The Poets of 19th Century America: Volume 2

Written by Walt Whitman, James Whitcomb Riley and Ralph Waldo Emerson

Narrated by Richard Mitchley, Lorelei King, Ghizela Rowe and 5 more

America. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. Across its vast landscape a Nation was being built. Expanded into its vast frontiers by military force and financial acquisitions; this was a melting pot of peoples and ideas gathering to form an identity. In these volumes we take a particular interest in the poets of the 19th Century and their views as their young nation came to terms with itself and its place in the World.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Copyright Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781783941056

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was an American writer famously known for his poetry collection, Leaves of Grass. In addition to his poetry, Whitman was also a prominent essayist, journalist, and humanist with works centering mainly around the topics of transcendentalism and realism. Born in New York in 1819, Whitman worked at a printing press where he then transitioned to a full-time journalist. During his time in journalism, Whitman developed many important beliefs, many of them formed after having witnessed the auctioning of enslaved individuals. Over the course of his career, Whitman remained very politically aware, disavowing the bloody nature of the Civil War and dedicating resources to help the wounded in various hospitals in New York City. Whitman spent his declining years working on revisions for Leaves of Grass, which was largely thereafter referred to as his “Deathbed Edition.”