The complete online text of Poems By Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman.

Widely considered the most influential and innovative poet of America, Walt Whitman was born in West Hills, a village near Hempstead, Long Island, on 31 May 1819 to Walter and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. His father had been born just after the end of the...

"A great figure, the greatest assuredly in our literature—yet perhaps only a great childsumming up and transmitting into poetry all the passionate aspirations of an America that had passed through the romantic revolution, the poet of selfhood and t...

"A great figure, the greatest assuredly in our literature--yet perhaps only a great child--summing up and transmitting into poetry all the passionate aspirations of an America that had passed through the romantic revolution, the poet of selfhood and the...

That old man--tramping down Flatbush Avenue-- with a cane, white beard, light-brown tunic and gray felt trooper hat--that was you-- Walt--just like your picture--when you held court in Camden--avuncular, garrulous, and ruddy-- I was climbing up the avenue--where it runs between the zoo...

Monarch Notes 01-01-1963 Poems A Noiseless Patient Spider: This poem presents a simple analogy, comparing the activity of the poet's soul with that of a spider. First stanza: A spider, noiseless and patient, is isolated on a promontory, from which it explores "the vacant...