Have you ever heard of Walt Whitman? I have. Walt Whitman can be considered one of the greatest writers because of his great attributions to literature, one his different view of life and two his unique writing methods in which you can observe from many of his works. Usually Whitman's writing grew from a mild essay to an extraordinary and emotional issue; According to one source, Roy Harvey quotes, "The history of American poetry could be written as the continuing discovery and .
rediscovery of Whitman, an on-going affirmation of his crucial relevance to the mission of the American poet" (Whitman 1).
Whitman's father Walter Whitman was a carpenter who married Louisa Van Velsor at the age of twenty-seven and brought her into a two story house, in Long Island, that he build. After their first child Jesse, Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819; and soon after they had Hannah Louisa, Andrew Jackson, and George Washington. As a child Walt Whitman showed more attachment and connection to his mother than to his father and at an older age appreciated her patience and always kept in mind how much he owed her. Keeping this in mind when he wrote Leaves of Grass he mentioned that his inspiration was his mother quoting, "The best part of every man is his mother" (Collow 16). Being that Whitman's home was close to the ocean, Whitman loved to bathe himself in the edges of the ocean and in later times wrote passionately about his memories back home. During his early years Whitman attended normal school for 6 short years because at the young age of eleven he decided to drop out and become a clerk in a law office.
Soon Whitman entered the stage in his life in which he worked in many different occupations trying to survive the harsh time period in which he was growing in. At the age of 16 he was now a skilled clerk and had secured himself a job as a compositor in New York. While working in this job he was lucky enough to be living in New York, unlike others who had to come in from other states.