Walt Whitman A Brief Chronology

Walt Whitman was an American poet, journalist, and essayist. The work for which he is best known is Leaves of Grass[ which has been controversial and banned. He has been called the greatest American poet of his time. Read more about what happened in the life of Walt Whitman, with this brief chronology...

1819 On May 31, Walter Whitman was born at West Hills, Huntington Township, New York. He was the second child of Walter Whitman, who was a house builder, and Louisa Van Velsor.

1823 On May 27, Whitman family moved to Brooklyn.

1825–1830 Whitman attended public school in Brooklyn.

1830–1831 He quit school and worked as an office boy for lawyer and a doctor.

1831–1832 He was an apprentice in the printing trade "Long Island Patriot."

1832–1835 He worked at the Worthington's printing house and then was a compositor on "Long Island Star."

1835 Whitman worked as a printer in New York.

1836 He became unemployed after a fire in the printing district.

1836–1838 Whitman began to teach school in Long Island at East Norwich, Hempstead, Babylon, Long Swamp, and Smithtown.

1840–1841 He taught school on Long Island at Trimming Square, Woodbury, Dix Hills, and Whitestone.

1841 Whitman began to work as a compositor for "The New World," in New York. He also published "Death in the School-Room (a Fact)" in "Democratic Review."

1842 "Franklin Evans; or The Inebriate" was published in "The New World."

1842–1845 He worked briefly for the "Aurora," "Evening Tattler," "Statesman," "Democrat" and "Mirror. He also contributed to other papers in New York City.

1845–1846 He returned to Brooklyn and worked for "Brooklyn Evening Star."

1846–1848 He edited "Brooklyn Daily Eagle."

1848 He went to New Orleans to edit "Daily Crescent."

1849–1854 Whitman operated a job-printing office, bookstore, and house-building business. He also worked as a freelance journalist.

1855 On May 15, Whitman took out a copyright on the first edition of "Leaves of Grass," containing twelve poems and a preface, and printed by the Rome brothers in Brooklyn in July. His father died on July 11. And, on July 21, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote him: "I greet you at the beginning of a great career."

1856 He published the second edition of "Leaves of Grass," containing thirty-two poems, Emerson's letter, and an open letter by Whitman in reply to Emerson. Henry David Thoreau and Bronson Alcott visited Whitman in Brooklyn.

1857–1860 He edited "Brooklyn Daily Times," but was then unemployed during the winter of 1859–1860.

1860 Emerson urged Whitman to "expurgate" the "Children of Adam" poems.

1861–1862 The Civil War begins and his brother enlisted. Whitman was a freelance journalist, and he visited the sick and injured at New York Hospital. (His brother was wounded.)

1865 He wrote "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "O Captain! My Captain!" In October, he published "Drum-Taps."

1866 O'Connor published "The Good Gray Poet" (New York: Bunce and Huntington).

1867 John Burroughs published "Notes on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person" (New York: American News Company). William Michael Rossetti published an appreciation of "Walt Whitman's Poems" in the "London Chronicle." Whitman published the fourth edition of "Leaves of Grass."

1868 "Poems of Walt Whitman," selected and edited by Rossetti, appeared in London (John Camden Hotten, publisher).

1870 Whitman suffered from depression. He published the fifth edition of "Leaves of Grass," "Democratic Vistas," and "Passage to India." Anne Gilchrist published "An Englishwoman's Estimate of Walt Whitman."

1872 Thérèse Bentzon (Mme. Blanc) published a critical article on Whitman in "Revue des Deux Mondes."

1873 Whitman suffered from a paralytic stroke. His mother died.

1874 He published "Song of the Redwood-Tree" and "Prayer of Columbus" in "Harper's Magazine."

1876 He published the "Author's" or "Centennial" edition of "Leaves of Grass" and "Two Rivulets," a set of volumes, along with "Memoranda During the War," and "Walt Whitman's Actual American Position."

1879 He deliverd his first Lincoln lecture in New York. He traveled west, and made it as far as Colorado before falling ill.

1881 Whitman visited Emerson in Concord.

1882 Oscar Wilde visited Whitman in Camden. The publicity surrounding the Boston "suppression" of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" caused sales to take off.

1883 McKay published Bucke's "Walt Whitman," a biography (with contributions from Whitman.

1885 Whitman suffered from a heat stroke.

1888 He suffered from another paralytic stroke, and he was severely ill. He published "November Boughs" (Philadelphia: David McKay).

1891 He published "Good-bye My Fancy" and the Deathbed edition of "Leaves of Grass" (both published by McKay, dated 1892). He prepared "Complete Prose Works" (McKay, 1892). He developed pneumonia.

1892 On March 26, Walt Whitman died at Mickle Street. He was buried on March 30, in Harleigh Cemetery, Camden, New Jersey.