Walt Whitman Research Paper

Walt Whitman, full name Walter, was not a fancy or gaudy man, he had many modest jobs as a young man. He was also quite generous as he rarely kept extra money. He had barely enough to survive, the rest was given to what he considered a better cause. Whitman wrote about what he wanted to, he did not let other people’s opinions about what he wrote sway him in any way. He was a multi-talented man, being successful in areas of writing ranging from journalism to poetry, he had many published works in both genres. He was born on may 31st, 1819, the second son of his father Walter Whitman and his mother Louisa Van Velsor. His father was a housebuilder. The whole family consisted of nine children and lived in Brooklyn and long island throughout the1820s and 30s. At the ripe young age of 12, Walt Whitman started to learn the trade of printing. For the most part, he taught himself. With a hunger he read and learned books from authors such as Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible. He was successful as a printer working in New York City’s printing district until it was hit with

He continued to teach while doing journalism on the side until 1841 when he decided to turn journalism into a full-time job. Later in his career he founded his own weekly newspaper called Long-Islander. He also edited many New York and Brooklyn based papers. One fact that very few people know is that Whitman also spent a considerable amount of time writing fiction. He is best known for his works between the years 1840 and 1845. His first ever fiction work published was Death in the School-Room. He is also noted for capturing many important professional and psychological matters in his fiction works. He left the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to become the editor of the New Orleans Crescent in 1848. There in New Orleans Whitman experienced firsthand the brutality in the slave markets, especially in that