seems to believe in that idea. Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, New

York. Whitman had a rather meager amount of formal education before he turned to the

printing trade. He worked as a teacher and also a printer and reporter for some very

well-known establishments including New World and the Democratic Review. Later, he

turned to poetry as a career. Many of Walt Whitman's optimistic beliefs about life and

society are clearly depicted through his poetry.

Walt Whitman was very intrigued by the pseudo science of phrenology. The ideal

score for a phrenological reading is a six, five is good, and a seven or eight indicates

dangerous overdevelopment. Whitman's readings include the following scores;

amativeness 6, philoprogenitiveness 6, adhesiveness 6, inhabitiveness 6, alimentiveness 6,

cautiousness 6, self-esteem 6 to 7, firmness 6 to 7, benevolence 6 to 7, sublimity 6 to 7,

ideality 5 to 6, individuality 6, and intuitiveness 6 (25 2). These scores indicate a nearly

Walt Whitman's work as a volunteer during the American Civil War has a great

deal of influence on his poetry and ways of thinking. He worked

feels everything is just a part of nature and a person should always look optimistically at

They are also some of the evident beliefs of the poet.

"fortifying and encouraging" (Anderson 327). Whitman's themes were later compared to

Transcendentalists and at the same time, quite strikingly unlike" (1). This just goes to

sense of ineffable joy. This joy releases the poet and reader from all limitations including

mourning must eventually give way to consolation and hope for the future" (3560).

speak for oneself (27 1). An encyclopedia article simply says that Walt Whitman asserts

period seems to show a great deal of optimism towards recovery from tragedy.

McGraw-Hill Far Eastern Publishers, 1972. Vols 16.

mood, seem to make his words actually "speak." The mood of his poems go from casual

poem seems to take on the action of having an actual conversation within itself, with the

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Approximate Word count = 1672
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)