【美国人物志】沃尔特·惠特曼 (1/8)

英语自学网

沃尔特·惠特曼（英语：Walter Whitman，1819年5月31日－1892年3月26日），美国诗人、散文家、新闻工作者及人文主义者。
Hints:
Walt Whitman
New York City
President Abraham Lincoln
"Leaves of Grass"
"Song of Myself"

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In the 19th Century, one of America's greatest writers, Walt Whitman, helped people learn to value poetry. Whitman created a new kind of poetry.
Walt Whitman was born in 1819 in New York City. During his long life, he watched America grow from a young nation to the strongest industrial power in the world. Whitman was influenced by events around him. But his poetry speaks of the inner self. He celebrated great people like President Abraham Lincoln. He also celebrated the common people.
As a young man, Whitman worked as a school teacher, a printer and a newspaper reporter. He was 36 years old when he published his first book of poetry in 1855. He called it "Leaves of Grass." It had only 12 poems. The poems are written in free verse. The lines do not follow any set form. Some lines are short. Some lines are long. The words at the end of each line do not have a similar sound. They do not rhyme.
Here are some lines from the famous poem "Song of Myself" from "Leaves of Grass." Whitman writes about grass as a sign of everlasting life.