A Brief Walt Whitman Bio

Whitman (Walt), American poet, b. West Hills, Long Island, N.Y., 31 May, 1819. Educated in public schools, he became a printer, and travelled much through the States. In the civil war he served as a volunteer army nurse. His chief work, Leaves of Grass, with its noble preface, appeared in ’55, and was acclaimed by Emerson as “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed.” It was followed by Drum Taps, November Boughs and Sands at Seventy. This “good gray poet” has also written prose essays called Democratic Vietas and Specimen Days and Collect.