Whitman

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman (English: Walt Whitman, May 31, 1819 - March 26, 1892), born in Long Island, New York, is a famous American poet and humanist who created the free verse of poetry. His representative work is leaves of grass.

He moved to New York in 1841. My father died in 1855, the first edition of leaves of grass.

In 1862, he visited his brother who was wounded in the battle of Fredericksburg. In 1865, Lincoln was assassinated, and Whitman's wartime poetry collection drum taps (later put in leaves of grass) was published. Mother Louisa died in 1871.

In 1882, he met Oscar Wilde and published specific days and collect. In 1885, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Lincoln's death, he wrote a poem dedicated to the man who was crucified, and later included it in leaves of grass.

1888, second strike. Serious illness.

In 1891, the last edition of leaves of grass.

On March 26, 1892, Whitman died.

Character experience

He is the second of nine brothers and sisters. In 1823, the Whitmans moved to Brooklyn, New York. Whitman only went to school for six years and then began to work as a printing apprentice. Whitman is basically self-taught. He especially likes to read Homer, Dante and Shakespeare. After two years as an apprentice, Whitman moved to New York City and began working in different printing plants. In 1835, he returned to long island to teach at a village school. From 1838 to 1839, he ran a newspaper called "long islanders" in his hometown. He taught until 1841, after which he returned to New York and became a journalist. He is also a freelance speaker in mainstream political magazines. Whitman's political speech attracted the attention of the tammuni Association. They asked him to work for some newspapers, but none of them lasted long. During his two years as an influential newspaper, the Brooklyn hawk, the split within the Democratic Party forced him to leave his job, who supported the free land party. After his attempt to run a newspaper for free land failed, he began to float in different workplaces. From 1841 to 1859, he published one newspaper in New Orleans, two in New York and four in Long Island. When he was in New Orleans, he witnessed the slave auction - a common event at the time. At this time, Whitman began to focus on poetry. He moved to New York in 1841. My father died in 1855, the first edition of leaves of grass. The 1840s was the first harvest of Whitman's long-term work: in 1841 he published some short stories, and a year later he published the novel Franklin Evans in New York. The first edition of leaves of grass was published at his own expense in 1855, the year of his father's death. But his poetry collection consists of 12 long, untitled poems. A year later, the second edition of the leaves of grass was published with Emerson's congratulatory letter. There are 20 groups of poems in the second edition. Emerson has been looking forward to a new American poet, "now I find it in leaves of grass." After the American Civil War, Whitman worked as a staff member in the Department of the interior, but when James Harlan, the then Secretary of the interior, found out that he was the author of the "annoying" leaves of grass, he fired Whitman. by the time of the seventh edition in 1881, due to its rising popularity, this edition of poetry became a best seller. The revenue from the poetry collection allowed Whitman to buy a house in Camden, New York. Whitman died on March 26, 1892. He was buried at harleigh cemetery under a tombstone of his own design.

Life of the characters

early years

Born in Long Island on May 31, 1819. His father worked as a farmer, moved to Brooklyn because of his poor family, and built houses as a carpenter. He was very interested in the works of utopian socialist thinker and democratic thinker Paine, which greatly influenced Whitman. Whitman studied in a public school, worked as a village teacher, and as a boy, worked as a messenger and learned typesetting. Later, he worked in a newspaper and became a teacher. He likes to wander, meditate, and enjoy the beauty of nature; but he prefers cities and streets, opera, dance, oratory, and reading Homer, Greek tragedies, as well as Dante and Shakespeare. From February 1846 to January 1848, he was the editor of Brooklyn hawk. He went to New Orleans newspaper in 1848 and soon returned to Brooklyn. In the next five or six years, he helped his old father build houses, run small bookstores and printing factories, and roamed freely. As a boy, he made friends with boatman, navigator, coachman, mechanic, fisherman and handyman.

Grass leaf collection

In 1855, the first edition of leaves of grass came out, with a total of 12 poems, and the last edition with 383 poems. One of the longest is the poem which was later called "my own song". A total of 1336 lines. The content of this poem almost includes the main thoughts of the author's life, and it is one of the most important poems of the author. Grass leaves are mentioned many times in the poem: grass leaves symbolize all ordinary things and ordinary people. Only Emerson wrote a passionate letter to the poet. Whitman was greatly inspired by this letter. "Leaves of grass" is the most important work in Whitman's poetry anthology, which is named after a poem in the Anthology: "where there is soil, where there is water, there is grass." The poems in the anthology are just like the grass growing all over the land of the United States. They are full of vigor and fragrance. They are world-famous masterpieces, which ushered in a new era of American National Poetry. The author has bold innovation in the form of poetry, creating a "free style" poetry form, breaking the traditional poetry rhythm, taking the broken sentences as the basis of rhythm, the rhythm is free and unrestrained, unrestrained, comfortable, with the momentum and all inclusive capacity. In 1856, the second edition of leaves of grass was published, with 32 poems. "All the way through the Brooklyn ferry" is one of the best works of the poet. In addition, the song of broadness and the song of the road are also famous. In 1859, one of Whitman's excellent lyrics, from the cradle that never stops swinging, was published in the Christmas issue of Saturday weekly. It is a song of love and death. The following year, at the request of a publisher in Boston, the third edition of leaves of grass was published, which was the first "official publication". There are 124 new poems in the collection, including "from the cradle that never stops swinging" and three groups of poems named "the song of democracy", "the descendants of Adam" and "the Reed Flute".

War Times

During the civil war, Whitman, as a staunch democratic fighter, showed his profound humanitarianism. During the fierce war, he took the initiative to work as a nurse in Washington, D.C., and devoted himself to the care of the wounded soldiers, which seriously damaged his health. His life is very hard. He lives by copying and spends the money saved on the sick and wounded. During his nearly two years as a nurse, he has contacted about 100000 soldiers, many of whom have kept in touch with him ever since.

Postwar life

After the war, Whitman worked as a clerk in the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the interior department. Soon after, the minister found out that he was the author of leaves of grass and dismissed him. Later, he worked in the attorney general's office for eight years. Due to the training in the civil war, increased experience, political and ideological awareness has also been improved, his creation has entered a new stage. In 1865, Whitman published at his own expense in New York his poetry anthology "drum anthology" written in the late period of the civil war, in which 53 new poems were included. A few months later, he published a sequel, which included the famous mourning article "when lilacs opened in the courtyard recently".

Publication of works

There are only eight new poems in the fourth edition of CaoYe Ji in 1867, but it includes the collection of drum and its sequel. It is worth noting that the long article "democratic vision" published in 1871 summarized the author's literary and political views. The fifth edition of leaves of grass was printed in 1871 and 1872 respectively. For the first time, 13 new poems were added, and for the second time, the last important long poem "the road to India" and a few new poems were added. In January 1873, Whitman suffered from paralysis, and his writing ability never recovered. But his optimism, love and sensitivity to life, his democratic ideal and so on are still alive and well. In his later years, he was depressed and did not succeed. In addition to compiling several editions, he occasionally wrote some poems. The sixth edition of leaves of grass was published in 1876 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the declaration of independence. This is a collection of two volumes, including prose works. The first volume is the content of the fifth edition. The second volume, named "two streams", includes prose, 18 new poems, the road to India and attached poems. The poems tend to be abstract. The Seventh Edition (1881-1882) of the collection of leaves of grass has been finalized in terms of the text, the title of each poem and the order of arrangement. This edition contains 20 new poems. Whitman

Chinese PinYin : Hui Te Man