Walt Whitman

Walter Whitman Jr. was born on 31 May 1819 in Long Island. Whitman left school at eleven to support his family, taking on work as a teacher and editor and journalist at a number of news publications.

In 1850, he began working on Leaves of Grass, self-publishing it five years later. Although it did not sell widely, the book generated both attention for its inventive writing and controversy for its explicit content.

During the Civil War, he was horrified by the suffering and death he witnessed and decided to spend the next few years aiding wounded soldiers in Washington. Throughout his career, his poetry and politics were deeply influenced by the events in his country.

Whitman spent his final years in New Jersey. On 26 March 1892, aged seventy-two, he died.