WALT WHITMAN Walt Whitman, arguably America’s most influential and innovative poet was born into a working class family in west Hills, New York, a village near Hempstead, Longstead on May 31, 1819. He was an American poet, Journalist and essayist whose verse collection “Leaves of Grass” is a landmark in the history of American Literature. At the age of twelve, Walt began to learn the printer’s trade, and fell in love with the written word. Largely self-taught, he read voraciously, becoming acquainted
Frances Willard and Walt Whitman are two significant nineteenth century American figures. Although Willard and Whitman are famous for different reasons, they do have one characteristic in common: they have both been accused of being homosexuals. However, most people do not know this because it is not put in history textbooks or taught in the classroom, for good reason. Public school students should not learn about Willard and Whitman’s homosexuality through their textbooks and teachers because it
The homosexual themes displayed in Walt Whitman’s works, especially in his most famous collection of poems Leaves of Grass, raise the question of his own sexuality. Many of his poems depicted affection and sexuality in a simple, personal manner, causing nineteenth century Americans to view them as pornographic and obscene. Based on this poetry, Whitman is usually assumed to be homosexual, or at least bisexual. However, this assumption does not account for major influences of his writing such as