smileys instinct was to gamble and that instinct was determined by the fact that he was poor and in an even poorer environment. Though neither Twain nor Dickinson are Realists and therefore cannot be Naturalists either, both have these tendencies in their writings.