Birth of Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was born on 31 May 1819 in West Hills. An American poet, essayist and journalist, Whitman is considered one of the most influential figures in American literature. His collection Leaves of Grass, which he revised and expanded throughout his life, celebrated democracy, the body, nature and the common person in free verse that broke from traditional forms. During the Civil War he worked as a volunteer nurse in Washington hospitals, which inspired his poems collected in Drum-Taps and the elegy for Abraham Lincoln, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. His frank treatment of sexuality scandalized many readers, and his work inspired generations of poets.

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