Context
Walt Whitman was born in 1819 on Long Island (the
Paumanok of many of his poems). During his early
years he trained as a printer, then became a teacher,
and finally a journalist and editor. He was less
than successful; his stridently radical views made
him unpopular with readers. After an 1848 sojourn in
the South, which introduced him to some of the
variety of his country, he returned to New York and
began to write poetry.
In 1855 he self-published the first edition of
Leaves of Grass, which at the time consisted
of only twelve poems. The volume was widely ignored,
with one significant exception. Ralph Waldo Emerson
wrote him a congratulatory letter, in which he
offered his "greet[ings]... at the beginning of a
great career." Whitman promptly published another
edition of Leaves of
Grass, expanding it by some twenty poems and
appending the letter from Emerson, much to the
latter's discomfort. 1860 saw another edition of a
now much larger Leaves--containing some 156
poems--which was issued by a trade publisher.
At the outset of the Civil War Whitman volunteered as
a nurse in army hospitals; he also wrote dispatches
as a correspondent for the New York Times.
The war inspired a great deal of poetry, which was
published in 1865 as Drum Taps. Drum
Taps was then incorporated into an 1867 edition
of Leaves of Grass, as was another volume of
wartime poetry, Sequel, which included the
poems written on Lincoln's assassination.
Whitman's wartime work led to a job with the
Department of the Interior, but he was soon fired
when his supervisor learned that he had written the
racy poems of Leaves of Grass. The failure of
Reconstruction led him to write the best known of his
prose works, Democratic Vistas, which, as its
title implies, argues for the maintenance of
democratic ideals. This volume came out in 1871, as
did yet another edition of Leaves of Grass,
expanded to include more poems. The 1871 edition was
reprinted in 1876 for the centennial. Several other
prose works followed, then a further expanded version
of Leaves of Grass, in 1881.
Whitman's health had been shaky since the mid-1870s,
and by 1891 it was clear he was dying. He therefore
prepared his so-called "Deathbed" edition of
Leaves of Grass, which contained two
appendices of old-age poems as well as a review essay
in which he tries to justify his life and work. The
"Deathbed Edition" came out in 1892; Whitman died
that year.
Whitman's lifetime saw both the Civil War and the
rise of the United States as a commercial and
political power. He witnessed both the apex and the
abolition of slavery. His poetry is thus centered on
ideas of democracy, equality, and brotherhood. In
response to America's new position in the world,
Whitman also tried to develop a poetry that was
uniquely American, that both surpassed and broke the
mold of its predecessors. Leaves of Grass,
with its multiple editions and public controversies,
set the pattern for the modern, public artist, and
Whitman, with his journalistic endeavors on the side,
made the most of his role as celebrity and artist.
