Walt Whitman is a huge influence to some of the big name poets today, such as William Carlos Williams and Carl Sandberg. Whitman ushered a new era in poetry by using no strict meter and no structured stanzas. Whitman’s career is based around “otherness” he did not want to be like everybody else (Whitman:“The Americanization of Romanticism”). Realist poetry which whitman is, is an aesthetic attitude stressing the truthful treatment of material. Walt Whitman contributed to american literature by beginning to write without rhyme scheme and structured stanzas and this is shown through his works O Captain! My Captain! and Leaves of Grass.
Whitman had a very unique style of writing for the time period. He uses no strict meter and no structured stanzas
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One piece is called O Captain! My Captain! Like most of his other poems he revised it over 5 times. Whitman called himself a “perfectionist” he wanted everything to be perfect. Whitman has indeed proved himself many times over, as it is hard to imagine American poetry without him (2688).
Whitman is the man who took Twentieth century poetry to the next level. The structure of his poems give a great contribution to music, mostly grand opera (Whitman: The Americanization of Romanticism 1). After whitman’s time most of the most well known poets still use his style of free verse.
Whitman was one of the founders of American Literature some things would not stand today without him. he really tried to get away from the writing styles of other countries.
The “americanness” of whitman’s work and spirit needs to be questioned, however, considering the situation whitman faced as an aspiring writer in the just developing American literary scene. Indeed, whitman did not live long enough to see his country fully embrace his work; according to Mr. Wilson Allen, whitman was only truly absorbed by americans when the centennial of the 1855 Leaves of Grass was celebrated. (Whitman: The Americanization of Romanticism