Born near Huntington, New York, Whitman was the second of a family of nine children. His father was a carpenter. The poet had a particularly close relationship with his mother. When Whitman was four years old, his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he attended public school for six years before being apprenticed to a printer. Two years later he went to New York City to work in printing shops. He returned to Long Island in 1835 and taught in country schools. In 1838 and 1839 Whitman edited a newspaper, the Long Islander, in Huntington. When he became bored with the job, he went back to New York City to work as a printer and a journalist. There he enjoyed the theatre, the opera, and always an omnivorous reader in the libraries. Whitman wrote poems and stories for popular magazines and made political speeches, for which Tammany Hall Democrats rewarded him with the editorship of various short-lived newspapers. For two years Whitman ed

Whitman died in 1892, leaving a legacy of literary genius. We are still only discovering Whitman today. His notebooks are prized possessions of libraries fortunate to have discover them or have them donated to them. The latest to be discovered is a manuscript believed to have been an introduction to Leaves of Grass, found in November of 1997. Although we may never find all of Whitman's work, we can truly learn an enormous amount about him now.

Ezra Pound (1885-1972), American poet, critic, editor, and translator, considered one of the foremost American literary figures of the 20th century. Pound considered the restoration of sophistication and historical richness to literature as a necessary and integral part of his commitment to innovation. As a result he had a mixed view of American poet Walt Whitman, whom he admired for his experimental style but disliked for what he considered Whitman's lack of interest in cultural matters beyond America, and for his very infatuation with an America that had disappointed Pound.

Facing west from California's shores,

>From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands,

For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kash-mere,

Whitman was a very strong poet. To

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