Author of Leaves of Grass, father of American free verse
An American poet, founder of modern free verse. Casting off the bonds of meter, he sang in unbridled long lines of ordinary people, labor, the body, and a whole democratic America. Leaves of Grass, revised and enlarged all his life, is vast in sweep; its "I celebrate myself, and sing myself" places the dignity of the individual at the center of poetry. He welcomed the street’s workers, sailors, and farmers into verse, declaring every ordinary "I" worthy of song — deeply shaping modern poetry ever after.
When someone pointed out that his poems contradicted themselves, Whitman answered serenely: "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself — I am large, I contain multitudes." He sought not tidy logic but the fullness of life. This spirit of embracing everything, unpruned, was itself the manifesto of modern poetry breaking free of classical fetters.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.