Whitmans’ Style of Writing
Walt Whitman was not like any other poet of his time period. Walt Whitman broke the boundaries of what was common in the way poets wrote back then.Whitman made use of imagery throughout his writing. He also spoke openly death, sexuality and suprisingly prostitution. Whitman did all this by writing using free verse. Free verse is a term describing various styles of poetry that are written without using strict meter, rhythm, or rhyme, but still recognizable as poetry by virtue of complex patterns of one sort or another that readers will perceive to be part of a coherent whole.
About Whitmans’ Sexuality
Whitman’s romantic and sexual attraction towards other men is not disputed. However, whether or not Whitman had sexual relationships with men has been the subject of some critical disagreement. Evidence is attributed to fellow poets George Sylvester Viereck and Edward Carpenter, neither of whom entrusted those accounts to print themselves. Though scholars supported the view of Whitman as actively homosexual, this aspect of his personality is not brought out when his works are presented in educational settings. The Whitmans significant other may have been Peter Doyle, a bus conductor whom he met around 1866. They were inseparable for several years. Interviewed in 1895, Doyle said: “We were familiar at once — I put my hand on his knee — we understood. He did not get out at the end of the trip — in fact went all the way back with me.” A more explicit account comes from Oscar Wilde. Wilde met Whitman in America in 1882, and wrote to the homosexual rights activist George Cecil Ives that there was “no doubt” about the great American poet’s sexual orientation — “I have the kiss of Walt Whitman still on my lips,” he boasted. How do you feel about that?
About Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman, born as Walter Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, Long Island, New York. He was second of nine children born to Walter Whitman and Louisa Whitman. Walt went to school until he was 11 years old in order to find a job because of his families financial problems. He worked as a office boy and then worked in the printery that published the weekly newspaper, the Patriot. Now Walt began to write poetry and later became a teacher in which he was disatisfied. He then created his own newspaper, Long Islander, and was an editor, publisher, and worked at a printing press. He continued to work for places that published newspapers and he also worked at numerous printeries until he decide to become a poet. In 1850, Whitman began writing the Leaves of Grass and completed it in 1855 and printed 795 copies. Leaves of Grass was highly praised but also criticized as being “obscene”. Because of its sexual overtones, it was revised and re-released over and over again in Whitman’s life.
Whitman was active in the Civil War. Because of Whitman’s brother’s letters about the condition of war, it persuaded Whitman to serves as a nurse to wounded soldiers and he wrote about his experiences in his writing. The death of endless soldiers affected him. But that wasn’t all that affected Whitman at that time. He experienced the death of many of his family members. But Whitman continued to write and Poems of Walt Whitman was published in February 1968 which became popular in England and another edition of Leaves of Grass was released and continued to be released 1876, 1881, 1889. Sadly, Walt Whitman suffered a stroke and his health declined. He died on March 26, 1892 at 73 years of age because of many problems with his lungs.
The Reason for this blog is…
Hello, everyone! My name is Priscilla and I have created this blog for educational use. I am currently in a AP English class at MLEC. Our teacher, Mrs. Biddings, instructed us to make a blog about a specific writer in Literature. The writer that this blog will be based on is Walt Whitman. I will be providing a biography, cool facts, and information about Whitman’s works to help me and others in AP Literature and Composition appreciate this writer’s contribution to literature. I hope you enjoy my blog and also learn something new about Walt Whitman.
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