Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was born in 1819 in New York. He had to quit school at age eleven to work and help raise money for his family. Whitman started publishing poems in 1839 in his own paper called, The Long Islander. His first poet book was called Leafs of Grass and had been published nineteen times, the first time being in 1855. He earned $1000 for it, but five days after it got published the first time, his dad died. Whitman’s brother ended up getting hurt in the Civil War, so he went to a hospital in Washington to take care of him. He then became a voluntary nurse. Later, in 1873, he happened to have a stroke, so he went to his mother so she could take care of him, but she ended up dying three days after he came. He died in 1892. Walt Whitman was known as, “The Good Grey Poet,” and he had said poets were tramps. The main themes of his poetry were, the common man and diversity. One of Whitman's poems is, I Hear America Singing.

I Hear America Singing:

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day--at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

This poem has the theme of common man.