Theo Lemieux
Mr. Spears
Honors English 9
March 6th, 2018
Walt Whitman’s Life.
Walter (Walt) Whitman was born in Long Island, New York, on May 31, 1819 and died March 26, 1892. He was of Dutch and English decent. As stated on www.britannica.com, Walt was working as a schoolteacher, printer, and journalist when he started to write poems and short stories. He continued to write these throughout his life. He wrote and published multiple editions of his book, Leaves of Grass. Walt Whitman inspired many with his writings, and his work continues to be read today.
Walt was the second of nine children in his family. They were low-class, and Walt’s father provided for the family by working as a carpenter and later on a real estate agent. According to www.britannica.com, Walt attended a public school in Brooklyn, New York, and got his first job at age 12 as a printer. He kept this job, and also took on teaching and journalism. By age 23 he was editing a daily newspaper, but was fired for his support of anti-slavery. Walt built houses for about 5 years after this.
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He started writing poems using the information from these activities, and his experience in his former jobs. He compiled these poems into a book and sold his house to fund the publishing the collection. This compilation of poems was the first edition of Leaves of Grass. This first edition was a financial failure, so he tried again. He revised poems from the first edition, as well as adding new ones, but this second edition was also a failure. Walt added to and revised the poems in the second edition, and it was bought by a publisher in 1860. As stated on www.britannica.com, he continued on to make nine unique editions of his