In 1855, Walt Whitman published his first set of 12 poems in the first edition of Leaves of Grass. He was not widely received, as many people of the time did not understand the points to his writing. One writer, however, Ralph Waldo Emerson, praised it. Whitman then added more poems to his book, including “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” In 1865, he again added a collection of poems referred to as Drum-Taps, which was influenced by his experience in the Civil War. Towards the end of his life, his poems took a deathly turn, like in “Whispers of Heavenly Death.”
As one may later understand, Walt Whitman’s poems grew and matured as he did, with his experiences influencing his creations like an adult influences his or her child. Ernest Smith suggests that “a reader should resist examining any period of Whitman’s work, or any edition of Leaves, in isolation from other periods or poems” (Smith 228). This is good advice, considering that his poems changed significantly over the course of his life. This transformation is so apparent, that it can be spotted in even the titles of the poems. “Song of Myself” turns to “Drum Taps” which morphs into “Whispers of Heavenly Death.” His first set of poems was influenced by living in Brooklyn(i.e. "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"), while later poems were highly influenced by his involvement in the Civil War, and even later poems could be attributed to his sense of his coming death. Smith describes Whitman in his first “stage” as an “ecstatic poet of body and soul in 1855”, who then, in his second, Civil War era stage, becomes a “doubtful Drum-Taps poet who struggles to comprehend and console in 1865”, and later decomposes into meditative, faltering death poems (228). Smith correctly analyzes and criticizes Whitman’s progression, and makes a case to re-read Whitman’s poems after reading poems from each of his stages in order to better understand each poem and the immense influence his experiences has on them.
Smith, Ernest. "Restless Explorations: Whitman’s Evolving Spiritual Vision in Leaves of Grass". Papers on Language & Literature, Summer2007, Vol. 43 Issue 3, p227-263, 37p;
Whitman, Walt. "Leaves of Grass"
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With poetry, it's usually written about the author's experiences in life or his thoughts. It isn't surprising that the titles and subjects of his poems would change as he did, at first focusing on the beauty of life and experience and slowly transforming into doubt and thoughts of death. I expect that his poems would turn to negative topics as he got older and after the civil war, a time of darkness for most people.
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