May 31 2009
Walt Whitman, American Poet
Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in Huntington, Long Island. He was the second child of nine. Whitman left school at the age of 11 to help support his family. He started working as an office boy and later became a printer’s apprentice. Whitman held several positions, including teacher before he decided to found his own newspaper, The Long Islander in 1838. However, he sold the newspaper after less than a year. After that he worked as an editor for several publications. In the 1860s, Whitman volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War. He also worked as a clerk in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Attorney General’s office.
In 1842, Walt Whitman published a novel called Franklin Evans . He first published his poetry collection, Leaves of Grass in 1855 with his own money. He released several editions of this collection. It is the work he became most famous for.
Walt Whitman died on March 26, 1892.
Halcyon Days by Walt Whitman
Not from successful love alone,
Nor wealth, nor honor’d middle age, nor victories of politics or war;
But as life wanes, and all the turbulent passions calm,
As gorgeous, vapory, silent hues cover the evening sky,
As softness, fulness, rest, suffuse the frame, like freshier, balmier air,
As the days take on a mellower light, and the apple at last hangs
really finish’d and indolent-ripe on the tree,
Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!
The brooding and blissful halcyon days!
