Walt Whitman Research Paper

Walt Whitman was born in eighteen nineteen in West Hills, New York. The second of nine kids, which would eventually fall to seven, his family suffered tremendous financial difficulties. While his father was a gifted builder and craftsman, their rural location, and their financially struggling neighbors, made it nearly impossible to maintain a steady income. Ultimately, at eleven, Whitman was forced to leave school to work in printing. Often, Whitman described his childhood as ‘miserable’ because of his familiy’s financial difficulties, but it was working in print that caused Whitman to become an avid reader. As a bibliophile, Whitman soon became familiar with the works of greats, like Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare. At seventeen, Whitman decided …show more content…
His strong ideas on controversial topics were unusual for this time period, which many found off-putting. During the Civil War, Whitman moved to D.C., where he frequented the hospitals that housed wounded soldiers. Throughout this time period he continued to write, but failed to develop a following. In eighteen seventy-three, Whitman suffered a stroke and was left partially paralyzed. In his later years, he came to be known as the ‘Good Grey Poet’, as well as the ‘Bard of Democracy’. Over these final years, Whitman’s persona as the ‘Good Grey Poet’ grew while his health declined. He died at 6:43 on March 26th, 1892, at his home in Camden. Previously, while on his deathbed, Whitman wrote, “L.ofG. at last complete– after 33 y’rs of hackling at …show more content…
However, Whitman himself may have best written of his lasting impact on the culture of the American celebrity in the opening lines of his eighteen fifty-five edition of Leaves of Grass, “I celebrate myself, and what I shall assume you shall assume.” Through his creation of a persona, Whitman successfully altered the public’s perception of him, although this would not occur until after his demise. True, Whitman’s life does not reflect that of a modern celebrity -- as his life followed the same course as many greats ,through neglect, backlash, and ultimately, posthumous fame -- but many of the oddities we associate with celebrity life, “a sensational press, a discourse of democratic individualism, a society of urban crowds, a popular entertainment industry, an expanding capitalist economy1”, were principle in Whitman’s efforts to create an image for