Walter Whitman Jr. was born on Long Island and raised in Brooklyn. Leaving formal schooling at age eleven, he worked various jobs, including as a journalist, teacher, and government clerk. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in American literature, often celebrated as the "father of free verse." His writing uniquely synthesized elements of transcendentalism and realism, aiming to capture the spirit of the common American.
Whitman's defining achievement was his self-financed poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855. He envisioned the work as an American epic, though its overt sensuality sparked significant controversy and accusations of obscenity. Whitman spent the rest of his life expanding and revising this central masterpiece. During the American Civil War, he moved to Washington, D.C., to care for wounded soldiers in military hospitals, an experience that deeply influenced his poetry's themes of loss and national healing.
Following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman deeply admired, he penned famous elegies such as "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." After suffering a stroke later in life, he relocated to Camden, New Jersey, where he lived until his death in 1892. Whitman's legacy as "America's poet" remains monumental, praised by later literary figures for capturing the essential democratic spirit and civilization of the United States.
