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Walt WhitmanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
With the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass on July 4, 1855, Walt Whitman emerged as a truly original voice. This date is not a coincidence, as the collection—and Whitman’s entire career—can be viewed as a celebration of the American experience. As a child in 1824 he attended General Lafayette’s grand tour visit to Brooklyn. The Revolutionary War hero fixated on five-year-old Whitman, lifting him from among the throng and offering a hearty embrace.
Whitman is known for his long lines, filled with lists and compendiums of information. These disquisitions seek to capture all of America, as in the poem “I Hear America Singing,” where he includes mechanics and masons, shoemakers and woodcutters, and mothers and girls. As a result, “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night” may seem anachronistic at first glance with its focus on a private moment between a soldier and his fallen comrade. However, the poem illustrates the great poet’s range. While Whitman is most known for his “barbaric yawp” and his celebration of the individual—the original title of Leaves of Grass was Song of Myself—this poem shows his ability to confront death without despairing. The speaker sheds no tears because he is confident the pair “shall surely meet again” (Line 17).
By Walt Whitman
A Glimpse
Walt Whitman
America
Walt Whitman
A Noiseless Patient Spider
Walt Whitman
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Walt Whitman
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
Walt Whitman
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Walt Whitman
For You O Democracy
Walt Whitman
Hours Continuing Long
Walt Whitman
I Hear America Singing
Walt Whitman
I Sing the Body Electric
Walt Whitman
I Sit and Look Out
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
Song of Myself
Walt Whitman
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Walt Whitman
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
Walt Whitman