Walt Whitman began his career as a teacher, but he quickly realized
that his gift was writing and left that career to be a journalist.
During his stint as a journalist, he witnessed the evils of slavery
and its ills first hand and sometimes wrote about the topic,
especially when he observed the battlefields during the Civil War.
But Whitman didn't only write about the Civil War and slavery; he
also liked to write about the joys of life. In fact, he's
most remembered for his uplifting, inspirational selections like
"Song of Myself."
Whitman's writing style is quite unique. His poetry is usually
free verse -- unrhymed and with no regular pattern of line length.
In fact, he's often called the
Father of Free Verse. Although it was shocking for the time,
his use popularized the form. His most famous publication was a collection of
poems in a book called
Leaves of Grass.
I most admire Whitman for his assiduous dedication to the art of
revision. He was never content with the "final" product. He
published the first edition himself with twelve poems in it; the
last edition, his ninth, contained almost 400 poems. There
would probably have been more editions except, well, he died before
he could finish his next revision and add any other poems to the
collection.
Whitman embraced all people and reveled in travel; he would have
loved the internet -- a place where people could be connected in spite
of long distances. In fact, he talks about his desire for
connectivity in
Leaves of Grass.
In his poems, he envisions a world where grass, that stuff under your feet, can
connect all people and bring them all together just as the leaves
(or pages) of his book bring you to him. Through our exploration of
Walt Whitman's poems over the next week, I hope to bring you closer
to him and his world.
