Walt Whitman as a Romantic
When one thinks of American Romantics often the name Walt Whitman comes to mind. Walt Whitman almost created the Romanticism movement. With his writing using personal opinions that perfectly mirrored ideals of the Romantics, such as patriotism, personal voice, and nature themes throughout his pieces. These beliefs are depicted in Whitman's poems such as “Song of Myself XXVI”, and or “A Boston Ballad”. Whitman’s ideas seemed to be a nudge in the right direction, spiraling literature into new uncharted waters that is Romanticism in America.
Whitman is one of America’s first early Romantics known in English literature. Walt formally was a poet, essayist, teacher, printer, and also a well-known journalist
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Whitman grew up the second of nine children, to a financially unstable family. His childhood was not one for extreme celebration due to the hardships his parents faced within the workforce.( ). Readers can allude to the fact that being one of nine children most likely his personality and belief of having his own voice is linked or it evolved from this experience. The need to speak up became necessary in order to be heard beyond the competing voices within the household, as well as living with less, developed Whitman's character, and added to his beliefs as a writer and poet. The idea of living life simply was very important to Whitman. Walt preached continuously in multiple pieces he wrote on the importance of not getting involved or becoming subjected to society and the new technologies that came with it. This could have easily been triggered from the lack of material items in his early developmental years, as well as his deep love for Emerson’s writing as an early teen. Crafting his morals to believe in life being highly stressed on the human being themselves, people, and the natural phenomena surrounding daily