poetry collection -Michael Dickson

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in Brooklyn. He started out working as a school teacher but changed to journalism in 1841 as a full time career. He founded a weekly newspaper, Long-Islander, and later edited a number of Brooklyn and New York papers. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Whitman vowed to live a “purged” and “cleansed” life. He worked as a freelance journalist and visited the wounded at New York City–area hospitals. He then traveled to Washington, D. C. in December 1862 to care for his brother who had been wounded in the war. He wrote Leaves of Grass, which is highly regarded as one of the most influential works of American poetry.

Leaves of Grass is thematically based around the tendency of the self to overcome moral, psychological, and political boundaries.

http://www.whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1881/poems/94

            Whitman discusses the varying occupations of men and women in America. He describes some jobs, which are typically looked down upon, in such a way that they seem integral to the functioning of America as a country. He describes the different roles of men and women, and the different occupations they have. He explains how it is possible for people who believe that they are constrained by their class or their gender, to escape their constraint and break free from their own self-imposed boundaries, as well as those set by society.

"Poet: Walt Whitman." Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web.

<https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/walt-whitman>.