Biographical Sketch:

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in Long Island, New York to Louisa Van Velsor and Walter Whitman. In and out of jobs for most of his life, in 1841 he finally began to have his work published with “Death in the School-Room (a Fact)” published in Democratic Review. In 1848 Whitman helped found the Free-soil newspaper called the Brooklyn Freeman. This is about the time he was writing deep and profound poetry, publishing a few poems in 1850. May 15, 1855 Whitman reserved a copyright for Leaves of Grass after which he spent extensive time getting the volume of poetry together. When the first edition of Leaves of Grass was completed, it did not get much recognition. The Norton Anthology of American Literature states, "he defied convention by aligning the poet with working people rather than the educated classes." He was never one to stick to the rules. Working very hard to get reviews in England and the States, Whitman even ventured to write a few reviews for himself anonymously. In most of the editions to Leaves of Grass, people thought it was raunchy because he talked about sex and other bodily functions. As you can see, his writing was way beyond his time; he was a revolutionary poet. "He put the living, breathing, sexual, body at the center of much of his poetry, challenging conventions of the day.” (Baym 2190.)