Walt Whitman
The Bard of
Democracy
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Born May 31, 1819 in
West Hills on Long
Island, New York
 Second of eight children
 Father was a carpenter
 1825-30 attended public
school in Brooklyn.
 Quit school in 1830 to
take his first job.
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Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
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Despite leaving school,
he received most of his
important education at
home.
– Socialist Literature
– Quaker Literature
(Liberal, free thinking)
– Religious Literature
(Deism – religion based
on reason and morality
rather than revelation.)
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
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1st job was in a law office at
age 11 as a copy boy
– Allowed him to improve his
writing skills
– Exposed him to libraries
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Summer of 1831 he worked for
a newspaper; The Long Island
Patriot.
– Editor shared the liberal views of
Whitman’s family.
– Provided Whitman his first
opportunity to be published.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
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Most of the rest of his life was
spent alternating between
teaching and printing.
The only book he ever
published was Leaves of
Grass.
– First edition published 1855
– Published (at least) nine
editions between 1855 and
1892.
– Last edition published in 1892
after his death – called the
“deathbed edition.”
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
After the publication of the
first edition, Ralph Waldo
Emerson sent him a letter
stating, “I greet you at the
beginning of a great
career.”
 Whitman used part of this
letter to sell future editions
of the book.
 This made Emerson angry,
but he still continued to
support Whitman’s writings.
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Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Public reaction to Leaves of Grass was
mixed:
– Most called it “barbaric” because of
the base and vulgar content and
language.
– A few realized the genius within.
 1860 He added a new section
“Children of Adam” to Leaves of Grass,
which dealt openly with sexual activity
between men and women.
 During the Civil War he volunteered as
a nurse, a “wound dresser,” in military
hospitals.
 In 1865 he added the section “Drum
Taps,” a collection of civil war poems.
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Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
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1860 He met Fred Vaughan, an Irish
immigrant stage driver, and began a
relationship, which fell apart due to
Vaughan’s drinking and subsequent
marriage.
1865 He began a relationship with
Peter Doyle, a horse-car conductor
in Washington, D.C.
1867 He added a section entitled
“Calamus” which dealt openly with
homosexual topics and imagery.
This section, did not raise many
objections, but “Children of Adam”
would later cause his works to be
suppressed by critics and
government officials.
In the end, these attempts at
suppression only increased the
popularity of Whitman’s poetry.
Whitman and Peter Doyle
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
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In 1876 he politely turned down a
marriage proposal from a devoted
British fan, Anne Gilchrist, but they later
became close, life-long friends.
Whitman served as a father figure for
her three children from her first
marriage, and they lived together as a
family for a number of years, until her
return to England.
1876 He also began a relationship with
Henry Stafford, which would continue
until Whitman’s death.
This relationship was a stormy one, and
Stafford apparently rejected Whitman a
number of times, returning the ring
Whitman had given him, and then taking
it back later.
Whitman and Henry Stafford
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
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1873 He suffered a stroke and
spent the rest of his life being
cared for by a small group of
devoted friends, including Doyle,
Stafford and others.
1879 He traveled west as far as
Colorado before falling ill, and
returning to St. Louis to stay with
his brother Jeff while
convalescing.
Traveled through Lawrence, KS,
spending three days in the Usher
home at 1425 Tennessee.
Described Lawrence and Topeka
as “large, bustling, half-rural
handsome cities.”
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
He continued to write
and revise his poetry
until his death in 1892.
 Over the course of his
life he wrote and
published over 400
poems. This was an
unheard of number.
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Whitman’s Philosophy
Whitman’s poems are a mixture of the
commonplace, raw experience, sentimentalism, and
poetic inspiration, advancing romanticism to its
logical end.
 Whitman’s view of humanity is optimistic and basic
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– Common people are highly respected.
– All that is human is good and valuable (humanism)
• In his writings, the reader experiences humanity, which is
glorified in all its aspects.
• This includes “sex, womanhood, maternity, lusty animations,
organs, acts.”
• Whitman wanted to be a “Cosmic Consciousness”
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Proclaimed himself to be the “Bard of Democracy,”
and promoted issues of social equality and justice.
Whitman’s Legacy
He opened American literature to the most basic of
human feelings, actions, desires, etc.
 He legitimized free verse as an art form.
 He made private intensity an acceptable and
necessary part of art in the 20th century.
 He made language in literature accurately represent
reality (and made this acceptable).
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– Uses slang terms
– Uses regional names for people
– Uses foreign words interchangeably with English, much
like the American language does.
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He is the ultimate Romantic, carrying the ideas of
Romanticism to their logical ends.
Whitman’s Voice
America
Centre of equal daughters, equal sons
All, all alike endear'd, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
 The last two lines, not in this recording, are:
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair'd in the adamant of Time.
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Credits
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All images and recording taken from
www.whitmanarchive.org
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Presentation created by Jeff Plinsky for his
legions of adoring American Lit students.