Walt Whitman - The American Poet
Uploaded by slayer2809 on Jan 05, 2002
There’s no question to who the worlds greatest poet is, William Shakespeare, but theres also no question to who the worlds greatest 19th century poet is, Walt Whitman. Whitman was a great influence on many American and foreign poets. His style and concerns are like no others. Where would American literature be today without Walt Whitman?
Whitman was born in Huntington, New York. He was the second born of nine children. His family moved when he was four and he grew up in Brooklyn. For many years Whitman was in and out of editing newspapers and writing for them, even teaching public school at one time in his carrer. In 1855 Whitman released “Leaves of Grass”, a kind of poetry, far different from his sappy rhymed verses earlier years. Many considered Whitman’s praising the human body vulgar. Whitman was forced to publish it himself. This book of poems published by Whitman was a new kind of peotry that the people of the 19th century had never seen before. His style was filled with rhymes and reasons, suffering and symbolism. Whitman republished “Leaves of Grass” nine times, by the third time the book had tripled in size. With each new addition “Leaves of Grass” saw more and more sales and eventually Whitman was able to survive comfortably on his poems success. Whitman was also very fond of operas. This influence drives the writing of two of Whitman’s poems, "Children of Adam" and "Calamus".
The Civil War was hard on Walt Whitman. Through the war Whitman was often depressed about the war torn country, and would often write poems of angry and dislike for the war, of which he would never publish. During 1862, in the middle of the Civil War, Whitman left Brooklyn to search for his brother George who was listed as missing after the Battle of Fredericksburg. George had became a prisoner of the Confederates Army. Know one really knows if he found hs brother, but we do know that he there found him self working in a military hospital. It seems as though all great writers have some kind of war experience, whether it be fighting in the war or just helping in a hospital. The war gave Whitman some great and needed inspiration. Whitman published a small volume of poems entitled, “Drum Taps”. They were later included in the 1867 edition of “Leaves of Grass”. Finally, in 1881,...