I HEAR AMERICA SINGING
BY WALT WHITMAN
British art historian Mary Whitall Smith once stated,
“You cannot really understand America without Walt
Whitman, without Leaves of Grass.” Walt Whitman
(1819-1892) has been called “the poet of democracy”
for his commitment to record the experiences of the
common man in his “all-encompassing first person
voice.” Whitman serves as a bridge between many
viewpoints: the Transcendentalists to the Realists, the
Genteel Tradition to the rise of a popular literature, and
the provincial America of the early 19th century to the
industrial, urbane country emerging in important world
affairs. He is the father of free verse and marks a
transition away from traditional poetic forms to a more
personal, confessional style associated with modern
poetry.