How Did Walt Whitman Characterize His Work?

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Whenever people talk about American literature, they have to mention Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman is one of the giants of American Literature and poetry, with Emily Dickinson. His style of writing split him away from the other poets of his time. Some even criticized the way her wrote and claimed that it was a disgrace and offends poetry. His use of free verse confused many people when they read his work. “Leaves of Grass” was a collection of poems he wrote, first published in 1855. It did not make a great success and many critics even disposed his book in certain ways. They all bashed him and stated that the format he wrote in insulted every poet and that there was a lot of imagery. He also used long sentences, everyday words, and free verse. Although his first publication did not make a success, with the help of a few words from Waldo …show more content…

Students are also taught how he became a poet and how he started before that. At the beginning, he worked as a printer. He taught in a school at the age of 17. As he got older, he worked as Editor of The Brooklyn Eagle newspaper until he got fire after speaking about slavery. Finally, he worked as a nurse in the war. He also helped younger children and tried to cheer them up despite the war that was happening. Nowadays, many university professors teach his poetry in detail. They talk about how he started slowly and then elevated up until he was known to everyone. At first, everyone disliked what he wrote and some even thought that his work was uncensored and rude. But as time passed, became famous because he had different writing techniques. These techniques included; free verse, long lines, everyday words, and realistic ideas. In addition to that, “Song of Myself” is split into 52 sections. Each section talks about a different topic than the one before it. In his perspective, he thought that each person will find himself in one or more of the sections he