Online Encyclopedia

Connecticut. Later this Abijah moved to Long Island, and from him all the Whitmans on the island descended. Walt was the second of a family of nine See also:

CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO

children. The parents See also:

early moved to See also:

BROOKLYN

Brooklyn, where Whitman spent his youth. His career was a chequered one, like that of so many other self-made American men. First he was an errand boy in a lawyer's See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

office; then he was employed in a See also:

PRINTING (from Lat. imprimere, O. Fr. empreindre)

printing office; next he became a See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country school teacher; he founded (1836) and till 1839 edited the Long Islander at See also:

Huntington, and later edited a daily See also:

paper in Brooklyn (the See also:

EAGLE (Fr. aigle, from the Lat. aquila)

Eagle, 1846-1847); then he was found in New See also:

Orleans, on the editorial See also:

STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet)

staff of the See also:

CRESCENT (Lat. crescens, growing)

Crescent (1848-1849) ; afterwards he passed his See also:

time carpentering, See also:

BUILDING

building and selling small houses in Brooklyn (1851-1854), in the meanwhile See also:

writing for the magazines and reviews and turning out several novels, and finally revolving in his mind the See also:

SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

scheme of his Leaves of Grass. This scheme was probably gestating in his mind during the years 1853, 1854 and 1855. He frequently stopped his carpentering to See also:

WORK

work at his poems. He See also:

LEFT

left voluminous See also:

MANUSCRIPT

manuscript notes, showing the preparatory studies and reflections that preceded the Leaves; many of them, under the See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title of Notes and Fragments, were privately printed by his See also:

LITERARY

literary executor, Dr See also:

Richard See also:

Maurice Bucke, in 1899.

Finally, in the summer of 1855 the first edition of Leaves of Grass appeared—a small See also:

QUARTO

quarto of ninety-four pages. The See also:

BOOK

book did not attract the See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention of the critics and the See also:

READING

reading public till a See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter from See also:

Emerson to the poet, in which the See also:

VOLUME

volume was characterized as " the most extraordinary piece of wit and See also:

WISDOM, BOOK OF, or WISDOM OF SOLOMON (Sept. Io4ia IaXwµwvos; Lat. Vulg. Liber sapientiae)

wisdom that See also:

AMERICA

America has yet contributed," was published in the New York See also:

TRIBUNE (med. Lat. tribune, from classical Lat. tribunal)

Tribune. This created a demand for the book, and started it upon a career that has probably had more vicissitudes and called forth more adverse as well as more eulogistic See also:

criticism than any other contemporary literary work. In 1856 a second and much enlarged edition of Leaves of Grass appeared. In 186o a third edition, with much new See also:

MATTER

matter, was published in See also:

Boston. In 1862 Whitman went to See also:

Washington to look after his See also:

BROTHER

brother, See also:

LIEUTENANT

Lieutenant-See also:

COLONEL (derived either from Lat. column, Fr. colonne, column, or Lat. corona, a crown)

Colonel See also:

George W. Whitman, who was wounded at the See also:

BATTLE

battle of Fredericksburg. Henceforth, for more than ten years he remained in and about Washington, acting as a volunteer See also:

NURSE (a shortened form of the earlier " nourice," adapted through the French from Lat. nutrix, nu/rite, to nourish)

nurse in the See also:

army hospitals as long as the See also:

war lasted, and longer, and then finding employment as a clerk in the See also:

government departments, in the meantime adding to and revising his Leaves and See also:

PUBLISHING

publishing two or three See also:

EDITIONS

editions of them, himself his own publisher and bookseller. Out of his war experiences came in 1866 his See also:

DRUM (early forms drome or dromme, a word common to many Teut. languages, cf. Dan. tromme, Ger. Trommel: the word is ultimately the same as " trumpet," and is probably onomatopoeic in origin; it appears late in Eng. about the middle of the 16th century)

Drum Taps, subsequently incorporated into the See also:

main volume. Early in 1873 he suffered a paralytic stroke which partially disabled him. He then went to See also:

Camden, New See also:

Jersey, to live and continued to reside in that See also:

CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

city till his See also:

DEATH

death on the 27th of See also:

March 1892. In 1871 appeared his See also:

PROSE

prose volume called Democratic Vistas.

In 1876 he published a thin volume, called Two Rivulets, made up of prose and See also:

VERSE (from Lat. versus, literally a line or furrow drawn by turning the plough, from vertere, and afterwards signifying an arrangement of syllables into feet)

verse. Specimen Days and Collect, also prose, appeared in 1882. New editions of his Leaves continued to appear at intervals as long as he lived. A final and See also:

COMPLETE

complete edition of his See also:

WORKS

works, including both prose and verse, was published in See also:

PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia in 1889. Whitman never married, never left America, never laid up, or aimed to See also:

lay up, riches: he gave his time and his substance freely to others, belonged to no See also:

CLUB (connected with " clump ")

club nor coterie, associated habitually with the See also:

COMMON

common See also:

PEOPLE

people—See also:

MECHANICS

mechanics, See also:

COACH (through the Fr. coche, originally from the Magyar kocsi, an adjective from the Hungarian place named Kocs, between Raab and Buda, i.e. the sort of vehicle used there in the 15th century)

coach-drivers, working men of all kinds—was always cheerful and optimistic. He was large and picturesque of figure, slow of See also:

MOVEMENT

movement, tolerant, receptive, democratic and full of charity and See also:

GOODWILL

goodwill towards all. His See also:

LIFE

life was a poet's life from first to last`—See also:

FREE

free, unworldly, unhurried, unconventional, unselfish, and was contentedly and joyously lived. He left many notes that throw See also:

LIGHT

light upon his aims and methods in composing Leaves of Grass. " Make no quotations," he charged himself, " and no reference to any other writers. See also:

LUMBER

Lumber the writing with nothing—let it go as lightly as the See also:

BIRD

bird flies in the See also:

air or a See also:

fish swims in the sea. Avoid all poetical similes; be faithful to the perfect likelihoods of nature—healthy, exact, See also:

SIMPLE

simple, disdaining ornaments. Do not go into criticisms or arguments at all; make full-blooded, See also:

rich, flush, natural works.

Insert natural things, indestructibles, idioms, characteristics, See also:

rivers, states, persons, &c. Be full of strong sensual germs. . . . Poet! beware lest your poems are made in the spirit that comes from the study of pictures of things —and not from the spirit that comes from the contact with real things themselves." The mother-See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea of his poems, he says, is See also:

DEMOCRACY (Gr. 3np.oKparia, from S)µos, the people, i.e. the commons, and Kparos, rule)

democracy, and democracy " carried far beyond politics into the region of See also:

TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

taste, the See also:

STANDARDS

standards of See also:

MANNERS, CHARLES (1857– )

manners and beauty, and even into See also:

PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wisdom)

philosophy and See also:

THEOLOGY

theology," His Leaves certainly radiates democracy as no other rnodern literary work does, and brings the reader into intimate and enlarged relations with fundamental human qualities—with See also:

SEX (Lat. sexes; possibly connected with secure, to cut)

sex, manly love, charity, faith, self-esteem, candour, purity of See also:

BODY

body, sanity of mind. He was democratic because he was not in any way separated nor detached from the common people by his quality, his culture, or his aspirations. He was See also:

bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. Tried by current standards his poems lack See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form and structure, but they undoubtedly have in full measure the qualities and merits that the poet sought to give them. (J. Bu.) See his Complete Writings (lo vols., New York, 1902), with See also:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL

bibliographical and See also:

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

critical matter by O. L. Triggs. His Poems (1902) has a See also:

BIOGRAPHICAL

biographical introduction by See also:

John See also:

Burroughs, whose Whitman: A Study (Boston, 1896) forms the tenth volume of the " New See also:

RIVER

River-See also:

side " edition of the poet's works.

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
WHITMAN, MARCUS (1802-1847)

[next]
WHITNEY, ELI (1765-1825)