Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, New York, into a working-class family. His early life was marked by humble beginnings; his father, a carpenter, and his mother, a homemaker, were part of the lower classes of New York society. Whitman received only a rudimentary education but was an avid reader from an early age. His early influences included the Bible, Shakespeare, and the works of the American Transcendentalists, particularly Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Whitman’s early career was varied. He worked as a teacher, a journalist, and a printer, while also publishing articles, essays, and poems. His early poetic influences were traditional, but over time, he began to develop his distinctive style, characterized by free verse, vivid imagery, and an expansive celebration of the human experience.

In 1855, Whitman published the first edition of Leaves of Grass, a collection that would evolve throughout his life, with multiple revised editions. The first edition, which contained only twelve poems, was bold and unconventional for its time. It rejected the formal meter and rhyme schemes of traditional poetry in favor of a more fluid and expansive free verse. The collection’s subject matter was equally daring, addressing issues of sexuality, democracy, and the human body, topics that were rarely discussed openly in American literature at the time. Whitman’s unflinching honesty and celebration of individualism in Leaves of Grass shocked many, but it also won him a loyal following and earned him the admiration of many great writers and thinkers, including Emerson.

During the Civil War, Whitman worked as a nurse in Washington, D.C., tending to soldiers, many of whom were wounded or dying. This experience deeply affected his poetry and led to works that explored themes of death, suffering, and the resilience of the human spirit. His poem Drum-Taps, written during this period, reflects the emotional and physical toll of the war on both soldiers and civilians.

Whitman’s later years were marked by declining health. He suffered a stroke in 1873, which left him partially paralyzed. Despite this, he continued to revise Leaves of Grass, publishing new editions until his death. Whitman spent his final years in Camden, New Jersey, where he lived a quiet, solitary life. He died on March 26, 1892, at the age of 72. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest American poets, whose work continues to influence generations of writers and readers worldwide.