Concetti Chiave
- Walt Whitman, born in 1819 in West Hills, started working at a young age and pursued a self-taught education, leading to his literary career.
- "Leaves of Grass," first published in 1855, is a collection of 12 poems reflecting Whitman's development as a poet and his experiences in America, with subsequent editions expanding on these themes.
- Whitman's poetry is marked by optimism and a romantic belief in America's future, celebrating the nation as the embodiment of the "American Dream."
- A central theme in his work is the poet's role to speak for the common man, along with a candid exploration of physical love, challenging puritanical norms.
- "O Captain! My Captain!" is a metaphorical poem mourning Abraham Lincoln's assassination, with the ship symbolizing the USA and Lincoln as its guiding leader.
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman was born in West Hills on Long Island in 1819. He had a little formal education and at the age of 11, he started to work as an office boy and then became a printer's apprentice. When he was 13, he travelled from New York to New Orleand, through Chicago. During this period he read and acquiring a self-taught and eccentric education.
In 1855 he wrote "Leaves of Grass": containing 12 poems about his development as a poet and his experience of the American land.
Poetry
Whitman's poetry is invaded by optimism and romantic faith in the dynamic future of the American nation. He celebrated American in all its kind. To him, his country represented the incarnation of the "American Dream".Another main theme in Whitman's poetry is himself, his tasks as a poet to give voice to the common man.
He also deals physical love: Whitman's poetry is a poetry of the body, in which the theme of sex is developed with a directness and frankness that struck puritanical readers as "immoral".
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