John Bell Mrs. Taylor Walter Whitman was an American poet of the 1800’s. Walt was arguably one of America’s influential and innovative poets of his time. Whitman began work as a printer and journalist in the New York City area. He wrote articles on politics, civics, and the arts. During the Civil War, Whitman was a volunteer assistant in the military hospitals in Washington, D.C. After the war, he worked in several government departments until he suffered a stroke in 1873. He spent the rest of his life in Camden, N.J., where he continues to write poems and articles. Leaves of Grass, a book of poems Whitman began in 1848 was so unusual at the time that no publisher would publish it. In