Walt Whitman 200
Friday, May 31st, 2019May 31, 2019
Today, May 31, is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the American poet Walt Whitman in 1819. Whitman is most famous for writing Leaves of Grass, a collection of poems that is considered one of the world’s major literary works. Whitman’s poems sing the praises of the United States and of democracy. The poet’s love of America grew from his faith that Americans might reach new worldly and spiritual heights. Whitman wrote: “The chief reason for the being of the United States of America is to bring about the common good will of all mankind, the solidarity of the world.” Whitman died on March 26, 1892.
To mark the poet’s 200th birthday, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries Kislak Center and the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage have organized a celebration called “Whitman at 200.” The celebration’s events are scheduled throughout 2019, but “Whitman at 200″ is especially busy from May 24 through June 9, around Whitman’s birthday. The celebration’s artistic commissions, exhibitions, performances, and programs are mostly in Camden, New Jersey, Whitman’s final home city, and across the Delaware River (and the Walt Whitman Bridge) in Philadelphia. Bicentennial events are also taking place at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Walt Whitman Initiative in New York City, the Brooklyn Public Library, and at Whitman’s birthplace in Long Island, New York.
Whitman grew up in Brooklyn and worked as a schoolteacher, printer, and journalist in the New York City area. He wrote articles on political questions, civic affairs, and the arts. Whitman loved mixing in crowds. He attended debates, the theater, concerts, lectures, and political meetings. He often rode on stagecoaches and ferries just to talk with people.
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Whitman was a government clerk. He was also a volunteer assistant in the military hospitals in Washington, D.C. (Whitman’s younger brother George was wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg while serving in the Union army.) After the war, Whitman worked in several government departments until he suffered a stroke in 1873. Partly paralyzed, he spent the rest of his life in Camden, where he continued to write poems and articles.
Whitman may have begun working on Leaves of Grass as early as 1848. The book’s form and content were so unusual that no commercial publisher would publish it. In 1855, he published the collection of 12 poems at his own expense. In the preface, Whitman wrote: “The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.” Between 1856 and 1892, Whitman published eight more revised and enlarged editions of his book. He believed that Leaves of Grass had grown with his own emotional and intellectual development.