Discover the Literary Legend: Top 9 Fun Facts About Walt Whitman You Never Knew!

1. Whitman: Printer-turned-Poet

Before Walt Whitman became the ultimate wordsmith, he was giving Gutenberg a run for his money: As a skilled typesetter and printer, Whitman used his experience in the printing industry to influence his writing style—including his decisions to self-publish Leaves of Grass and get involved in the physical production of the book, fully realizing his poetic vision.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

2. Free Verse Rebel

Like a rebellious teenager breaking free from the chains of conformity, Walt Whitman tossed conventional poetry meters and rhyme out the window: Despite this prevailing image, free verse still existed before him but it was his impactful usage that popularized it, inspiring legions of poets to follow their own rhythmic beat.
Source => litcharts.com

Did you know that renowned philosopher and nature lover Henry David Thoreau was also a skilled pencil maker? Discover how he revolutionized the US market with his top-notch writing utensils! 🌳✏️

=> Fun Facts about Henry-David-Thoreau

3. Endurance Enthusiast

Slow and steady won the race, but Walt Whitman made it hip before the hare even took a nap: Favored more as a tortoise in the fitness world, our bearded bard believed in the power of endurance rather than speed, emphasizing the importance of building a strong, resilient body that could withstand long, grueling battles rather than showcasing flashy, yet ultimately fruitless, athletic feats.
Source => mentalfloss.com

4. Master of Selfies and Updates

Walt Whitman, the 19th-century American version of a modern-day app developer, never stopped "updating" his magnum opus, Leaves of Grass - you might say he was the master of software and beards long before Silicon Valley made them cool! From tinkering with the contents to playing around with his frontispiece selfies (hello, age filters): Whitman meticulously crafted each edition, adding new works, revising old ones, altering typography and punctuation, and even oscillating between younger and older portraits of himself. In the end, it's the image of the wise, bearded bard donning a wide-brimmed hat that captures our hearts and imagination.
Source => blogs.bu.edu

5. DIY Literary Makeover

Like a true "do-it-yourself" enthusiast on a home makeover reality show, Walt Whitman believed in transforming his literary masterpiece from the inside out: The poet not only funded the printing of his book, "Leaves of Grass," but also supervised its production and personally set pages in type, even going as far as overseeing the creation of the intricate, gilt-stamped cloth bindings of the first 337 editions.
Source => abebooks.com

6. Hipster Urban Explorer

Walt Whitman, New York City's original urban explorer, hit those bustling streets like a hipster before it was cool, ferried around in style, and self-schooled like an OG autodidact: Contrary to his famedom as a poet, Whitman dropped out of school at age 11 to financially support his family, strolling through the city, frequenting museums, and working as a compositor and freelancer for local publications – all contributing to his immersive self-education.
Source => shmoop.com

7. Kickstarter Pioneer

In an era before Kickstarter, Walt Whitman launched an 1800s version of a self-published passion project: he concocted his own poetic brew, Leaves of Grass, while moonlighting as a humble wordsmith. The serious reveal: Whitman released the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855, featuring twelve untitled poems and a preface, all while juggling his day job as a journalist and continually refining his magnum opus throughout his career.
Source => aahn.org

8. Bearded Nightingale

As the original Florence Nightingale of beards and the bard of empathy, Walt Whitman ditched his pen for a stretcher and swapped sonnets for sutures during the Civil War: he volunteered as a nurse, tending to wounded soldiers in hospitals around Virginia and Washington D.C. His experiences and observations even inspired his renowned poem "The Wound-Dresser," reminding us all that caring for others is indeed a timeless art form.
Source => thewaltwhitmanassociation.org

9. Kale Smoothie Skeptic

Hold onto your kale smoothie, folks, for Walt Whitman had a beef with strict vegetarianism: While he did advocate for a simple diet of meat and stale bread in his publication "Manly Health and Training," he also acknowledged that there were cases where a vegetarian diet was beneficial for individuals, underlining the importance of individuality in dietary choices.
Source => 3quarksdaily.com