Contents
Walt Whitman
Writing Leaves of Grass and expanding American free verse.
Leaves of Grass · Drum-Taps
- Born
- 31 May 1819
- Birthplace
- West Hills, New York, United States
- Died
- 26 March 1892
More people
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman was an American poet whose expansive lines celebrated bodies, work, landscape and democratic possibility. He revised Leaves of Grass throughout his life rather than treating it as finished.
Early life
Long Island to Brooklyn
Grew up in a large family with limited money.
Print apprenticeship
Left school young and learned printing.
Career
- 1830s–1840s
Teaching and journalism
Worked in schools and newspaper offices.
- 1855
Self-published poet
Issued the first Leaves of Grass.
- 1860s
Washington employment
Worked as a government clerk.
- 1873 onwards
Camden years
Continued revising poetry after a stroke.
Selected work
Leaves of Grass
An evolving collection celebrating individual and collective life.
Drum-Taps
Poems shaped by the Civil War.
Specimen Days
Prose recollections and observations.
Beyond work
Hospital visits
Brought practical help and companionship to wounded soldiers.
Personal attachments
His poems and letters explore intense affection between men.
Sources & photo credit
Biography ↗Life and work ↗Photo: George Collins Cox / Adam Cuerden. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
