Dickinson's Sense of individuality and loneliness

A repeating theme that's prevalent and what sets Emily Dickinson away from Walt Whitman's view of a close community is her willingness to stray away from conformity and become more of an individual. That in itself leads to a meditation on how she views loneliness and death. I believe because she is more alone she thinks more about death as "49" shows about losing someone as well as "449". She leans more on being herself and doing her own thing. "303" and "324" explains her want to not conform to the regular way to worship. She explains to become her own self and worship or concentrate on her issues or important things. Even with her belief in individuality, she writes a lot about longing for someone else or writing how she's apart from someone like in "511" and "249". I believe that those ideas contradict themselves but shows the gloominess she possesses that makes her writing seem so dark.