Walt Whitman

One of the great innovators in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves of Grass is his masterpiece....

The poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman first appeared in his 1855 volume Leaves of Grass. "Song of Myself" is written in Whitman’s signature free verse style....

Abraham Lincoln read it with approval, but Emily Dickinson described its bold language and themes as "disgraceful"....

Leaves of Grass is the written expression of Whitman's view of life and humanity in the form of poetry....

This is the long first piece in the first edition of Walt Whitman's classic poetry collection. Among other things, it contains Whitman's philosophy of life and his opinion of the purpose of poets....

In 1852, young Walt Whitman - a down-on-his-luck housebuilder in Brooklyn - was hard at work writing two books....

Perhaps the first great and truly "American" poet, Walt Whitman's writing reflected the idealism and turbulence of the mid-19th century....

This collection, narrated by distinguished Broadway actor Brian Murray, includes nine poems....

Whitman chronicled his visits to Washington, D.C. hospitals where he comforted wounded men and assisted nurses and doctors....

In the preface to Leaves of Grass, Whitman states, "The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem"....