![]() ![]() One of the main themes Whitman’s poetry held was democracy. #Falling action o captin my captin free#Whitman helped to form that identity with his free verse poetry along with the themes this poems contained. It helped to shape America’s literary identity. Free verse poetry helped to separate American literature from British literature. Writing in free verse went against the strict rhyme and meter that especially Europeans considered to be high and academic poetry (remember this is the same time period as Lord Alfred Tennyson and the Victorian Era over in England). He wrote free verse poetry which was initially part of the transcendentalist movement. The third and most significant issue was that people did not appreciate his writing style. The second reason was Whitman’s pride and presentation of representing himself as a working man. The first was that his poetry had an openness to it when discussing sex this was a problem because people in this time period were still conservative. ![]() There were a few reasons as to why that was. It had no name in the first edition, then it was changed to “A Poem of Walt Whitman, an American,” then to simply “Walt Whitman.” Although Emerson loved Whitman’s work, it was not that well received by the public or literary critics of the time. The poem that is now known as “Song of Myself” did not get its current title until 1881. Whitman sent a copy of the first edition of his poetry to Emerson who said that it was “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed.” Leaves of Grass had eight different editions during Whitman’s lifetime. From there, he worked various jobs such as a printer, school teacher, reporter, and editor across the country.Įventually he settled into writing poetry and self-published his work Leaves of Grass, which was inspired by his travels across America and his admiration for Ralph Waldo Emerson and his writing. This is where he was introduced to the printing press and typesetting. One of Whitman’s first jobs was working as an apprentice for a Long Island newspaper called the Patriot. Because of this, Walt was largely self taught. His family was poor and he had to stop going to school when he was eleven to help earn money for his large family of nine children of which he was the second oldest. He was born on Long Island in 1819 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, receiving a limited education. Walt Whitman is considered to be one of the most influential and significant 19th century American authors. Phillips Rowena Finnegan Cummings Anna Greenwood and Nathan Theriault Introduction
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