DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Walt Whitman's Birthday - May 31st, 1819
Check out the References Page for the resources we use to research the holidays and special days.
Walt Whitman was born on May 31st, 1819 in Long Island New York and had eight siblings. He learned the printers trade in his early teens and during this time also discovered how much he loved books and reading. At the age of 17, after a fire devasted the printing district, Whitman went to teach in one room school houses. Five years later he began a career in jounalism and started a newspaper.
Almost 15 years later he published some of his poetry in a book called, "Leaves of Grass" which he added to and revised seven times over the years. The first edition of the book had twelve untitled poems. Walt Whitman was an American poet known for being the "father of free verse". Free Verse poetry is a type of poem that does not have a rhyming scheme or any syllabic rules. While sometimes, there may be some natural rhyming or musical pattern in a free verse, the poet does not strictly adhere to form rules or set out to fulfill certain structural requirements in their poetry.
After the civil war he helped with wounded soldiers in New York and Washington (his brother included) and struggled to support himself. He ended up staying in Washington for eleven years to help in hospitals and ended up tkaing up a job with the government but was eventually fired when his boss found out he was the writer of "Leaves of Grass", which the boss found offensive. Since he was struggling to support himself, Walt stayed with his brother until 1882 and was able to publish another edition of Leaves of Grass and earn enough money to buy his own home. He lived in that home writing poetry and finishing his final edition of Leaves of Grass before passing away in 1892 on March 26th.
Below is one of Walt's most famous poems (O Captian! My Captain!) and several crafts to go along with it. Choose a craft to do along with reading this poem and celebrate the birthday of Walt Whitman.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Other Holidays You May Be Interested In:
- World Poetry Day – March 21st
- Poetry Reading Day – April 28th