WHITMAN. Walt (originally Waynat), ican port: b. West Hills, Long Island. k . , 31 May 1819; d. Camden, N. J., ? i M rooHkei7oa.saledldulceaatrendedinththe print , Ns 'trade, after which he taught in country i Is in Long Island. For a brief period he editorial and reportorial work on newspa ) s, and in 1847-48 he made an extensive pe r destrian tour as a workman through the United States and Canada, subsequently employing him self as a carpenter and builder. His first and chief work, 'Leaves of Grass,' was published by himself in New York in 1855. This thin vol ume of 94 pages was received, for the most part, with abuse, mainly because of its uncon ventional metrical style and the freedom with which the poet dealt with moral and social subjects. During the American Civil War, Whitman's brother was wounded on the battle field, and the poet, who hastened to his aid, remained afterward as a volunteer army nurse at %Vashington and in Virginia for the years 1862-.65. One result of this experience was the small volume 'Drum Taps' (1865), subse quently included with 'Leaves of Grass.' After the war he held a government clerkship in Washington, but the fatigue and mental strain of his labors in the hospitals brought about a severe attack of paralysis in 1873. He was re covering from this when the sudden death of his mother in his presence caused a serious relapse. From this time he resided at Camden, N. J., neser securing robust health. During all these years Vs human wrote with the old vigor and freedom of rhythm, but with less of the early crudeness of expression. Though Whitman, like Carlyle and Browning, may be a dangerous and dangerously easy model for imitation, he undoubtedly worked out for him self a style of distinction as notable as theirs. This in itself is a title of fame, or at least a charm against oblivion, even though his lit erary style ran to extremes and %Ices. His evolved style was a rhythmic recitative or ir regular chant, precursors of which may be found in the English translation of the !'.alms and other Biblical poems, in Macpherson's 'Ossian.' and in the later poems of William Blake. These chants vary in movement and seem governed by laws rhythmic rather than metric, which (like the grammar of an un written tongue) have never been formulated even by the inventors themselves. They have a peculiar, wild, stirring charm, which is apt, for a time, to make regular verses seem tame and insipid. As to subject, Whitman set him self the Atlantean task of uplifting Into the sphere or dominion of poetry the whole of modern life and man, omitting nothing, con cealing nothing. His thesis is that of Saint Peter's vision: 'There is nothing common or unclean." Hence the logical necessity with
Whitman to include the treatment of subjects which in modern society are tabooed as obscene and unmentionable; hence, too, the accusations of indecency, so evident and pertinent from the accuser's point of view, but so futile and irrelevant from that of the accused. Whit man was an idealist who bound himself by a solemn vow to be a thorough-going realist; and his resolute and often successful endeavor to secure this union gave his work its exce$ tional artistic quality. He was a prince impressionists in literature. But so har high was the task that he set himself, at •t is no matter of surprise that he somet' es,A not often, fails, and from heights w was approaching the sublime, falls periloility near the ridiculous. This is the fate of lel artists who strive for the highest things, thdt their failures — often only apparent — are more easily detected than their solid achievements; hence the contumely and ridicule that a Tur ner or a Wordsworth, Keats or Shelley suffers at the hands of a clever but uninitiated critic. So it was largely with Whitman; hut it is bet ter to approach him in the same spirit that he has shown toward man and nature, that of for ever seeking for what was great and good, while outfacing steadily and bravely every stern and refractory reality. As the years roll on, Whitman's work is more highly esteemed. He had the true poetic fire, and was one of those who 'talked with angels,* and had glimp ses of the life beyond. Several writers have contended that he was 'illuminated,' like Moses and Swedenborg. Besides the two books already mentioned, he published 'Drum Taps' (1865); 'Memqranda During the War' (1867) • Vistas' (1870); 'Passage to India' (1870); 'After All, Not to Create Only' (1871); (As Strong as a Bird on Pin ions Free' (1872); 'Two Rivulets' (1873); 'Specimen Days and Collect' (1883); 'Novem ber Boughs' (1885) ; 'Sands at Seventy' (1888); and 'Goodbye, My Fancy' (1892).
The Conservator, of Philadelphia, is the organ of Whitman study. Consult 'Auto biographia,' selected from the poet's writings Bazalgatte. Leon, 'Walt Whitman The Man and the Artist' (Garden City. N. Y., 1919); Burroughs, ' \\ hitman as Poet and Per son' (1866); Buche, authorized 'Life' (1883); Burroughs, 'Whitman: A Study' (1896); Harned, Thomas B., (ed.) 'Letters of Anne (,ilchrist and Walt Whitman' (1918) ' • O'Con nor, 'The Good, Gray l'oct' (1866); Dowdcn, 'Studies in Literature' (1878) ; Symonds, 'Es says, Speculative and Suggestive' (Vol. 11, PA)); Shay, 'Walt Whitman, Bibliography' (New York 1916).