Walt Whitman Biography

in full Walter Whitman

(1819 - 1892)

Share

Table Of Contents

Related Works

  • Poetry
  • 1855, 1860, 1871, 1876, 1891–2 Leaves of Grass
  • 1865 Drum Taps
  • 1867 Sequel to Drum Taps
  • 1888 November Boughs
  • Stories
  • 1842 Franklin Evans
  • 1876 Two Rivulets
  • 1882 Specimen Days and Collect
  • 1927 The Half-Breed and Other Stories
  • Editor
  • 1842–46 Aurora
  • 1846–48 The Brooklyn Eagle
  • 1857 The Brooklyn Times
  • Essays
  • 1871 Democratic Vistas
» More

(born May 31, 1819, West Hills, Long Island, N.Y., U.S.—died March 26, 1892, Camden, N.J.) American poet, journalist, and essayist whose verse collection Leaves of Grass is a landmark in the history of American literature.

Early life.

Walt Whitman was born into a family that settled in North America in the first half of the 17th century. His ancestry was typical of the region: his mother, Louisa Van Velsor, was Dutch, and his father, Walter Whitman, was of English descent. They were simple farm people, with little formal education. The Whitman family had at one time owned a large tract of land, but it was so diminished by the time Walt was born that his father had taken up carpentering, though the family still lived on a small section of the ancestral estate. In 1823 Walter Whitman, Sr., moved his growing family to Brooklyn, which was enjoying a boom. There he speculated in real estate and built cheap houses for artisans, but he was a poor manager and had difficulty in providing for his family, which increased to nine children.

Walt, the second child, attended public school in Brooklyn, began working at the age of 12, and learned the printing trade. He was employed as a printer in Brooklyn and New York City, taught in country schools on Long Island, and became a journalist. At the age of 23 he edited a daily newspaper in New York, and in 1846 he became editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, a fairly important newspaper of the time. Discharged from the Eagle early in 1848 because of his support for the Free Soil faction of the Democratic Party, he went to New Orleans, La., where he worked for three months on the Crescent before returning to New York via the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. After another abortive attempt at Free Soil journalism, he built houses and dabbled in real estate in New York from about 1850 until 1855.

Whitman had spent a great deal of his 36 years walking and observing in New York City and Long Island. He had visited the theatre frequently and seen many plays of William Shakespeare, and he had developed a strong love of music, especially opera. During these years he had also read extensively at home and in the New York libraries, and he began experimenting with a new style of poetry. While a schoolteacher, printer, and journalist he had published sentimental stories and poems in newspapers and popular magazines, but they showed almost no literary promise.

advertisement

BIOGRAPHY Video

Biography

Real stories about fascinating people. Watch FULL Biography episodes!

On TV

I Survived...

New Season Begins 12/6! Watch FULL Episodes now!

Shatner's Raw Nerve

Shop Biography

Barack Obama: Inaugural Edition DVD

Barack Obama: Inaugural Edition DVD

Get exclusives and hard to find titles only at the Biography Shop. Buy Now

Email Sign Up

Get email updates on your favorite BIO shows and what's new on bio.com!

– Bio.com news
– BIO shows
– Born On This Day

…and more! SIGN UP today!

Featured This Month

Amelia Earhart

AMELIA EARHART

Learn more about pioneering aviatrix Amelia Earhart and the conspiracy theories surrounding her disappearance. Watch videos, view timeline, study guide, and more.

JFK

JOHN F. KENNEDY

JFK was the 35th president of the U.S. serving from 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. Watch video, view photo gallery, and more.

Nostradamus

FULL BIO EPISODES

What were the 2012 predictions of Nostradamus? How well do you know President Barack Obama? Check out our VIDEO GUIDE to see all video!

Celebrity Bookings