walt whitman
Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published on the fourth of July in 1855. He was thirty-six years old, not yet a published writer, and could not find any company willing to take a chance on his unusual style. His experience in newspapers allowed him to help publish his work himself, even setting up some of the type and distributing the first edition. To get a decent start, Whitman even went so far as to write complimentary unsigned reviews of his book which he had placed in the newspapers- "An American bard at last! "- his own words of his first work, showing his audacity to be well thought of. Whitman wrote only one book- Leaves of Grass- but he took a lifetime to write it, and he saw his one book through many shapes. As biographers have found, it is difficult to write the life of Whitman without writing instead the life and times of his book. He was the kind of parent who lives his life through his child, though he was unmarried and childless. As though in anticipation of scholars and critics who would probe deeply into his private affairs, Whitman placed a warning at the beginning of "Leaves of Grass". A little reflection will confirm Whitman's point: "no man's life was ever captured
" His form was similar to "thought-rhythm", or "parallelism", which also can be found in Old Testament poetry and in some Indian sacred books. Whitman immediately seized on this, placing quotes of the praise on the binding of his second edition and also including the entire letter in the back of the book, as well as his own response. Although he still published several more editions of "Leaves of Grass" before his death in 1892, his last years were spent in poor health. Except for the last poem, all others continued to appear in each successive edition of the same title, as though Whitman was recreating and reliving his works as often as possible. Twenty new poems were present, with several bordering on an almost obscene emphasis on sex. He volunteered in military hospitals after the Civil War and later worked in several government departments until he suffered a stroke in 1873. His preface even called for a new "Kosmic" poetry. Whitman celebrated an untamed communion with nature with overtones of sensuality that appeared shocking even though his poetry expressed solid transcendental doctrine. Whitman truly placed his heart in his pen as few poets have. "Song of Myself" was by far the longest, a prophetic chant that was designed to shock, startle, surprise, and disturb. His major encouragement was a letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson praising his work. It is not enough to say only that Whitman was new and bold in his poetry. To Whitman, the game was life, and in it he maintained his pose. It is difficult to think of many major American poets who have not felt the need to produce their own long poem - and who have not felt that Whitman was looking over their shoulder as they wrote.
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