The Wound Dresser : A Series of Letters Written from the Hospitals in Washington during the War of the Rebellion

Walt Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist well known in his time for his famous Leaves of Grass collection of poetry. A humanist, Whitman was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works, making him one of the most influential American poets in history. Known as the father of free verse, his work was very controversial in its time, described as obscene for its overt sexuality.

Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and–in addition to publishing his poetry–was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman’s major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892.