Walt Whitman Research Paper

Walt Whitman was an American Poet who had wrote the groundbreaking poetry collection Leaves of Grass. Leaves of Grass is a collection of poems written in the nineteenth century. Beginning with twelve poems and ending with four-hundred, Whitman constantly revised his work. In Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman’s primary focus was to express, explore, and celebrate his own self, personality, and individuality. Secondly, he wanted to applaud democracy and the American nation with its accomplishments and potential. And finally, he wanted to provide a poetical expression to his thoughts on nature and life's greatest and most enduring mysteries. Whitman used the term "personalism" to indicate the blending of the individual with the community in an ideal democracy. He believed that every man at the time of his birth receives an identity, and this identity is his "soul". The soul, which lives in man, is individualized, and man begins to develop his personality. The main idea of personalism is that

This lengthy time period used for writing helped establish the American experience and visualize the Civil War era. The author was living in one of the most dynamic and divisive periods in American history. Leaves of Grass could also be considered a documentary of the time since it includes factual truths and personal experiences of Whitman. At the time, Whitman believed that the builders of the nation could and would create a utopia on Earth. Civil war, however, threatened to demolish hopes of achieving utopia. A rift between Northern and Southern states, which was largely over slavery, commerce, and governmental control, evolved into war in 1861 and served as a sobering check on the Utopian ideals of the 1850s. Whitman served as a War Nurse and once wrote that he felt “horrified and disgusted” seeing “men mutually butchering each