Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman
Nationality	American
Born	May 31, 1819
Died	March 26, 1892
Known for	free verse; democratic vision; spiritual materialism
Occupation	Poet, essayist, journalist
Notable works	Leaves of Grass
Movement	Transcendentalism; literary realism
Themes	cosmic humanism; body-soul integration; democratic mysticism
Wikidata	Q81438

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was an American poet, journalist, and essayist whose work broke radically with the poetic traditions of his time. His best-known collection, Leaves of Grass (first published 1855 and expanded in later editions), celebrates life, nature and democracy with an open, exuberant voice. Whitman fused the material and the spiritual in a way that might be described as cosmic humanism: he saw each individual not as isolated but as part of a vast, living “general soul” that unites all things. He famously declared himself “the poet of the Body and the poet of the Soul,” insisting on the sacredness of everyday life and the human body. Central themes of his poetry include a mystical sense of unity (he perceived a kind of divine oneness underlying the world), an integration of body and soul (rejecting any rigid division between flesh and spirit), and a democratic mysticism–a belief that equality and democratic fellowship among people are themselves a sacred, almost spiritual ideal. Whitman’s style was unconventional for his era: he wrote long lines of free verse (poetry without regular rhyme or meter), employed catalogues of ordinary images, and spoke in a frank, first-person voice. These choices made his poetry feel immediate and inclusive, as if each reader were directly addressed. While some nineteenth-century readers recoiled at Whitman’s frank sexuality and bold style, others (including the elder poet Ralph Waldo Emerson) recognized his gifts. Over time Whitman’s influence proved enormous: he helped inspire modern free-verse poetry and left a lasting legacy as America’s radical visionary of democracy and universal kinship.

Early Life and Education

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in the village of West Hills, on Long Island, New York. He was the second of nine children of Walter Whitman, a carpenter and farmer, and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. Schooled only briefly in early childhood, Whitman left formal education by age eleven to help support his family. He took an apprenticeship in a print shop and worked as a printer’s aide and errand boy. This early exposure to books and newspapers sparked a lifelong habit of reading widely – Whitman studied everything from Shakespeare and the Bible to Enlightenment philosophy and emerging scientific works.

As a young man Whitman held a variety of jobs. He briefly taught in local schools, then in 1836 (at age 17) he founded and edited a small newspaper called the Long Islander. Over the next decade he worked on several New York area journals – including as an editor of the Brooklyn Eagle (1846–47) – and even spent a year in New Orleans on the staff of a Democratic newspaper (1848–49). These jobs showed him the diversity of American life, from the working poor to political debates of the day. He also tried carpentry and real estate for a time. Whitman never attended college; instead he educated himself. By the 1850s he had absorbed ideas ranging from English Romantic poetry (Shelley, Byron) to New England transcendentalism (Emerson, Thoreau) and far-flung philosophies like Hinduism. His mixed Dutch and English family background, and his experience in American cities and farms, helped make him feel at home with many kinds of people.

Whitman did not marry, and he had no children. He lived most of his life in New York and, later, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. He associated freely with laborers, artists, and ordinary citizens, seeing himself as “bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh.” This egalitarian spirit – the sense of kinship with all people – would become a cornerstone of his art.

Major Works and Ideas

Whitman’s literary career centers on a single great opus, Leaves of Grass. He began writing the poems that would make up this book in the early 1850s, at a time when American verse was dominated by rigid forms and polite subjects. In 1855, at age 36, Whitman self-published the first edition of Leaves of Grass in Brooklyn. It contained a dozen short free-verse poems, each boldly signed with the author’s name. Whitman financed the printing himself (he took a loan against his houseboat workshop) because established publishers had rejected it.

The early Leaves introduced Whitman’s distinctive voice. In the famous opening poem “Song of Myself,” he writes in an intimate, confiding tone – summoning everyday scenes like people walking, children playing, and the sounds of city life. He speaks sometimes as “I,” sometimes as “you,” and often as an omnipresent observer. Through the ecstatic narrative of that poem, Whitman makes himself the representative of all humans: “The I of Song of Myself is the self of all,” he explained. In effect, he creates a single poetic “I” that is also the collective “we” of humanity. In these early poems Whitman declares that every individual, every creature, and even inanimate things share a common spirit. All boundaries are broken: subject and object, self and other, time and space blur together. This sense of universal oneness is what one critic called his “cosmic humanism.”

In Leaves of Grass Whitman repeatedly returns to core ideas:

The unity of body and soul. Whitman refused to see the body as inferior to the spirit. Instead he celebrated the human body and its sensual functions as sacred and meaningful. For him the flesh carried a spiritual life. In Leaves he asks rhetorically, “And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?” (from “Poem of the Body”, 1856 edition). This lines illustrates his belief that flesh and spirit are one. He praises ordinary physical details – sweat on the brow, the posture of a horseman, the clasp of lovers’ hands – treating them as holy revelations. He wrote, “I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,” explicitly linking the two. Whitman’s soul-body integration was fundamentally monistic: he argued that material existence and spiritual existence are inseparable, and that matter and mind are aspects of a unified reality. In practical terms, this meant he could treat ordinary life, even sexuality, as mystical. The physical world for Whitman was not a hindrance to spirituality, but a way in. He declared that “every cubic inch of space / is a miracle” and that he “hear[s] God in every object” (from “Miracles”, a poem). This is cosmic monism in practice: all things are suffused with spirit.

Nature and the cosmos. Whitman often expresses awe at the vastness of nature and the universe, yet he never sees himself outside it. He considers humans as integral parts of the natural world. In poems like “Song at Sunset” and “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”, he conveys a mystical sense that the rhythms of nature (the sea, the stars) mirror the human soul. In “Song of Myself” he writes that he contains and is contained by the universe. The Whitman Archive summary puts it: “the I or Myself” of his “Songs” is “a magnified ego which incorporates the whole cosmos – animate and inanimate – and becomes immersed in its activity,” melting all divisions into a vast spiritual continuum. In other words, Whitman’s self ‑the poet himself-is expanded to include all creation. Every citizen is divine in his vision, because “all creatures [are] equally divine, men in particular” (Whitman never uses Emerson’s term “oversoul,” but he has a “general soul” circulating through all life).

Democratic vision. Whitman believed deeply in democracy, not just as a political system but as a human ideal. He often called America an experiment in equality. In his eyes, a true democracy meant the spiritual coming together of every person’s uniqueness into a harmonious whole. In Leaves he writes as if every voice matters, cataloguing workers (sawmill hands, seamstresses, sailors) side by side with presidents and priests. He envisions democracy itself as sacred: in the reader’s encyclopedia account, it is “the mother-idea of his poems” and he saw it “carried beyond politics into the region of taste, manners and beauty, and even into philosophy and theology.” In many of his poems Whitman literally places terms like “Freedom” and “Democracy” on the same mystical level as Nature. Rather than seeing democracy as mundane, he infused it with religious intensity. This democratic mysticism—treating equality and brotherhood among people as holy truth—runs through his work. He wrote that an American poet’s goal is to write “the epic of democracy” and to make “old history a dwarf” in comparison.

Among Whitman’s other important works were Civil War poems (“Drum-Taps,” 1865) and elegies for Abraham Lincoln (When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d, O Captain! My Captain!). These also combine the personal with the universal: for example, the death of Lincoln becomes symbolic of the death of every father in a country at war. In 1871 he published Democratic Vistas, a long series of essays and poems arguing for what American democracy should become. Throughout his prose and poetry he remained optimistic about the soul of America, even while criticizing its failings.

Style and Method

Whitman’s poetic method was as unconventional as his ideas. One of his most famous departures from precedent was writing in free verse – lines that do not follow regular rhyme schemes or meters. His lines can be long and irregular, with irregular rhythm; he relied on repetition, catalogues of images (for example, lists of people or landscapes), and parallel grammatical structures instead of rhyme. This gave his poetry a breathless, speechlike quality. He also disregarded many traditional poetic restraints. Whitman advised himself to “make no quotations” and “avoid all poetical similes” – meaning he would not lift lines from classical poetry or heavily ornament his language. Instead he aimed for plain, natural diction, close to everyday speech. As a young man working as a printer, Whitman had absorbed knowledge of languages, but for his poetry he deliberately foregrounded English as used by common people. In practice, a Whitman line might pair high and low language in startling ways. He tormented his contemporaries by describing mundane or sensual details in lofty terms, making a hymn out of the ordinary.

Another key feature of Whitman’s style is the “I” narrator. He usually speaks in the first person, even when referring to nature or other people. However this “I” is flexible: sometimes Whitman is literally himself; sometimes he is a single personified idea; yet often he blends into a chorus so that the reader feels addressed directly as a fellow soul. In “Song of Myself”, for instance, he writes “I celebrate myself, and what I assume you shall assume,” blurring the line between the poet and reader. This technique reinforces his democratic ethos: he invites each reader to join in, to take his words as shared experience.

Whitman was influenced by the Transcendentalist movement of Emerson and Thoreau. He absorbed their idea that ultimate reality is spiritual and immanent in nature. Like Emerson, Whitman believed one could have mystical experiences outside traditional religion. However, Whitman was also a man of action and the senses; unlike Emerson he grew up in a more urban, working-class context. He added his own flavor by emphasizing the body, the city, and the common man.

Whitman’s early career also had an unusual technical influence: phrenology. For a time in the 1840s he studied phrenology (the pseudoscience that claimed skull shape revealed character). While the phrenologists’ specifics were wrong, they encouraged Whitman’s interest in linking body and mind. In his poetic method he often seems to treat the body (with its functions and senses) as the vehicle for spiritual insight. One scholar notes that Whitman “insists that it is the soul’s office… to translate the sensuous data apprehended by a physiologically endowed man… into the spiritual truths that are integral in the mystic union of all Being.” In simpler terms, Whitman believed a healthy, vibrant body and keen senses make the soul more aware of the universe. He wrote in notebooks about how nutrition, exercise, and cheerfulness contribute to mental (and thus poetic) power.

In sum, Whitman’s method was to avoid elegant concealment. He wrote as he said he lived: free, open, and direct. He rejected the notion of the poet as a detached elite. Instead he told himself to “be faithful to the perfect likelihoods of nature… make full-blooded, rich, flush, natural works.” This means he wanted his poetry to flow richly with the energy of life and the democratic equality he saw around him.

Influence

Walt Whitman’s influence on literature and culture has been profound. In the decades after his death he was hailed as the founding father of a new American poetic voice. His pioneering use of free verse and colloquial style opened the door for many twentieth-century poets. The modernist generation in particular drew on Whitman’s example: Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot admired how he broke with old forms (Pound called Whitman “the master poet of the United States” for liberating English versification). American poets like Edna St. Vincent Millay, H.D., Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams acknowledged Whitman’s impact as a pathbreaker. His example also inspired the Beat poetry movement of the 1950s: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and other Beats explicitly named Whitman as a predecessor, praised his candid treatment of sexuality and spirit, and emulated his free-flowing lines.

Whitman’s ideas traveled worldwide. In Europe he influenced symbolist and modernist writers who valued his democratic humanism and sensual expressiveness. In Asia and the Middle East, Whitman became a kind of spiritual figure. For example, the poet Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel laureate from India) admired Whitman’s unity of all religions, and Bangladeshi poets have compared Whitman to a local bard who opened new poetic horizons. In China in the early 20th century, as new republicans sought literary revolution, editors began publishing Leaves of Grass translations, finding in Whitman’s vision a model for modernizing literature. He even became known among early Islamic reformist thinkers who saw his open tent ethos as compatible with pluralistic society.

Beyond poetry, Whitman’s democratic ideals resonated in other fields. Civil rights leaders in the U.S. quoted his belief in fundamental equality, and philosophers of humanism have noted his vision of a world united by a shared soul. In the 1960s and ’70s Whitman’s writings were embraced by anti-war and counterculture movements for their celebration of the individual and nature. In short, Whitman paved the way for a wide spectrum of art and thought by championing a universalist humanistic spirituality grounded in the here-and-now.

Critiques and Controversies

Whitman was a controversial figure in his own time. His candid, exuberant poetry shocked many Victorian sensibilities. One major point of contention was his treatment of sexuality and the body. Leaves of Grass contains passionate passages about lovers, physical beauty, and even explicit sexual desire. Mid-19th-century critics often branded this “vulgar” or “immoral.” For example, some early reviewers called Leaves a “mass of filth” and demanded it be banned. In 1865, while Whitman was serving as a clerk in the U.S. Department of the Interior, the new Secretary discovered a copy of Leaves on Whitman’s desk. Offended by its content, the Secretary summarily fired Whitman, reportedly declaring “I will not have the author of this book in this department.” It was one of the first instances of government censorship of literature in the U.S. Libraries in Boston, Harvard and elsewhere reportedly locked up copies of Leaves of Grass.

Literary critics also had mixed feelings. Although the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson famously praised Whitman’s work, others judged it harshly. The New York Times, reviewing a later edition of Leaves, found Whitman “more reckless and vulgar than in his earlier publications,” even while admitting “the evidence of remarkable power” in his work. Some 19th-century poets and critics dismissed Whitman as unrefined. They saw his rejection of rhyme and meter as lacking discipline and called his style sprawling. Atwood and others complained that his free verse seemed formless or inflated. Some doubted his claim to speak for all Americans, finding his egoistic proclamations (“I celebrate myself…”) arrogant or extreme.

Later scholars have also critiqued Whitman from various angles. Some feminist critics note that Whitman’s sweeping inclusion (“every man draws nourishment from every other man” etc.) often centers male experience and may not fully imagine women’s perspectives or the voices of marginalized groups. Others question his romanticized view of America’s potential, noting he glossed over injustices (for most of his life, he criticized slavery but did not protest harshly in early work). There is debate about Whitman’s own sexuality and how that influenced his depictions of friendship and love — Leaves includes passionate male friendships that some interpret as homosexual or bisexual love, which was scandalous at the time. In more recent times, some readers uncomfortable with those elements (or with Whitman’s connection to the nation’s mythology) have faulted him.

Nonetheless, many criticisms of Whitman concern style and social attitudes of his era; almost all scholars recognize his immense originality. Whitman himself expected to be misunderstood. He once wrote that “perhaps I may be better appreciated by strangers… in unexplored lands,” reflecting his sense that America was not yet ready for him.

Legacy

Today Walt Whitman is widely recognized as one of America’s greatest and most influential poets. He is often called the country’s unofficial national poet or the “Bard of Democracy.” His influence lives on in several ways. In poetry, his free-verse technique and candid, personal voice paved the way for modern and contemporary poets around the world. In American culture, he embodies the ideal of an open, optimistic spirit. Whitman’s belief that each person has infinite value and that nature and art are sacred resonates with later humanist and environmental movements. Schools and anthologies often quote his lines (“I contain multitudes,” “every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”) as emblematic of pluralism and unity.

Institutions preserve and celebrate Whitman’s memory. His birthplace on Long Island is a state historic site; the city of Camden, New Jersey (where he lived his later years) has a park and a statue in his honor. Academics continue to study his work intensively, and there is a major Walt Whitman Archive online collecting his manuscripts and writings. Admirers in religious and spiritual communities sometimes treat Whitman as a kind of lay mystic, since he did describe profound experiences of nature and self that some equate with religious awe (even though Whitman spoke of God only obliquely early on). Politicians and thinkers have occasionally invoked Whitman: for example, President Barack Obama quoted from Song of Myself in a speech on democracy.

The themes Whitman explored remain relevant: debates in literature about the body, gender, race, and the role of poetry in society still engage with Whitman’s legacy. The openness and breadth of Leaves of Grass – its embrace of joy and pain, birth and death, saints and sinners equally – continue to challenge and inspire readers. In Whitman’s own democratic terms, Leaves of Grass was meant as a “song for all people”: it endures as an emblem of America’s aspirations toward unity in diversity.

Selected Works

Leaves of Grass (1855–1892) – Whitman’s magnum opus, a continuously revised volume of poetry celebrating America, nature, and the self. Key poems include “Song of Myself,” “I Hear America Singing,” and “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking.”
“Song of Myself” (1855) – A long, twelve-section poem in Leaves of Grass that establishes Whitman’s persona and philosophy of unity with all things.
Drum-Taps (1865) – A collection of Civil War poems. Originally published as a separate pamphlet, it was later incorporated into Leaves of Grass. Includes “Beat! Beat! Drums!” and elegies for Abraham Lincoln.
Passage to India (1871) – A poem published as part of Leaves of Grass (and also the title of the 1871 edition). It draws parallels between America’s westward expansion, India’s joining of the Suez Canal, and a spiritual journey of humanity.
Democratic Vistas (1871) – A prose volume (essays and meditative pieces) on the spiritual and cultural soul of American democracy. It includes Whitman’s famous line that democracy is “a word the real gist of which still sleeps, quite unawakened.”
Specimen Days and Collect (1882) – A mix of prose diaries, memoirs, and short pieces on Whitman’s life (including notes on his experiences as a Civil War nurse).
Calamus poems (1855–1881) – A series of lyrics in Leaves of Grass that express deep affection between male companions. They have been interpreted as explorations of male camaraderie and possibly homosexual love. They exemplify Whitman’s bold openness about affection and friendship.

Timeline

1819 – Born May 31 in West Hills, Long Island, New York.
1836 – Founds and begins editing the Long Islander newspaper (puts him on track as writer).
1846–1847 – Editor at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
1848–1849 – Works on a newspaper in New Orleans.
1850 – Briefly marries; marriage ends with wife’s death (1908 accounts suggest he married an Indian servant, but this was later dissolved). Whitman never remarried.
1855 – Publishes first edition of Leaves of Grass (self-published, 12 poems).
1856 – Second edition of Leaves of Grass (expanded to 24 poems); Emerson publishes an appreciative letter about it.
1860 – Third edition of Leaves of Grass (Boston edition, 178 poems). Includes “Song of Myself” in expanded form.
1862 – Whitman goes to Washington, D.C., to care for his wounded brother in the Civil War. Begins volunteering as a hospital nurse.
1865 – Lincoln is assassinated; Whitman writes “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” and “O Captain! My Captain!” (published in Drum-Taps). In summer, newly appointed Interior Secretary discovers Leaves of Grass on Whitman’s desk and fires him for “immorality.”
1871 – Publishes the essay collection Democratic Vistas. Also publishes an edition of Leaves of Grass subtitled Passage to India.
1873 – Suffers a paralytic stroke (January) which weakens him but does not prevent further writing and editions. Moves to Camden, New Jersey, to rest and recover.
1881 – Publishes Good-Bye My Fancy, a slim volume of poems (later folded into Leaves of Grass).
1882 – Publishes Specimen Days and Collect, a volume of prose and diary fragments from his war years and travels.
1889 – Releases final “deathbed” edition of Leaves of Grass, his complete works (July).
1892 – Walt Whitman dies on March 26 in Camden, New Jersey. His final Leaves of Grass edition had just appeared in his lifetime.

Sources: This overview is based on Whitman’s own collected writings and on scholarly biographies and studies of his life and poetry. (No modern attribution needed in the text.)