Walt Whitman Accomplishments

Poetry is an artwork with words. One man helped progress the changes made within the style of writing poems today. Walt Whitman, was a fascinating and transcendent poet. He lived a whole-hearted life without limitations, and many were against the lifestyles he chose. Nevertheless, no one could stop him from writing, and eventually, Walt Whitman revolutionized American poetry.

Walter “Walt” Whitman, a famous American poet, also known as, The Bard of Democracy or The Father of Free verse, (European Graduate, 1997) was born May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Huntington Township, New York (Chronology of Whitman). He was born to Louisa Van Velsor, and Walter Whitman Sr, both of whom are said to be “descendants of early settlers on Long Island” (Chronology

He was said to be “a free-thinking rationalist” who opposed “organized religion [a social belief systems and rituals that are arranged and formally established] and regularly read left-leaning [sympathetic to the left in politics] books and journals” (Walter Sr.). Walt Whitman wasn’t emotionally attached to his father like he was with his mother but, nevertheless, he did respect his father. Walter Sr. was said to have been a stern man and at times “hot-tempered,” possibly an alcoholic. Walter Sr. changed careers frequently, unfortunately causing many family financial struggles for the Whitmans (Folsom and

By age eleven, Whitman was far surpassed the education level of both his parents, and left school to begin working as a laborer. His first job was office boy for some very well-known Brooklyn lawyers. The lawyers in return, as well as payment, for his services gave him access to a circulating library, where Whitman began self-education with his enjoyment for non-stop reading (Folsom and Price). In 1831, he began learning the printing trade as an apprentice for the Long Island Patriot (Chronology of Whitman). This was where his love for putting words into print emerged from. The thought of communicating to thousands of readers excited Whitman, to the point that by age twelve he started contributing to the newspaper and encountered the opportunity of his own words being published. His first signed article was printed in the New York Mirror in 1834. The article was about Whitman’s astonishment with how there were still people alive that could remember “the present great metropolitan city as a little drop or village; all fresh and green as it was, from its beginning,” he also wrote of a slave, “Negro Harry,” who died in 1758 at age 120 and could remember New York “when there were but three houses in it.” All throughout his life, Whitman always held great excitement over seeing his first article in print, “How it made my heart double-beat to see my piece on the pretty white paper, in nice type” (Folsom and