Walt Whitman once wrote, “The proof of the poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he absorbed it” (Koelsch, Nelson, and Berliner 396). Whitman lived in the mid-1800s while America was growing as a country and in the midst of the Civil War. A patriot and whole-hearted Union supporter, he treasured freedom and democracy (Koelsch, Nelson, and Berliner 397). Influenced by the Transcendentalist movement, he also believed the human spirit was reflected in nature (Koelsch, Nelson, and Berliner 407). Whitman certainly left his mark on America. As written in The Continuity of American Poetry, “the history of American poetry could be written as the continuing discovery and rediscovery of Whitman, an on-going affirmation of his critical …show more content…
Whitman once referred to the work as “a succession of growths like the rings of trees.” Leaves of Grass was first published with ninety-five pages, consisting of a prose introduction and twelve poems. By the time of Whitman’s death, the “Deathbed” edition contained 383 poems. In 1855 upon returning to New York, Whitman began carrying around a notebook with him everywhere, wandering around the city and jotting down ideas for poems. In addition, he read a variety of literature, including the Iliad and Odyssey, Shakespeare, Dickens, Hawthorne, Emerson, and pieces about astronomy, geography, and philosophy. The result of all the wandering, jotting, and reading was the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass (“Walt Whitman”, 2002). Whitman sent a copy to Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Emerson’s reply is now famous. He wrote, “I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed...I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” While the first edition of Leaves of Grass sold poorly, the letter meant the world to Whitman (“Walt Whitman”, 1998). Interestingly, Whitman wrote most of the favorable reviews of Leaves of Grass himself and published them anonymously (“Walt Whitman”,