Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was a prominent American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist, born in New York in 1819. He is often referred to as the father of free verse and made a significant impact on the writing world by publishing hundreds of poems during his lifetime. Whitman's most celebrated free verse, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855, and he continued to improve it until his death in 1892.

Whitman was part of the transition between Transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. His poetry is among the most influential in the American canon, and he is known for his humanistic celebration of humanity. In addition to publishing his poetry, Whitman worked as a journalist, teacher, government clerk, and volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. He also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans, early in his career.

Whitman wrote his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass, in 1855, pioneering free verse poetry in a humanistic celebration of humanity. Emerson, whom Whitman revered, said of Leaves of Grass that it held "incomparable things incomparably said." During the Civil War, Whitman worked as an army nurse, later writing Drum Taps (1865) and Memoranda During the War (1867). His health compromised by the experience, he was given work at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. After a stroke in 1873, which left him partially paralyzed, Whitman lived his next 20 years with his brother, writing mainly prose, such as Democratic Vistas (1870). Leaves of Grass was published in nine editions, with Whitman elaborating on it in each successive edition. In 1881, the book had the compliment of being banned by the commonwealth of Massachusetts on charges of immorality. Whitman was at most a Deist who scorned religion.

Whitman was born on Long Island and worked as a journalist, teacher, government clerk, and volunteer nurse. He suffered a stroke in 1873 and spent the last twenty years of his life in Camden, New Jersey, where he continued to write poetry. The seventh edition of Leaves of Grass was published in 1881 to generally favorable reviews, but the book was soon banned in Boston on the grounds that it was obscene literature. Whitman died two months later on the evening of March 26, 1892, and was buried four days afterward at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden.