Poet · 1819 – 1892
Walt Whitman
Little-Known Facts
- He volunteered as a nurse to wounded soldiers during the American Civil War.
- He paid to print the first edition of Leaves of Grass himself, and it had no author's name on the cover.
Myths & Misconceptions
Why was Leaves of Grass controversial?
Its frank celebration of the body and sexuality, and its break from poetic convention, shocked many 19th-century readers and critics.