ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Walt Whitman, in full Walter Whitman, (born May 31, 1819, West Hills, Long Island, New York, U.S.-died March 26, 1892, Camden, New Jersey), American poet, journalist, and essayist whose verse collection Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, is a landmark in the history of American literature.

Detailed explanation-2: -Along with Emily Dickinson, Whitman is regarded as one of America’s most significant 19th-century poets and would influence later many poets, including Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Simon Ortiz, C.K. Williams, and Martín Espada.

Detailed explanation-3: -Walt Whitman, although best known for his work as an American poet, is also remembered for the care he gave to thousands of sick and injured soldiers in Washington, D.C., hospitals during the Civil War.

Detailed explanation-4: -Those who influenced him most directly were primarily prose-poets like the eighteenth-century Scots poet James Macpherson, whose pseudo-ancient poems, published under the name of “Ossian, ” Whitman found to be powerful but also a bit windy.