Timeline Walt Whitman

The life of Walt Whitman (1819–1892), printer, journalist and Civil War nurse, whose Leaves of Grass broke with rhyme and metre and became the great poem of American democracy.

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Dashed left edge = started before this timeline · Dashed right edge = still ongoing

Walt Whitman 14

1819 Walt Whitman born on Long Island Walter Whitman is born in West Hills, Long Island, the second of nine children.
1823 Whitman's family moves to Brooklyn The Whitman family moves to Brooklyn, where Walt leaves school at eleven to work.
1831 Whitman becomes a printer's apprentice Walt Whitman starts work as an apprentice printer, the trade that leads him into journalism.
1838 Whitman founds the Long-Islander Walt Whitman founds a weekly newspaper in Huntington, writing, printing and delivering it himself.
1846 Whitman edits the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Walt Whitman becomes editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, until his anti-slavery views cost him the job in 1848.
1855 Whitman publishes Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman self-publishes twelve untitled poems as Leaves of Grass, with no author's name on the cover.
1855 Emerson praises Whitman Ralph Waldo Emerson writes to Walt Whitman: he greets him at the beginning of a great career.
1862 Whitman nurses wounded soldiers Searching for his wounded brother George, Walt Whitman goes to Washington and spends years visiting soldiers in military hospitals.
1865 Whitman mourns Lincoln Walt Whitman publishes Drum-Taps and writes O Captain! My Captain! and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd after Lincoln's assassination.
1873 Whitman moves to Camden Partly paralysed by a stroke, Walt Whitman moves in with his brother George in Camden, New Jersey.
1882 Whitman's book banned in Boston Boston's district attorney threatens Leaves of Grass with obscenity charges. The controversy makes the book a bestseller.
1884 Whitman buys the house on Mickle Street Walt Whitman buys his own house in Camden, now the Walt Whitman House museum.
1891 Whitman's deathbed edition Walt Whitman approves the final, ninth edition of Leaves of Grass, now nearly 400 poems.
1892 Walt Whitman dies in Camden Walt Whitman dies in Camden, New Jersey, and is buried in a tomb he designed himself.