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Biography - Home Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819. He was named Walt after his father, Walter Whitman, a house builder. He had eight siblings and lived in Brooklyn and Long Island in the late 1820's and early 1830s. Whitman's career and love for writing began at an early age. He was self-taught and had impeccable taste- loving works from Homer to Dante to Shakespeare. After working as a printer in New York until seventeen, he became a teacher in Long Island. Eventually, he would turn to journalism as a full time career; however, his experiences as a teacher certainly shaped his writings. He began a weekly newspaper, Long-Islander, and later edited a number of Brooklyn and New York papers. "In 1848, Whitman left the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to become editor of the New Orleans Crescent. It was in New Orleans that he experienced at first hand the viciousness of slavery in the slave markets of that city" (Walt par. 1). After founding the Brooklyn Freeman, a newspaper affiliated with the Free-Soilers political party, he began to enter the realm of poetry. The first edition of Leaves of Grass was published in 1855 by himself! Ralph Waldo Emerson, a close friend of the poet's, received a copy and was astonished to read the impeccable writing. Instead of publishing new works, Whitman expanded on Leaves of Grass, eventually publishing several editions. The Civil War certainly impacted Whitman. His good-Samaritan soul found him visiting wounded soldiers in New York and writing freelances articles. In 1862, he went to Washington D.C. because his brother had been wounded in the war. This experience clearly affected Whitman as he opted to stay in the city for 11 more years, caring for the wounded in hospitals. He spent the little extra money he had on the patients he helped, showing he truly cared for the sick. He also sent money to his widowed mother and brother. While in D.C., Whitman weaved his way into politics working as a clerk for the Department of the Interior, James Harlan. However, after discovering Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Harlan was offended and fired the poet. Whitman's life in D.C. came to a halt when he visited his dying mother in Camden. He suffered a stroke and thus, lived with his brother until another publication of Leaves of Grass provided the financial support to buy his own house in Camden. Good-Bye, My Fancy was published in 1891 and was Whitman's last work. He spent the last years of his life preparing the poems. Walt Whitman died on March 26, 1892. Works Consulted
"Walt Whitman." The Academy of American Poets. <http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?45442B7C000C07070E> |
