Walt Whitman and his biography.PPTX

Contents
I. Entry……………………………………………………………
II. Main part
2.1. Walt Whitman and his biography……….
2.2 Life and works of WaltWhitman …….
2.3 Walt Whitman’s writings…………………..
Conclusion………………………………………………………….
List of used literature………………………………………….

I.Entry Walt Whitman
Everyone has a literaryhero. But who are the best novelists of all time?
While all lists have their criteria, specific authors stand out amongst the
crowd.
Novelists don’t get the same level of fame and recognition as, say,
musicians or film directors.Some novelists, however, have works that
have had a profoundimpact on the worldof literature.
Whether you’re readingfor pleasure, learningnew things, or simply
wantingan escape from the real world, a good novel will always be
worth your time. From Charles Dickens and George Orwell to Virginia
Woolf and Toni Morrison, here are some highlights for the top 10 best
novelists of all time.
#1 MARY ANNE EVANS
Mary Anne Evans was born in Warwickshire, England, in November 1819.
In December of 1880, she died as one of the most influential Victorian-
era writers.Even though Evans coulduse her real name, she decided to
write usingthe masculine pen name, George Eliot. She did not want her
gender to be a distraction from her writing.
Evans was a prolific writer and one of the most highlyregardedwriters of
all time. Her writinggets taught aroundthe world. She is also acclaimed

for her work as a political activist and was active in the feminist
movement.
In 1856, Evans publishedher first novel, “Adam Bede,” under the male
pseudonym of George Eliot. From there, she wrote six more novels:“The
Mill on the Floss” (1860), “Silas Marner”(1861), “Romola” (1862–63),
“Felix Holt, the Radical”(1866), “Middlemarch”(1871–72), and “Daniel
Deronda” (1876). She wrote with a politicallyastute pen where she
presented the cases of social outsiders and small-town persecution. Her
comedic plots highlightthe dependence of women on marriage to
secure social standing and economic security.
Middlemarch became known as a 19th-centuryclassic and got described
by fellow novelist Virginia Woolfe as “one of the few English novels
written for grown-uppeople.”
Evan’s commitment to social justice and reform was not limited to her
own time, however. In the Victorian era, women got largelyexcluded
from the political sphere, but Eliot’s work sought to change this. She
wrote several poems that voiced her support for women’s suffrage and
equal civil rights.
Most of her work gets set in provincialEngland. As you read her novels,
you will see how they are known for their realism, psychological insight,
and very detaileddescriptions of the countryside. You should also know
that much of her material got drawn from her own experiences.

#2 JANE AUSTEN
Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) was a British novelist. Her romantic fiction
works are the most beloved and have earned her a place as one of the
most read. She was also a friend of Charlotte Bronte. For Austen’s entire
life, she lived as part of a close-knitfamilylocated on the lower fringes of
the English landedgentry.
She is known aroundthe globe for her literarygenius and is considereda
landmarkin English literature. The stories she wrote are known for their
insight and rich character development. It’s been said that Austen was
one of the first people to describe romantic life in the middle class,
which is a large part of what makes her books so relatable.
Austen wrote during the late 18th and early 19th centuries,where female
authors got publishedunder their names. It was not uncommon for
women to have careers as writers.
Jane Austen is known for her six major novels:“Sense and Sensibility”
(1811), “Pride and Prejudice”(1813), “MansfieldPark”(1814), “Emma”
(1816), “Northanger Abbey” (1817), and “Persuasion”(1818). Her novels,
like “Pride and Prejudice,”are classics andare still widely read today. She
is also known for her two unfinishednovels,“Lady Susan” and “The
Watsons.”

Her novels are still widely taught in schools. Austen has been popular for
over two hundredyears, and her novels still sell millions of copies. Her
stories have gotten adapted into films, TV shows, and even opera. Her
work Emma got turned into a movie in 1996.
#3 CHARLES DICKENS
Charles Dickens, an Englishmanborn in Portsmouth, England, in 1812,
was a writer and social critic. Regarded by many as the Victorian era’s
greatest novelist, he created some of the world’s most well-known
fictional characters.His works enjoyedunmatchedpopularityduring his
lifetime. Critics and scholars alike recognizedhim as a literarygenius.
His writingcareer began in 1833 when he started contributingstories
and essays to various journals.Twain’s literarysuccess happenedat just
24 years old with the 1836 serial novel publication of The Pickwick
Papers.It was a weekly publication that sold an astounding20,000
copies a week, which was unheardof at the time. This was possible by
him keeping his stories excitingand fresh. Its popularityhelpedthe
novelist make a livingfrom his writingalone.
In 1843, Dickens releasedhis novella “A Christmas Carol.”This, along
with his other popular novels, “Oliver Twist” and “Great Expectations,”is
often adapted in multiple artistic genres.Like many of his stories, the
images within portray earlyVictorian London.

Later in 1859, his novel “A Tale of Two Cities,” set in London and Paris,is
known as his best historical fiction work.
Dickens not havinga formal education did not hinder his success. In his
lifetime, he was an editor for a weekly journal for 20 years. Plus, he wrote
15 novels, five novellas,and hundreds of short stories and nonfiction
articles.Dickens even gave lectures and performedreadings frequently.
He was also a philanthropistthat championedchildren’s rights,
education, and other social reforms.
Edwin Drood was the last of his work that was left unfinisheddue to his
death in 1870.
#4 J.D. SALINGER
J.D. (Jerome David) Salinger was born and raisedin New York City (1919).
His father, Sol Salinger, was a salesman. His mother, Marie, was a
homemaker. Salinger began writingstories as a teen while attending
ValleyForge MilitaryAcademy. In 1936, he graduatedand ended up at
Columbia Universityin Manhattan. It was there his writing professor, who
happenedto be an editor at Story magazine, lovedhis writingso much.
He had Salinger’s vignette, “The YoungFolks,” publishedin 1940.
DuringWorld War II, Salinger began submitting his short stories to The
New Yorker. After rejectingseven of his novels, in 1941, it accepted
“Slight Rebellion off Madison.”Salinger’s stories center on children or

teenagers.Events take place in the wealthysuburbs of New York City.
Readers regularlycomparedhis style to that of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In the post-war years, Salinger publishedseveral more short stories in
Story magazine and served as a contributingeditor for the magazine
between 1946 and 1947. Salinger workedalmost exclusivelyat the New
Yorker for about twenty years, leavingin the mid-1950s.
J.D. Salinger was famous for his portrayal of adolescentangst in his novel
Catcher in the Rye (releasedin 1951). In 1965, he publishedthe novella
Hapworth 16, 1924. This is a story told from Seymour Glass’s perspective,
the brother of a character fromSalinger’s early work, “The Catcher in the
Rye.” It was publishedin The New Yorker and had an illustration by
Salinger himself.
In addition to the Catcher in the Rye, “Franny” (1955) and “Zooey” (1957),
“Raise High the Roof Beam” (1955), “Carpenters”(1955), and “Seymour:
An Introduction”(1959) are novels of Salinger’s.
#5 MARK TWAIN
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, with the pen name Mark Twain, was born in
Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. He and his family moved
shortly after that to Hannibal, Missouri, where he spent most of his
childhood. Twain’s childhoodfriends and neighbors includedHenry Clay
Riley, John Briggs, and Tom Blankenship, the latter two of whom later
became Twain’s first publishers.
A year after his father died, he became an apprentice for a printer. He
began writingarticles and humorous sketches for The Hannibal Journal.

Twain was an American humorist, novelist, entrepreneur, lecturer, and
travel writer. His writingstyle was unique and spoke to the everyday
person, which made him a massive hit in his time, and it still resonates
with people to this day. His wit and satire earnedhim praise from both
his critics and peers.
Twain was a friendto many, includingpresidents,artists,industrialists,
and European royalty. Twain gets quoted often as saying, “The two most
important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you
find out why.”
He first turned to journalismfor Virginia CityTerritorial Enterprise. He
then had his first story, “The CelebratedJumpingFrog of Calaveras
County,” publishedin 1865. With this came such internationalattention,
a French version was released.
For Mark Twain, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”(1876) and “The
Adventures of HuckleberryFinn” (1884), also known as “the Great
American Novel,” are his best-known novels.With his works translated
into more than 30 languages,he has become one of the most quoted
novelists of all time.
#6 ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Ernest Hemingway, born in 1899 in Illinois,became a journalistandan
author. He was the secondof six children anddied in 1961. He had an

understatedand straightforwardstyle with a strong influence on 20th-
century fiction. Additionally, his life of adventure and his public image
influencedlater generations.ErnestHemingwaysaid, “to know how to
write, you must first be able to read.”
Hemingwayworked on the school newspaper in high school and
immediatelyfollowinggraduation became a journalistat The Kansas City
Star. From there, he went to Paris to work for Star as a foreign
correspondent. While in Europe, he and his first wife attended the
Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain. This was the inspiration he
needed to write his first novel in 1925, “The Sun Also Rises.” This got
acknowledgedas his best work that artisticallyaddressedthe
disillusionmentthat followedthe war. When the United States entered
into World War II, he served as a correspondent.
Hemingwaywas considereda pioneer of the modernistmovement in the
20s. He is also known for “A Farewell to Arms” and “For Whom the Bell
Tolls.” The latter got inspiredby his time spent in the Spanish War. He
took home the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1953 and the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1954.
Ernest Hemingwaylived a fascinatinglife and was responsible for writing
some of the best-lovedclassics of American literature, including“The Old
Man and the Sea.” Overall, he wrote two novels, three novellas,six short
story collections,andfour nonfiction works. Hemingway also wrote four
plays and screenplays.When not writing, he enjoyeda life of adventure.
This includedbig game huntingin Africa, bullfightingin Spain, and
deep-sea fishingin Florida.
TragicallyHemingwaytook his life in 1961 after battling depression and
injuries fromhis many adventures.He had three novels released
posthumously: “Islands in the Stream” (1970), “The Garden of Eden”
(1986), and “True at First Light” (1999).

#7 GEORGE ORWELL
George Orwell, real name Eric Blair, was an English novelist, journalist,
and political writer who lived from 1903 to 1950.
Orwell receivedhis education at Eton and served with the Indian Imperial
Police in Burma from 1922-1927. In April 1932, George Orwell became a
teacher at The Hawthorns High School, a school for boys, in Hayes, West
London. He taught at the school for almost five years, from April 1932
until November 1937. Duringthat time, Orwell wrote two books,
“Burmese Days” and “Down and Out in Paris and London.” His
experiences alsomade him one of the most outspoken critics of what he
perceivedto be British public schools’ oppressive nature.
Orwell is most beloved for the novels “Animal Farm” and “1984”. “Animal
Farm” is a political allegoryabouta society of overworked, mistreated
farm animals who overthrow their human masters. Orwell’s influenceon
contemporaryculture, popular and political, continues decades after his
death. The term Orwellian describes totalitarianor authoritarian social
practices.It has entered the language together with many of his
neologisms,includingthe cold war, thought police, Room 101, memory
hole, and thoughtcrime.
His novel “1984” depicts a dystopian future in which a totalitarian
government spies on its citizens and manipulates the truth. Orwell’s work

got consideredto be part of the literarygenre of ‘social realism.’ It has
also been credited as an influenceon the genre known as ‘cyberpunk.’
“Animal Farm” and “1984” are two of Orwell’s novels that are still
relevanttoday to understandtotalitarianism, censorship, and mass
surveillance. He also wrote nonfiction essays on topics like poverty,
imperialism, censorship, and war. Orwell joined the IndependentLabour
Party in 1938. He fought for the Republicans duringthe Spanish Civil
War and was woundedbut luckilyrecovered.
Orwell’s health continuedto decline after getting tuberculosis in 1947.
He passed away at only 46 years old from an artery that burst.
#8 VIRGINIA WOOLF
Virginia Adeline Stephen was born in London into privilege in 1882. Even
though she was born into this privilege, she was very unhappywith her
life in a patriarchal society. Her father was a visible figure in the city, and
she was expected to marrywell and be a good wife. Her parents were
Leslie Stephen, the Oxford Dictionaryof Biographyfounder, and his
second wife, Julia Duckworth. Woolf’s father, known for his literature
services,gave her the run of the libraryas a child. At just eight years old,
she submitted her first article into a competition. Even though it didn’t
win, it foreshadowedher first novel 25 years later.
At thirteen years old, Woolf got sent to a ladies finishingschool in
Germany. Upon her return to Englandat seventeen, she began to write

stories and her first novel. Her writings exploredthe stream of
consciousness technique andwomen’s issues.
Woolf was one of the foremost modernist literaryfigures of the
twentieth centuryand a significantfigure in feministthought. Her most
well-known works include “Mrs. Dalloway”(1925) and “To the
Lighthouse” (1927). She is an under-appreciatednovelistwho is widely
known for her experimental writing. Before “Mrs. Dalloway,”she
publishedthree novels: “The Voyage Out” (1915), “Night and Day”
(1919), and “Jacob’s Room” (1922). In her twenties,Woolf began writing
professionally, supplementingher income with portrait commissions and
teachingpositions. In 1912, she publishedthe controversial novel “The
Voyage Out,” detailingthe mental unravelingof a young woman
sufferingfrom depression. Many of her works went on to get adapted to
the big screen and even an opera.
Sadly, Virginia lost her mother, father, and brother in quick succession.
She struggled with poor mental health for much of her life and tragically
committed suicide in 1941.
#9 TONI MORRISON
Born in Ohio in February 1931 as Chloe Anthony Wofford, Toni
Morrison‘s parents were Ramah and George Wofford. Her favorite
authors growing up were Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy. She became
known as a well-decoratedAmerican novelist, editor, and professor.
Morrisons had the honor of becoming the first black woman to win the

Nobel Prize in Literature and the first black woman to be awardedthe
Pulitzer Prize. She is regardedas one of the most significantAmerican
writers of the twentieth century.
“The Bluest Eye” was Morrison’s first novel and was publishedin 1970.
Her books that followedincluded“Sula,”“Beloved,” and “Tar Baby.”
“Beloved” (1987) became her most celebratednovel and spent twenty-
five weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. It sharedMargaret
Garner’s story — an enslavedwoman who escapedonly to be tracked
down by slave hunters.By 1988, It didn’t get the acknowledgmentit
deserved, and the likes of Maya Angelou (plus forty-eightothers) wrote
in protest in The New York Times. Two months went by, and “Beloved”
was awardedthe Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book
Award.
She went on to write “Jazz” (1992) and “Playingin the Dark: Whiteness
and the LiteraryImagination”(1992). They were coined the “Beloved
trilogy” as Morrison’s intent was for them to get readtogether. In 1998,
Oprah brought “Beloved” to the big screen. Before the last novel of the
trilogy was published, she won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.
In 1996, Morrison got selected by the National Endowmentfor the
Humanities for the Jefferson Lecture. This is known to be the U.S. federal
government’s highest honor for “distinguishedintellectual achievement
in humanities.”
Morrison’s eleventh and final novel was “God Help the Child”(2015).
Sadly, she passed awayfrom pneumonia in 2019. She is praisedfor all
her works to address the consequences of racism in the United States.

II.Main part. 2.1 Walt Whitman’s biography
Walt Whitman is both a major poet and an outstanding personality in the
history of American literature. He rose from obscurity to monumental
fame, coming to be recognized as a national figure. His achievement is
great, although it has been sometimes obscured by unfair, hostile
criticism — or, conversely, by extravagant praise. He is essentially a
poet, though other aspects of his achievement — as philosopher,mystic,
or critic — have also been stressed.
Walt Whitman was born in WestHills, Long Island, New York on May 31,
1819.His father, Walter, was a laborer, carpenter, and house builder.
His mother, Louisa, was a devout Quaker. In 1823,the family moved to
Brooklyn, where Walt had his schooling (1825-30).From 1830 to 1836
he held various jobs,some of them on newspapers in Brooklyn and
Manhattan. From 1836 to 1841 he was a schoolteacherin Long Island,
despite the paucity of his own education. The division of Whitman's early
life between town and country later enabled him to depict both
environments with equal understanding and sympathy. He also traveled
extensively throughout America, and so could appreciate the various
regions of the land.
Between 1841 and 1851 Whitman edited various periodicals and
newspapers.It was, apparently, during this period that he began to
compose the poems which were later published as Leaves of Grass.
In 1862 Walt's brother George was wounded in the Civil War. When
Whitman traveled to Virginia to visit him, he saw large numbers of the
wounded in hospitals. The Civil War was a major event in Whitman's
career, stirring both his imagination and his sensibility and making him a
dresserof spiritual wounds as well as of physical ones as he worked as
a volunteer in hospitals. Lincoln's assassination (1865)also moved
Whitman deeply,and several poems bear testimony of his intense grief.
In 1865 Whitman was fired from his postin the Department of the
Interior in Washington because of the alleged indecencyof Leaves of
Grass. He was hired by the Attorney General's office and remained there
until 1873 when he suffered amild paralytic stroke which left him a semi-
invalid. In Whitman's last years (1888-92),he was mostly confined to his
room in the house which he had bought in Camden, New Jersey. Two
friends,Horace Traubel and Thomas B. Harried, attended him. He died
on March 26, 1892.Thus ended the lifelong pilgrimage of the Good Gray

Poet (as his contemporary,critic W. D. O'Connor, called him), an
immortal in American literature.
Whitman grew into almost a legendary figure, due largely to the charm
and magnetism of his personality. Contemporary critics described him as
a "modernChrist." His face was called "serene,proud, cheerful, florid,
grave; the features, massive and handsome, with firm blue eyes." His
head was describedas "magestic,large, Homeric, and set upon his
strong shoulders with the grandeur of ancient sculpture." These
descriptions tend to make Whitman appear almost a mythical
personage. But he was very much alive.
Whitman was a being of paradoxes. His dual nature, a profound
spirituality combined with an equally profound animality, puzzled even
his admirers. John A. Symonds,an English writer, was puzzled by
undercurrents of emotional and sexual abnormality in
the Calamus poems and questioned Whitman on this issue. Whitman's
reply (August 19, 1890)is interesting: "My life, young manhood, mid-
age, times South, etc., have beenjolly bodily, and doubtless opento
criticism. Though unmarried I have had six children — two are dead —
one living Southern grandchild — fine boy, writes to me occasionally —
circumstances . . . have separated me from intimate relations." But no
trace of any children of Whitman's has been found, and it is not unlikely
that he merely invented them to stave off further questions.
Whitman was truly a representative of his age and reflectedits varied
crosscurrents.His poetry shows the impact of the romantic idealism
which reached its zenith in the years before the Civil War and also
shows something of the scientific realism which dominated the literary
scene after 1865.Whitman harmonizes this romanticism and realism to
achieve a true representationof the spirit of America. The growth of
science and technologyin his time affectedWhitman deeply, and he
respondedpositivelyto the idea of progressand evolution. American
patriotism in the nineteenth century projected the idea of history in
relation to cosmic philosophy:it was thought that change and progress
form part of God's design.The historical processof America's great
growth was therefore part of the divine design,and social and scientific
developments were outward facets of real spiritual progress.Whitman
shared in this idea of mystic evolution. Leaves of Grass symbolizes the
fulfillment of American romanticism as well as of the sense of realistic
revolt against it.

Whitman visualized the role of a poetas a seer, as a prophetic genius
who could perceive and interpret his own times and also see beyond
time. The ideal poet,thought Whitman, portrays the true reality of nature
and comprehends and expresseshis genuine self. He holds a mirror to
his self and to nature; he also illuminates the meaning and significance
of the universe and man's relation to it. An ideal poet, he believed,is the
poet of man first, then of nature, and finally of God; these elements are
united by the poet's harmonious visionary power. Though the poet is
concerned primarily with the world of the spirit, he accepts science and
democracywithin his artistic fold,since these are the basic realities of
the modern world, especiallythat of nineteenth-century America.
Recognitionof the values of science and democracyis indirectly an
acknowledgementof the reality of modern life. Whitman's ideal poetis a
singer of the self;he also understands the relation between self and the
larger realities of the social and political world and of the spiritual
universe. He intuitively comprehendsthe great mysteries of life — birth,
death, and resurrection — and plays the part of a priest and a prophet
for mankind.
Leaves of Grass, ever since its first publication in 1855,has been a
puzzling collectionof poems.It inspires,it enthralls, and it tantalizes-and
yet, the problems it poses are numerous and varied. Whitman so
completelyidentified himself with Leaves ("This is no book,/Who touches
this touches a man") that critics have tried to find reflections of
Whitman's own life in all the imagery and symbolism of the poems.
Whitman did explore and express many aspects of his personality
in Leaves.It was he himself who created the illusion that he and his
poems were identical. Through these works, he found full expressionas
a poet — and as a man.
The first edition (1855)of Leaves of Grass consisted of ninety-five
pages.The author's name did not appear, but his picture was included.
By the time the second editionwas published in 1856,the volume
consisted of 384 pages,with a favorable review by Emersonprinted on
the back cover. For this edition, Whitman not only added to the text, he
also altered the poems which had previously beenpublished. The third
edition appeared in 1860 and contained 124 new poems.The fourth
edition, published in 1867,was called the "workshop" edition because so
much revision had gone into it. It contained eight new poems.The fifth
edition (1871)included the new poem "Passage to India." The sixth
edition, in two volumes, appeared in 1876.The seventh edition was
published in 1881 and is widely accepted as an authoritative edition
today, although the eighth and ninth editions are equally important. The

last, which is also called the "deathbed" editionbecause it was
completedin the year of Whitman's death (1892), represents Whitman's
final thoughts. The text used here will be that of the last, or "deathbed,"
edition of 1892.Only the mostsignificant poems of each section
of Leaves of Grass will be discussed.
A Whitman Chronology
1819 Born May 31 at WestHills, Huntington Township, Long Island,
New York.
1823 Family moved to Brooklyn, New York.
1825–30 Attended public schoolin Brooklyn.
1830–31 Office boyin lawyer's office,then doctor's;then printer's
apprentice.
1832–36 Various jobs: printer's devil, handyman.
1836–41 Schoolteacherin Long Island.
1841–47 Reporterand editor for various newspapers.Editor (1846) of
Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Published (1842) Franklin Evans, or the Inebriate,
a tract.
1848 Discharged from the Eagle. Visited New Orleans (worked on New
Orleans newspaper)and traveled on the MississippiRiver and the Great
Lakes.
1849 Editor of the Brooklyn Freeman, a journal.
1850–54 Part-time journalist. Carpenter and house builder in Brooklyn
(with father).
1856 Second editionof Leaves of Grass, containing twenty additional
poems.
1860 Third edition of Leaves of Grass. Traveled to Boston to discuss the
preparation of this edition with Emerson.
1862–63 Wentto Virginia to attend brother George,who had been
wounded in Civil War, Did volunteer work in government hospitals.

1863–73 Lived mostof the time in Washington, D.C. Worked for the
government.
1864 Drum-Taps published.
1867 Fourth edition of Leaves of Grass.
1871 Fifth edition of Leaves of Grass. Also published Democratic
Vistas (a prose pamphlet).
1873 Suffered mild paralytic stroke. Moved to Camden, New Jersey.
Mother died.
1876 Sixth edition of Leaves of Grass.
1879 Traveled to St. Louis to visit his brother Jeff.
1881 Visited Bostonto prepare the seventh edition of Leaves of Grass,
published that same year.
1882 SpecimenDays published.
1884 Bought house in Camden, where he lived the rest of his life.
1888 NovemberBoughs published.
1889 Pocket-size edition of Leaves of Grass published for his seventieth
birthday.
1891–92 Final ("deathbed")edition of Leaves of Grass.
1892 Died March 26. Buried in Harleigh Cemetery, Camden.

2.2 Life and works of Walt Whitman
Walt Whitmanwasbornon May 31, 1819, in the village of West Hills on
Long Island, New York, approximately50 miles east of New York City.
He was thesecond of eight children. Whitman’sfather wasof English
descent, and his mother was Dutch. In later life, he would refer to his
ancestorsas having been early settlers of Long Island.
In 1822, when Walt was2 years old, the Whitmanfamilymoved to
Brooklyn, which was still a small town. Whitmanwould spend most of
the next 40 years of his life in Brooklyn, which grew into a thriving city
during that time.
After finishing public school in Brooklyn, Whitmanbeganworking at the
ageof 11. He was an office boy for a law office before becoming an
apprenticeprinterat a newspaper. In his lateteens, Whitmanworked for
several years as a schoolteacher inrural Long Island. In 1838, he
founded a weekly newspaper on Long Island. He reported and wrote
stories, printed the paper, and even delivered it on horseback. By the
early 1840s, he had broken intoprofessional journalism, writingarticles
for magazinesand newspapersin New York.
Early Writings
Early writing effortsby Whitmanwerefairlyconventional. He wrote
about popular trendsand contributedsketchesabout citylife. In 1842,
he wrote the temperancenovel "FranklinEvans," which depicted the
horrors of alcoholism. In later life, Whitmanwould denouncethe novel
as “rot,” but at thetimeit wasa commercialsuccess.
In the mid-1840s, Whitmanbecametheeditor of the Brooklyn Daily
Eagle, but his politicalviews, which were aligned with theupstart Free
Soil Party, eventually got him fired. He then took a job working at a
newspaper in New Orleans. While he seemed to enjoy the exotic nature
of thecity, he was apparentlyhomesickfor Brooklyn. The job only lasted
a few months.
By the early 1850s he wasstill writing for newspapers, but his focus had
turned to poetry. He often jotted downnotes for poems inspired bythe
busy citylife around him.
'Leaves of Grass'

In 1855, Whitmanpublished thefirst editionof "Leaves of Grass." The
book was unusual, as the 12 poems it included were untitled and were set
in type (partlyby Whitmanhimself) that looked more like prose than
poetry.
Whitmanhad writtena lengthyand remarkablepreface, essentially
introducing himselfasan "Americanbard." For the frontispiece, he
selected an engraving of himselfdressed as a commonworker. The green
covers of the book were embossed with the title“Leaves of Grass.”
Curiously, the titlepageof the book, perhapsbecauseof an oversight, did
not containtheauthor'sname.
The poemsin the originaleditionwereinspired by the thingsWhitman
found fascinating:thecrowdsof New York, the moderninventions the
public marveled over, and the raucouspoliticsof the 1850s. While
Whitmanapparentlyhoped to becomethe poet of the commonman, his
book went largely unnoticed.
However, "Leaves of Grass" did attractonemajor fan. Whitmanadmired
the writer and speaker Ralph Waldo Emerson and sent him a copyof his
book. Emerson read it, was greatlyimpressed, and wrote a letter to
Whitman: "Igreet you at the beginning ofa great career."
Whitmanproducedapproximately800 copiesof the first edition
of "Leaves of Grass," and the following year he published a second
edition, which contained 20 additionalpoems.
Evolution of 'Leaves of Grass'
Whitmansaw "Leavesof Grass" as his life’s work. Rather thanpublishing
new books of poems, he begana practiceofrevising the poems in the
book and adding new ones in successiveeditions.
The third editionof the book was issued by a Boston publishing house,
Thayer and Eldridge. Whitmantraveled toBoston to spend three months
in 1860 preparing thebook, which contained morethan400 pages of
poetry. Someof the poemsin the 1860 editionreferred to homosexuality,
and while the poemswere not explicit, theywere nonetheless
controversial.
Civil War
In 1861 during the beginning ofthe Civil War, Whitman’sbrother George
enlisted in a New York infantryregiment. In December 1862, Walt,

believing his brother mayhave been wounded at the Battle of
Fredericksburg, traveled tothefront in Virginia.
The proximitytothe war, to soldiers, and especiallyto the wounded had
a profound effect on Whitman. Hebecamedeeply interested inhelping
the wounded and beganvolunteering in militaryhospitalsin
Washington. Hisvisitswith wounded soldiers would inspirea number of
Civil War poems, which he would eventually collect in a book
called "Drum-Taps."
As he traveled around Washington, Whitmanwould oftensee Abraham
Lincoln passing by in his carriage. Hehad a deep respect for Lincoln and
attended thepresident'ssecond inaugurationonMarch 4, 1865.
Whitmanwroteanessay about theinauguration, which waspublished
in The New York Times on Sunday, March 12, 1865. In his dispatch,
Whitmannoted, asothers had, that the day had been stormy up until
noon, when Lincoln was scheduled to take the oath of officefor the
second time. But Whitmanadded a poetic touch, noting that a peculiar
cloud had appeared over Lincoln that day:
"As the President cameout on the Capitolportico, a curiouslittle white
cloud, the only one in that part of thesky, appeared like a hovering bird,
right over him."
Whitmansaw significanceintheodd weather and speculated that it was
a profound omen of some sort. Withinweeks, Lincoln would be dead,
killed by an assassin(who also happened to be in the crowd at thesecond
inauguration).
Fame
By the end of the Civil War, Whitmanhad found a comfortablejob
working as a clerk in a government office in Washington. That cameto
an end when the newly installed secretaryof the interior, JamesHarlan,
discovered that his officeemployed the author of "Leaves of Grass."
With theintercessionof friends, Whitmangot another federaljob, this
timeserving as a clerk in the Department of Justice. He remained in
government work until 1874, when ill health led him to resign.
Whitman’sproblemswith Harlanactuallymayhave helped him in the
long run, as some criticscametohis defense. As later editionsof "Leaves

of Grass" appeared, Whitmanbecameknownas “America’sgood gray
poet.”
Death
Plagued by health problems, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, in
the mid-1870s. Whenhe died on March 26, 1892, the news of his death
was widely reported. The San Francisco Call, in an obituarypublished on
the front pageof the March 27, 1892, paper, wrote:
“Early in life he decided that hismissionshould be to 'preach thegospel
of democracyand of the naturalman,' and he schooled himself for the
work by passing all his availabletimeamong men and womenand in the
open air, absorbing intohimselfnature, character, art and indeed all that
makesup the eternal universe.”
Whitmanwasinterred ina tomb of his own design in Harleigh Cemetery
in Camden, New Jersey.
Legacy
Whitman’spoetrywasrevolutionary, both in subject and style. Though
considered eccentric and controversial, heeventually becameknown as
“America’sgood graypoet.” When he died in 1892 at theage of 72, his
death was front-pagenews acrossAmerica. Whitmanisnow celebrated
as one of the country'sgreatest poets, and selectionsfrom "Leaves of
Grass" are widely taught inschools and universities.

2.3 Walt Whitman’s writings
Whitman substantiated to be an unpredictable journalist, his opinions
and pen both were sharp and aligned neither with his bosses nor with
his readers. He supported the property rights of women, labor issues,
and immigration in his writings. He also criticized the obsessionamong
the people of New York. The tenure of his job would be very short
because of his volatile nature, and he also had a tainted reputation with
various newspapers.
In 1848,Whitman moved to New Orleans and became an editor of the
Crescent.Thought the stay was short, almost three months, he saw the
wickedness of slavery for the first time. When he returned to Whitman,
he started a new newspaper called Brooklyn Freeman. Regardlessof
initial challenges,it became a daily newspaper.In the succeeding year,
the nation started questioning slavery, and Whitman’s own
aggressiveness also elevated. Whitman also worried about the future of
his country because of imposed slavery. During this time, he wrote a
long book, also viewed as trailblazing poetic work about his own
observation on the matter.
In 1855,Whitman self-published a collectionof twelve poems Leaves of
Grass. In the succeeding year, Whitman published an edition of Leaves
of Grass that contained 32 poems,including “Sun-Down Poem.”
His father died in 1885,and Whitman became a man of the farmhouse.
Writers like BronsonAlcott and Henry David Thoreau, fascinated by his
poems,came to meet him in Brooklyn. The dysfunction of his family
inspired a need to escape home life. His brothers were alcoholics.His
sister was emotionally unstable.
In 1860,Bostonpublishers published the third edition of Leaves of
Grass. This revised version held some promise;however, the Civil War
broke up and drove the publishing companies out of business.
DESTITUTIONS OF THE CIVIL WAR
In 1862,in search of his brother George,Whitman journeyed to
Fredericksburg.Georgehad battled for the Union and was being given
medical treatment for the wounds he had received in a fight. In the next
year, Whitman shifted to Washington, D.C., and started working a part-
time job in the office of paymaster. He spent the rest of his time visiting
the wounded soldiers of war.

This volunteer work, though, was very exhausting, it also proved to be
life-changing. This propelled Whitman to return to poetry. In 1865,
Whitman published Drum-Taps, a collectionrepresenting a sincere
realization of war and the true meaning of war who are struggling very
hard because of it. Another edition Sequel was published, which
contained 18 new poems.
Walt Whitman was an American journalist, poet, and essayist. He was a
humanist writer and existed in a time of transition between
transcendentalism to realism; therefore,he integrated both views in his
works. In American canon, Walt Whitman is among the mostinfluential
poets.In his time, his works appear to be controversial, specificallythe
collectionof poems Leaves of Grass. For its explicit sensuality, the
collectionwas described as obscene.For his supposed homosexuality,
the life of Whitman came under inquiry..

Conclusion
More than anyone else, Walt Whitman was responsible for
making the novel, a genre which had traditionallybeen read
primarily for entertainment,into a vehicle for the serious
expression of ideas. Few novelistscan equalWhitman’s
depth of intellector breadth of learning. Deeply involvedin
the religiousand philosophical ferment of her time, Walt was
probablythe first major English novelist who did not
subscribe, at least nominally,to the tenets of Christian
theology. Nevertheless, her strong moral commitment,
derived from her EvangelicalChristianheritage, led her to
conceive of the novel as an instrument for preaching a gospel
of duty and self-renunciation.
Moral commitment alone, however, does not make a great
novelist. In addition,Gaskell’sextraordinary psychological
insight enabled her to create characters who rival in depth
and complexity any in English or American fiction. Few
novelistscan equal her talents for chronicling tangled
motives, intricate self-deceptions, or an anguishedstruggle
toward a nobleact. She creates a fictional world that
combines, in a way unsurpassed in English fiction, a broad
panoramaof society and psychologicalinsight into each
character.

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