Theres no question to who the worlds greatest poet is, William Shakespeare, but theres also no question to who the worlds greatest 19th century poet is, Walt Whitman. Whitman was a great influence on many American and foreign poets. His style and concerns are like no others. Where would American literature be today without Walt Whitman? Whitman was born in Huntington, New York. He was the second born of nine children. His family moved when he was four and he grew up in Brooklyn.
For many years Whitman was in and out of editing newspapers and writing for them, even teaching public school at one time in his carrer. In 1855 Whitman released Leaves of Grass, a kind of poetry, far different from his sappy rhymed verses earlier years. Many considered Whitmans praising the human body vulgar. Whitman was forced to publish it himself. This book of poems published by Whitman was a new kind of peotry that the people of the 19th century had never seen before. His style was filled with rhymes and reasons, suffering and symbolism. Whitman republished Leaves of Grass nine times, by the third time the book had tripled in size.
With each new addition Leaves of Grass saw more and more sales and eventually Whitman was able to survive comfortably on his poems success. Whitman was also very fond of operas. This influence drives the writing of two of Whitmans poems, “Children of Adam” and “Calamus”. The Civil War was hard on Walt Whitman. Through the war Whitman was often depressed about the war torn country, and would often write poems of angry and dislike for the war, of which he would never publish. During 1862, in the middle of the Civil War, Whitman left Brooklyn to search for his brother George who was listed as missing after the Battle of Fredericksburg. George had became a prisoner of the Confederates Army.
The Term Paper on War Poems 2
Wars pre-1914 were very different to WW1. Wars such as the Boer War and the Crimean War were fought by soldiers using mainly sabres and muskets. These wars had little in the way of powerful weaponry such as heavy weight machine guns. WW1 also saw the beginning of trench warfare, tanks, planes and gases. Almost all of the poetry written during WW1 was written while the soldiers were on the front ...
Know one really knows if he found hs brother, but we do know that he there found him self working in a military hospital. It seems as though all great writers have some kind of war experience, whether it be fighting in the war or just helping in a hospital. The war gave Whitman some great and needed inspiration. Whitman published a small volume of poems entitled, Drum Taps. They were later included in the 1867 edition of Leaves of Grass. Finally, in 1881, Whitman arranged his poems to his liking, but added new poems to the different editions of Leaves of Grass, until the final version was produced in 1892. Today Whitmans poetry is very much more popular that it was in his time, as it is the case with many poets and musical masterminds. Every American poet must in some form be influenced by Whitman.
One of Whitmans more popular poems was OCaptain, My Captain, which I will include and the end of this paragraph. There is no doubt that Whitman is the greatest American poet, and his work has and will continue to inspire many authors today. O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done; The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring.
