Walt Whitman
The father of free verse; celebrated the body, the self and the democracy he imagined America could become.
Biography
Whitman was a Long Island journalist who published Leaves of Grass at his own expense in 1855, with a portrait of himself as a working-class man in a flannel shirt. The book was revised and expanded throughout his life, each edition a new work.
He served as a nurse during the Civil War, an experience that produced some of his greatest poetry, including the elegy for Lincoln that is now his most famous work. He received almost no critical recognition in his lifetime; his reputation was made by a small circle of admirers including Emerson and Tennyson.
Writing Style
- Free verse — no fixed metre, no rhyme, organised instead by the breath and the catalog.
- The long line as a unit of thought rather than decoration.
- Catalogs of concrete details that build toward a transcendental vision.
- Direct address to 'you' — the reader as a necessary participant in the poem.
Influence & Legacy
Invented the poetic form that would dominate the twentieth century. Without Whitman, there is no Ginsberg, no Ashbery, no Oliver. He also created the template for the public elegy in a democratic society.
Famous Poems
Other United States Poets
About This Entry
This is a brief, opinionated introduction to Walt Whitman — not a comprehensive biography. For detailed scholarship, consult the volumes listed in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or the relevant collections of letters and criticism. The goal here is to give you enough context to read the poems with fresh eyes.