Ayesha Rashid Harris Pre-AP English P4 9 February 2014 A Knife in the Belt at Your Side: Walt Whitmans Civil

War Experiences Told Through Poetry Walt Whitman is a famous American poet who wrote Leaves of Grass and Drum Taps which are collections of poems. Whitman fell in love with the written word at a very young age. He started writing at the age of 12 and never stopped since. During his lifetime, he went through a lot of experiences with the Civil War. Whitman has written many poems dealing with the injuries his brother received during war, his experiences working in hospitals, and the abolishment of slavery which deals with the Civil War. Walt Whitman was born on May 31st, 1819 to a family of 9 children. He lived in Brooklyn and Long Island in the beginning 20 years of his life. He became a teacher at the age of 17 in Long Island from 1836-1841. After that, he turned to journalism as a full-time career. Whitman frequently studied the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible. His first big work that was published in 1855 is called Leaves of Grass. After that, he published the collection called Drum Taps which he wrote during the Civil War period. His brother was fighting in the war and one day when Whitman heard that his brother was injured, he rushed to Washington to be by his side and care for him. There is when he saw many people injured from the war and he was intrigued. He stayed there for 3 years and helped out in the hospital with the War patients. Many of the poems from Drum Taps is about his experiences at the hospital. He clearly stated his views on the abolishment of slavery.

Whitman was believed to be homosexual/bisexual. Many people reported that his series of poem Leaves of Grass had pornographic words. Whitman was said to have many intimate relationships with many men and boys. The main lover he had was Peter Doyle. Though he never admitted to being homosexual, people reported incidents of him with men. The evidence of him being homosexual was always secondhand, Whitman never responded when asked if his poems were about men. This event shaped his work because he wrote about his feelings, but when people started bashing on him, he was more afraid to write about his true feelings. Walt Whitman wrote a series of poems about the Civil War and his experiences working with the patients at the hospital. These poems had such great meaning and symbols about the abolishment of slavery. Since he was not allowed to publish his opinion without getting banned, he hid his thoughts with metaphors. He also wrote many poems about sex and sexuality. Leaves of Grass is mostly about his manly love and what he felt. He talked about intense passionate attraction to men and contact with their bodies. In the poem A Woman Waits for Me Whitman clearly talks about the wonders of sex. He received many problems with this work. Walt Whitman was a great author who was insulted about his sexuality and who wrote about the abolishment of slavery in the Civil War. He wrote the series of poems called Leaves of Grass and Drum Taps.

Works Cited "Leaves of Grass Summary and Analysis." Leaves of Grass Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "Drum-Taps" N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. <http://www.gradesaver.com/leaves-ofgrass/study-guide/section6/>. "Leaves of Grass Summary and Analysis." Leaves of Grass Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "Drum-Taps" N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. <http://www.gradesaver.com/leaves-ofgrass/study-guide/section6/>. "Walt Whitman - Biography." Walt Whitman. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. <http://www.egs.edu/library/walt-whitman/biography/>. "Walt Whitman Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/walt-whitman-9530126>. "Walt Whitman." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/126>.