Joey Saves The Day!: Facts about Walt Whitman

Learn some quick facts about

Walt Whitman.

This week’s famous poet is Walt Whitman. Last week’s famous poet was Robert Frost.

Walt Whitman was a famous poet. He wrote over one hundred and sixty poems. He was born in Huntington, New York. His parents’ names are Walter Whitman and Louisa Van Velsor. He had eight siblings.

Continue reading to find out more about Walt Whitman.

Here is a list of some poems by Walt Whitman:

A Christmas Greeting
Going Somewhere
A Farm Picture
A Twilight Song
A Prairie Sunset
As I Sit Writing Here
A Child’s Amaze
Broadway
Poets To Come
Tears

Parents/caretakers, be sure poems are child-friendly before reading them to your child/children.

Do you like poetry?

Quick facts about Walt Whitman:

1. He was born May 31, 1819, in Huntington, New York.

He died on March 26, 1892, in Camden, New Jersey. He was seventy-two years old. He died from complications from having pneumonia. He is buried at the Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey.

2. Walt Whitman started working at eleven years old to help his parents, who struggled to provide for their large family. He had to stop attending school to work.

3. The following is one of Walt Whitman’s poems:

TEARS

TEARS! tears! tears!

In the night, in solitude, tears,

On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck'd in by the sand,

Tears, not a star shining, all dark and desolate,

Moist tears from the eyes of a muffled head;

O who is that ghost? that form in the dark, with tears?

What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouch'd there on the sand?

Streaming tears, sobbing tears, throes, choked with wild cries;

O storm, embodied, rising, careering with swift steps along the beach!

O wild and dismal night storm, with wind—O belching and desperate!

O shade so sedate and decorous by day, with calm countenance and regulated pace,

But away at night as you fly, none looking—O then the unloosen'd ocean,

Of tears! tears! tears!

(You can print out a worksheet on this poem. You will fill in the missing words in the poem)

4. When Walt Whitman was nineteen years old (1838), he started his own newspaper business. The newspaper is called the Long-Islander and is still in business today.

5. In 1855, Walt Whitman released the first edition of Leaves of Grass, a book of poems he wrote and published himself. The book contained only twelve of his poems, and only seven hundred and ninety-five copies were printed. One copy of his poetry book made its way to Ralph Waldo Emerson (Poet).

6. Walt Whitman had eight siblings. Here is a list of their names: