Walt Whitman's 'Song Of The Open Road'

In early American Literature, there were several famous authors that shaped America and American literature into modern literature. Among those individuals are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and, Walt Whitman. Of particular interest is Walt Whitman, who has fascinated the masses for over a century with his unorthodox writings. Whitman was inspired by Emerson in the beginning of his career, and later Emerson was the one who helped give Whitman the courage to continue writing after the public did not accept “Leaves of Grass” which was the first work Whitman published. Sadly, Whitman had to publish “Leaves of Grass” privately in the beginning. One poem of importance is from “Leaves of Grass,” that being “For You O Democracy.” As with many of Whitman’s works “For You O Democracy” discussed new ideas and beliefs. The first being the belief that America could stand as one entity; an entity that accepts everyone regardless of their race or social standing. Previously the nation had been divided based upon race and social standing. The second work by Whitman is “America,” a poem which was not published in Whitman’s original work “Leaves of Grass.” Rather, it was one of Whitman’s standalone tributes to the nation. One may wonder why Whitman had to publish his first work privately. Publishing privately had a great deal to do with censorship and the culture during his era. At this time citizens were not open to the idea of accepting the freedom of slaves or homosexuality,

Walt Whitman has neither related his biography nor glorified himself in the poem as the title suggests. Infact, the apparent indication of the title is here of no importance. The poem is the song of celebration of every object of nature in general where a question put to the poet by a little child triggers off a philosophical trend of thought relating to death and the meaning of death. In the poem, he has celebrated his own idea (that nothing collapses due to death but instead life moves on) and imaginary power while showcasing his optimistic views on life

He was born in May 1819 in New York. Whitman “aimed to transcend traditional epics, eschew normal aesthetic form, and reflect the nature of the American experience and its democracy” ("Walt Whitman"). Whitman’s views on slavery are a little confusing. He initially called for the abolition of slavery but later viewed the Abolitionist Movement as a risk to democracy. In his poem Leaves of Grass he portrays African Americans as “beautiful, dignified, and intelligent” (Klammer). However in other poems, Whitman writes how he thought blacks were inferior and that he had little sympathy for them (Klammer). Whitman volunteered his time caring for wounded soldiers ("Walt Whitman"). He made 600 hospital visits and saw more than 100,000 patients ("Walt Whitman"). This encouraged him to return to poetry where he wrote about the realities of the Civil War. In the final years of Whitman’s life, he wrote that he was disappointed in the America that he saw emerge after the Civil War ("Walt

Walt Whitman was an American poet whose free verse brought a new style and uniqueness to American poetry. “Free verse is poetry organized according to the cadences of speech and image patterns rather than according to a regular metrical scheme. The meter is irregular and its rhythms are based on patterned elements such as sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, rather than on the traditional units of metrical feet” (“Free Verse Encyclopedia” 1). You can see his free verse style through his literary works such as “Leaves of Grass” and “Song of Myself”.

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 and he died on March 26, 1892. He had a nickname that was "Bard of Democracy. When he was 11, his dad took him out of school so he could help around the house and the farm. He started to work as a journalist and he did not really like it because he always had a hard deadline. Whitman became angered about the slavery problems so that is what made him sit down and start writing his feeling which became a poem.

The life of Walt Whitman was remarkable and inspiring to many people in the past and still is today. “Walt Whitman was born at

Walt Whitman's was a writer and poet born in the 1800's He lived in Long Island NY, he temporary took a post for the paymaster once before and volunteered to help with wounded soldiers so he saw different views of the world.He also was a journalist humanist and

Walt Whitman was born in 1819, a second son to a housebuilder and one of 9 children. He worked as a printer at an early age, this is where he became enamored with the written word. Working as a printer in New York until a fire devastated the printing section of the city he was self-taught reading the works of Homer, Dante and the Bible. Whitman worked as a teacher for several years before becoming a journalist, full-time and establishing the paper The Long Islander. He worked as an editor for several papers before moving to New Orleans to become the editor of The Crescent where he first experienced the reality of the slave trade. Returning to his hometown of Brooklyn in Long Island he founded the newspaper the Brooklyn Freeman and continued

May 31, 1819 was the day that poet Walt Whitman was born. He was born to a housebuilder named Walter Whitman. He started working with printing when he was 12 years. After a devastating fire destroyed that industry, then 17 year old Walt Whitman went to work as teacher in a schoolhouse for five years. He then went to work in the journalism industry. He founded a newspaper called the Long-Islander. He then worked with other newspapers, like the Daily Eagle and the Crescent. He then realized the horrors of slavery during his time in New Orleans with the creation of the Brooklyn Freeman, using his unique sense of poetry. He wrote the first edition of Leaves of Grass, which contained 12 poems. He then created a second book right before the Civil

The mid 19th century was an exciting time in United States History. America was expanding, and some settlers were headed to the western shores of the continent in hopes of a better life, and for some to follow their dream of striking gold. On the other hand, African Americans were held captive, dreaming of their emancipation, and the women suffrage movement had just begun. Meanwhile, the American poet, Walt Whitman wrote, “Facing West from California Shores”, a short lyrical poem, in the year 1860. He included the poem in a collection called Leaves of Grass, which he self-published in the year 1855. Whitman demonstrated his highly artistic expression of sentiment with the irregular style of free verse; moreover, the poems tonality guides the reader to the sensibility of the speaker’s doubtfulness of ever receiving justification. In the poem “Facing West from California’s Shores”, Walt Whitman, uses the speaker to adopt the new world’s persona, he then uses the speaker to associate the imagery of the coastlands, along with word choice and order to incite an extension of civil liberties to American minorities, during the 19th century.

American Romanticism was an era full of authentic styles and unusual topics. Romanticism started in 1830 and lasted until about 1870, but was the era for artistic writers to blossom into who they are known as today. Two of the most famous authors during this time period were Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Each author is famous for their different styles of writing, and forever shaped the American Romanticism era.

Walt Whitman is considered one of the most important writers in the history of American Literature. The people of his own time called him a radical, a madman, and a pornographer. These days he is greatly appreciated and entitled as a fearless prophet of a new stage of human development. Sometimes Whitman would be in a slump and he felt that he needed to deflect the people who inquired too directly. This even meant using examples of homosexual elements in his work, as well as unbelievable stories of him having affairs with numerous women and fathering many children, unknown to him. Throughout these sorts of times W. Whitman has gone through both resentment and flattery, nevertheless showing us

After the Civil War, Walt Whitman realized that the American people were in need of their own identity. Therefore, he wrote the book “Leaves of Grass” with the goal of creating a literature piece that was authentic and organic to the United States in every sense. Whitman introduced to literature the idea of the “American Dream” and highlighted how important it was for the American people to develop their own identity. Consequently, he rejected the European writing styles and adapted the use of free-verses to his writing, making it a popular writing style in American poetry. Whitman valued of humanity, nature and spirituality. Therefore, he joined the Transcendental literary movement and

There is no question that Walt Whitman had the most significant influence on American literary history. Along with Emily Dickinson, Whitman represented the Romantic literature era of American literature. Whitman is known for his distinctive poetic forms and free verse. Whitman’s most popular work Leaves of Grass influenced many future writers that came after him to follow his writing style. The richness that Leaves of Grass left behind had such a huge impact on American writers of many different backgrounds and cultures. Whitman’s influence can be seen in the works of Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, and Sharon Olds.

Walt Whitman, a civil war nurse was a self-taught poet in the 1800s. Whitman is known for using lists, anaphora, free verse, and other literary devices in his poems. In his works, he focuses on American workers, diversity, transcendent approaches to nature, and individualism. “Song of Myself,” a poem written by Whitman, explores themes of nature, sex, democracy, and spirituality. Whitman uses nature to fuel his creativity in using grass as a symbol of comparison to life by using imagery, metaphors, and analogies.