Walt Whitman
![]() | The poetryfoundation.org bio of Walt Whitman
(May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) begins with this: “Walt Whitman is
America’s world poet—a latter-day successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante, and
Shakespeare. In Leaves of Grass (1855), he celebrated democracy,
nature, love and friendship. This monumental work chanted praises to the
body as well as to the soul, and found beauty and reassurance even in
death.” Such is the scope and impact of his work in helping forge an
American sensibility and bringing free verse to the poetic toolbox. Whitman worked as a clerk in Washington during the Civil War and nursed injured soldiers in his spare time, which led to the poems in Drum-Taps (1865) He suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1873, after which he moved to his brother’s home. He continued to add to and revise Leaves of Grass throughout his life, producing numerous editions. Although he failed to gain much popularity in America during his, over 1,000 people attended his funeral in 1892. |
Leaves of Grass
We forget how big America must have seemed to both Americans and Europeans in the nineteenth century..
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