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date: 23 May 2025

Whitman, Walt 

Source:
The Oxford Companion to United States History
Author(s):
David S. ReynoldsDavid S. Reynolds

(1819–1892), poet.Walt Whitman revolutionized poetry by replacing conventional rhyme and meter with a free-flowing, proselike poetic form that followed the natural rhythms of voice and feeling. Announcing himself as the representative American “bard,” he brought a new democratic inclusiveness to poetry, opening the way for later writers by his experimentation with novel social and sexual themes.... ...

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