ENG 123: Composition II

 Born in May 1819 in Long Island, NY  Age 11 – Leaves School to Work as an Office Boy at a Law Firm  1846 – Travels to New Orleans

 First Edition Self- Published in 1855  Multiple Editions with Changes and Updates  Self-Promotion

 “American” Poet/Poem  Breaks Conventions in Form and Content  Free Verse  Sensuality  Three Narrators  “I”  “Me, Myself”  “Walt Whitman”  Controversial

 American Democracy  Transcendentalism  Distrust civilization as corrupt  Though nature is important, the physical world is not the source of absolute truth  Place faith in the individual’s ability to discern truth  Self-Reliant  Truth found from the inner spirit/mind  Slavery  The Civil War

 United  Democratic  Optimistic/Hopeful  New and Promising a Better Future

 Lives of Common People  Equality  The Body  Nature  Learning Through Experience  NOT School, Religion, Books