Walt Whitman, famous for his poem "O Captain! My Captain!", was one of America's greatest 19th-century poets. He was also a journalist. Whitman wrote one of the finest works of American literature, the poetry collection Leaves of Grass.
Early Life of Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was born on May 31, in West Hills, Long Island, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a Quaker carpenter, while his mother took care of nine children. As a child he loved books, in particular, Dante, Homer, Shakespeare, and the Bible.
As a youth, Whitman attended rural schools. He was originally trained to be a printer, but spending many summers on Long Island, he developed a deep love of nature that was to dominate his writing.
Whitman the Journalist
For most of his life, Whitman worked as a journalist. He began writing for newspapers in New York, but as a young man, he travelled to New Orleans to work on a paper there and saw the huge difference and diversity of his country for the first time.
Back in New York, Whitman witnessed the rapid growth of the city as hundreds of thousands of people arrived from all over he world to make a better life. His experiences inspired him to write a new kind of poetry that could capture and express his sentiment at this amazing influx of diverse people seeking and longing for freedom.
Whitman the Poet
The first edition of Leaves of Grass was published at Whitman's own expense; he was 36 years old. At that time, his poems were taken as unusual, therefore, no publisher would accept them. The poems of Walt Whitman are a celebration of nature, of the individual, of freedom, and of kinship of all humanity. He was widely criticized for his use of blank verse, as well as his openness about sexuality.
The American Civil War and His Captain
During the American Civil War, Whitman worked as a nurse. After the war he published Drum-Taps, poems about his experience of war, including one of his most famous and monumental 'O Captain! My Captain!', about the death of President Abraham Lincoln. Walt Whitman died at the age of 72.
Whitman, whose American poetry is often equated to Virgil's Latin, shows influence in the Spanish verses of poets Garcia Lorca and Neruda.
Walt Whitman's Works
- Leaves of Grass, 1855
- Drum-Taps, 1865
- Sequel to Drum-Taps, including 'O Captain! My Captain!, 1865-1866
- Democratic Vistas, 1871
- Memoranda During the War, 1875
- Specimen Days and Collect, 1882
Sources:
Chambers Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern (2002)
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)
 |
