Walter Whitman's Accomplishments

Walter “Walt” Whitman was born May 31, 1819 in West Hills, Long Island to Walter and Louisa Whitman, as the second of eight surviving children.

Poetry, perhaps more than other genre of writing, often sparks controversy and discussion. Authors Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes are two authors in American Literature whose poetry is both debated and praised by critics. "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman and "I, Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes have sparked many discussions on their controversial content. Walt Whitman was the first of the two authors to write, followed by Langston Hughes who was influenced by Whitman's work. While Whitman's poem, "I Hear America Singing" reflects the happiness of the American people, the poem written by Hughes takes a different approach. While the two authors discuss similar subject matter, there are many differences that can be identified between these two literary works.

Buddy Reedy English l l l Mrs. Way Period 7 Buddy Reedy’s Essay over Walt Whitman’s Life Walt Whitman lived a life full of change. He often wrote about it through his poems during the Civil war era about how he opposed slavery and would like them to be free, and a huge inspiration for his poems was Abe Lincoln and the idea of reuniting the South with the North again and also how he helped the wounded soldiers at a hospital in the Union Capital in The United States. Walt Whitman was born in West Hills, New York on May 31 1819. He was the second child out of eight siblings. His father's name was Walter Whitman and his mother's name was Lousia Van Velser Whitman.

Upton Sinclair was born on September 20th, 1878. Him and his family moved to New York City in 1888 due to his father being an alcoholic. His family was extremely poor, unlike Sinclair’s grandparents, who were extremely wealthy. He claims that because of his experiences with the lifestyle of being poor and wealthy, it turned him into a socialist. Sinclair entered New York City college at the age of fourteen. By writing stories for the newspapers and magazines, he was able to help pay for college. He then moved into his own apartment and supplied his parents with a regular income by age seventeen. In 1902, Sinclair married Meta Fuller and began writing novels. After the discouraging effect of his first three novels, Fred Warren found something special within Sinclair’s writing. Warren told Sinclair to write a novel about immigrant workers in Chicago meat packing houses. Julius Wayland gave Sinclair five hundred dollars to help him start his writing. He wrote The Jungle after seven weeks of researching. The Jungle got rejected by six publishers. Sinclair then decided to publish it himself, and received orders for nine hundred and seventy-two copies. This sparked interest to Doubleday, an American publishing company, which

Langston Hughes was one the most well known names during the Harlem Renaissance. He was a writer whose pieces ranged from novels, to plays. He wrote short stories, children’s books, translations and anthologies as well. However, his most well known pieces were his poems. Langston's writing reflected the idea that black culture should be celebrated, because it is just as valuable as white culture.

Walt Whitman was an American poet and journalist born on May 31, 1819. Whitman was influenced by transcendentalism, which was an idea emphasizing that to understand nature, one must analyze the reasoning or process behind it. Whitman had done many writings throughout his life that had been inspirations for other poets. For example, in the spring of 1855, Whitman published “Leaves of Grass”, which was a collection of twelve unnamed poems. This writing was enticed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who thought that the collection of poems were “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom.”

In 1819, he was born in a country, West Hills, Town of Huntington, Long Island. He was the second boy of a family interested in Quaker. And his father, Walter Whitman, named his sons after American leaders like Andrew Jackson, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. It shows that Walt grew up in a kind of patriotic atmosphere. He started to go to school when he was 6, but 5 years later he had to stop studying at school because his family’s poverty.

“At the same time, he became increasingly interested in the ideas of early nineteenth century literary romantics. Whitman's political ideas became a mesh of his working-class background and literary aspirations” (Cmiel 205).Whitman, who once strongly believed in party politics and in the presidential office, deemed the three presidents prior to Lincoln as "our topmost warning and shame" (qtd. in Reynolds, “Politics and Poetry: Leaves of Grass and the Social Crisis of the I850s” 67). Whitman’s disappointment with the political figures turned him toward the mass and a kind of poetry to move the common people for change. He viewed “American society as an ocean covered with the ‘scum’ of politicians, below which lay the pure, deep waters of common humanity” (Reynolds, “Politics

Walt Whitman is one of nine children, he grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and Long Island and was faced with many different aspects of society. Growing up he had a great fascination of the atmosphere of Brooklyn which led him to journalism at the age of twenty. In 1855 Walt Whitman self-published a collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass which was expanded and revised through many editions until the ninth “deathbed” edition which was published in 1892. His brother was wounded in Fredericksburg Virginia, shortly after Walt Whitman traveled to see him. Once he saw the aftermath he was compelled to work as a nurse in Washington, D.C. as a volunteer nurse, in this time he wrote many more poems.

One way that Whitman conveys his poetry is through the eyes of the everyday man. In this period of American history, the civil war was ongoing, and his poetry did not shy away from the everyday

“Unification Via Personification: Revisioned Version” Langston Hughes is known as one of the most influential African American poets. He has a large collection of works that still influence African American society today. Hughes contributed towards the Harlem Renaissance, which produced a surge of African American works in the 1920s. In addition, Langston Hughes is also known as one of the most inspiring African American civil rights activists and advocated for African American unity and solidarity.

After Thoreau’s graduation from Harvard College, David Henry Thoreau changed his name to Henry David Thoreau. The young man returned to his hometown of Concord, Massachusetts. In the year of 1837, America was in the midst of an economic depression. Many people did not have a job and the people with a job were scared of losing it. Being a Harvard graduate, as Thoreau was, opening the door to many opportunities and vast job titles. Four popular professions of such prestige school offered an advanced ranking in the military. Thoreau felt unfit for the military, his views on the government and how America was currently not in a war felt no place to enroll. The law was also an option but often disagreed with the rules and regulations of the government

His works are full of realistic qualities. Moreover, they are long with deep messages, as well as well-structured and detailed. Furthermore, his poems are democratic both subject and the language which shows how intellectual was his imaginary and visual style of writing. To both Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, the individualism in society has a huge importance which, at the same time, inspired their style of writing. Also, they accept the importance of God in connection with nature and immortality.

In this grand poem, Whitman glorifies the unity of all people and life. He embraces the geographical diversity as well as the diversity of culture, work, as well as sexuality or beliefs. Whitman’s influence sets American dreams of freedom, independence, and self-fulfillment, and changes them for larger spiritual meaning. Whitman appreciates hard work as well as being simple and non-egotistical. His major ideas are things such as soul, good health, as well as the love of nature.

Walt Whitman, a very influential writer/poet during the later 1800’s stepped out of the normal