Walt_Whitmans_Reflections_Toward_Civil_War

Walt Whitmans Reflections Toward Civil War Walt Whitman came to be known as the greatest American poet of the 19th century. He was born on May 31, 1819, near Huntington, New York. He grew up on a farm and had little formal education. While living in Brooklyn, he attended public school for six years. He had several jobs editing newspapers in New York. He built houses and worked in the real estate business from 1850 to 1855. During this time he read at home and at libraries. He would even carry a book with his lunch so that he could read on his lunch break. Whitman developed an interest in writing and began experimenting with a new style of poetry. People did not approve of his new style. At one point he was threatened with criminal prosecution because several of his poems were considered obscene. This newspaper publicity created interest in his book Leaves of Grass, a collection of his poems. Whitman also wrote a collection of war poems that were written during the Civil War called Drum-Taps. In 1871 this collection of poems was added to Leaves of Grass. Whitman was too old for the military whitman, war, poem, poems, allen, civil, written, son, mother, father, writing, whitman’s, new, grass, emotions, during, drum, collection, walt, south, poetry, one, old, north, man, letter, leaves, full, experiences, even, because, around, york, yet, wounded