THE WHO?

WALT WHITMAN: 

  THE LIFE OF WALTER!

Walt Whitman (http://www.biography.com/people/
walt-whitman-9530126#synopsis)

       Walter "Walt" Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, New York. He is the second child of his parents eight children. He grew up with a well-being family owning a large portion of a farmland which in the end was sold when he was still young. Their family is a fan of United States' democracy that time. The great Walt Whitman died on March 26, 1892.

       INTERESTING!

        

        Walt Whitman is known to be the "Bard of Democracy." Since his family is a supporter of democracy, almost all his poem composed are usually about it. Second, Whitman's poetry collection entitled, "The Leaves of Grass," was thought to be genius; however, a poet named, Ralph Waldo Emerson, told him to remove some parts of the latter editions of the collection because they were too sexy for the children to read. Next, Whitman's "Franklin Evans" was characterized by himself as the worst work he have done but in contrary to what he said, the book sold more copies than any of his other works during his lifetime. Fourth interesting fact about him is that in his collection of poetry, the word grass was used since he thought that things are getting slower in his works. Lastly, most biographers continue to debate on Whitman's sexuality categorizing him as a homosexual or a bisexual basing it from his works. Furthermore, he is also known as the "Poet of America."

O Captain! My Captain! (Google Images)

     O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!

  I chose Walt Whitman's famous poem, "O Captain! My Captain!" because it has been one of my most favorite poems. Moreover, this poem was created by Whitman in 1865 concerning the death of Abraham Lincoln. Know this, it made me pick this because his love for the president and the love for his country is being shown here especially his love to have a unified United States. 

   In addition, each stanzas have its own story. The first stanza started with Lincoln being the captain of the ship - the United States - winning the civil war. However, it finished on the line expressing the assassination of the President Lincoln. The second stanza is about his invitation to the president to join his fellow American in celebrating their victory. And in the last stanza is where he accepted the death of the president knowing that everything is impossible now.

  Lastly, this poem helped me realized that I should be more proud of my country and love it fully because this is where I belong. I need to save my country together with other Filipinos to give life to the nation for us to enjoy our own country and keep it for the future Filipinos to come.