Poetry has always been thought of as an expression of oneself. Walt Whitman certainly
             seems to believe in that idea. Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, New
             York. Whitman had a rather meager amount of formal education before he turned to the
             printing trade. He worked as a teacher and also a printer and reporter for some very
             well-known establishments including New World and the Democratic Review. Later, he
             turned to poetry as a career. Many of Walt Whitman's optimistic beliefs about life and
             society are clearly depicted through his poetry.
             Walt Whitman was very intrigued by the pseudo science of phrenology. The ideal
             score for a phrenological reading is a six, five is good, and a seven or eight indicates
             dangerous overdevelopment. Whitman's readings include the following scores;
             amativeness 6, philoprogenitiveness 6, adhesiveness 6, inhabitiveness 6, alimentiveness 6,
             cautiousness 6, self-esteem 6 to 7, firmness 6 to 7, benevolence 6 to 7, sublimity 6 to 7,
             ideality 5 to 6, individuality 6, and intuitiveness 6 (25 2). These scores indicate a nearly
             Walt Whitman's work as a volunteer during the American Civil War has a great
             deal of influence on his poetry and ways of thinking. He worked in the hospitals and on
             the medical field units for the Union army. Whitman came to know his patients and
             offered to do all he possibly could to help them (Anderson 348). His poetry from this time
             period seems to show a great deal of optimism towards recovery from tragedy.
             Walt Whitman uses large amounts of expression in his poetry. This expressionism
             includes a great love of his country, personal freedom, and individualism (Modern Century
             Illustrated Encyclopedia 2440). These ideas are some of the themes in Whitman's works.
             They are also some of the evident beliefs of the poet.
             The type of diction Walt Whitman uses in his poetry, along with the tone and
             mo...