ime?In 1855, Walt Whitman published his first piece of literature, Leaves of Grass. During his life, he wrote on a number of different subjects. The year of 1861 brought many changes in his life. This year and the years that followed, changed Whitman’s life and the poetry that he wrote for two major reasons.“Clearly 1861, with coming of the Civil War, marked a turning point for Whitman: he shed his past and began a new career with new poetry and new themes” (Walt Whitman, pg.18). Although Walt Whitman did not see the Civil War coming, he was very interested in it. At this time Whitman was forty-one years old and was obviously beyond the age of enlistment. Besides being to old, Whitman also had to remain at home and take care of his mother (he had been taking care of her since his fathers death in 1855). Although Whitman was to old, he was determined to be involved in the war. In 1862, Whitman heard the new that his brother had been hurt near Fredricksburg, Virginia. As a result, Whitman traveled to Virginia to help his brother. Although his brother was never wounded, this trip changed Whitman’s life. Walt Whitman had finally found his place to get involved in the war. Upon learning the news that his brother was not wounded, Whitman decided to travel back to Washington DC. When Whitman was traveling to Fredricksburg, VA, he saw so many wounded soldiers in Washington DC, who he wanted to help. So, he spent at least a couple of hours each day bringing material goods to the wounded soldiers. Many times these goods would be writing paper or magazines. As a result of volunteering for a couple hours each day, the themes of Whitman’s poems had dramatically changed.In 1873, a couple more changes occurred in Whitman’s life. At the beginning of the year , he became an invalid. This was a result of two things: a minor stroke along with the death of his mother in May of 1873. Whitman and his mother...
