The Life of Walt Whitman: An Exploration in the Poet's Spirituality and Works.

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Many a student has decried various types of poetry for its form and structure while enjoying the free verse works of poets such as T. S. Elliot and Robert Frost. Students, however, frequently neglect the Civil War era poet Walt Whitman who is, to this day, considered the Father of free verse. While Whitman did not invent free verse, he secured its role in the American psyche. Even with his accomplishments, Whitman's life was not without trials; he concluded schooling and began working at age eleven. This early independence and the trials that followed forced Whtiman to seek spiritual solace to cope. Whitman's search for a greater meaning becomes evident in his poetry and drives his works. From his early works such as “There Was A Child That Went Forth” that paint the picture of Whitman as a fiercely independent young man. His middle works such as “When I Heard The Learn'd Astronomer show his growing displeasure with society while Whitman's spirituality is on display in his later works such as “The Noiseless Patient Spider”.

Walter Whitman was born May 31st, 1819 in West Hills, Long Island. At the age of eleven his formal schooling was concluded and took up employment at a law firm. After the law firm Whitman began to work in journalism. By the age of fifteen Whitman was riding a daily fairy from Brooklyn to Manhattan where he interacted with the general population whom he felt “most at home” with. In 1835 Whitman was forced home, after five years as a traveling school teacher he had founded his own newspaper. After years of working in journalism and moving back in with his family to support them financially, in 1854 Whitman released his first edition of Leaves of Grass containing twelve poems. After, in Whitman's own words, “3...

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"A Noiseless Patient Spider." Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition (2002): Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 24 Jan. 2010.

Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Terrinoni, Enrico. "Literary Contexts in Poetry: Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" Literary Contexts in Poetry: Walt Whitman's 'Oh Captain! My Captain!' (2007): 1. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 24 Jan. 2010.

"Walt Whitman." Academy of American Poets -- Biographies of American Poets (2006): 56. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 24 Jan. 2010.

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