• Born: 31 May 1819

• Birthplace: Long Island, New York

• Died: 26 March 1892
• Best Known As: The poet who wrote Leaves of Grass

General Idea About Whitman

1. Walt Whitman was a 19th century writer whose life's work, Leaves of Grass, made him one of the first
American poets to gain international attention.
2. Whitman spent most of his young life in Brooklyn, where he worked as a printer and newspaper
journalist through the 1850s.
3. The first edition of Leaves of Grass was privately printed in 1855 and consisted of 12 untitled poems,
one of which was to later become famous as "Song of Myself."
4. During the Civil War Whitman moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as a civil servant and
volunteer nurse.
5. There he published the poetry collections Drum Taps and Sequel to Drum Taps (1865-66), the latter
containing his famous elegies for Abraham Lincoln,
6. In 1873 he was paralyzed after a stroke and moved to Camden, New Jersey.
7. By the time of his death he was an international literary celebrity, and he is considered one of the most
influential poets in American literature.