Whitman and Emerson. This section of the site includes two letters, one by Emerson and one by Whitman that became a part of the second edition of Leaves of Grass.
This exchange began as a private note of encouragement from Emerson, a well-known poet and lecturer, to an obscure journalist at the beginning of his poetic career. The following letter to Whitman from Ralph Waldo Emerson, 21 July 1855 is among the most famous letters ever written to an aspiring writer. Here Emerson suggests the complex foreground that preceded the publication of Leaves of Grass. Without asking Emerson's permission, Whitman gave this private letter to Charles Dana for publication in the New York Tribune on October, 1855.
American Experience . Walt Whitman. Introduction | Transcript | Credits | Acknowledgements | Feedback This program is no longer available online. More About the Program Walt Whitman Walt Whitman, c1880.Library of Congress On a hot summer day in 1855, a 36-year-old writer emerged from an undistinguished printer's shop in Brooklyn, New York, carrying a slim volume of his work. To family, friends and neighbors, Walter Whitman, Jr., may have been just a too-old bachelor who lived in his parents' attic, but as he walked the city streets that day, he knew something of himself they could not imagine. The Walt Whitman Archive. Walt Whitman — amediavoz.