Historical Context
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was apprenticed to a Brooklyn printer at the age of eleven, where he learned the art of printing and was introduced to journalism.
Throughout Whitman's lifetime, he worked for various news publications, reporting on such hot-button issues as the Free Soil Movement (1848-1854) and the American Civil War (1861-1865). While working as a journalist, he composed several short poems, however, his poetic career started in earnest with the composition of Leaves of Grass (first edition 1855). With this piece, Whitman rejected the structures of traditional poetry, favoring instead a rhythm which he himself devised to mimic common American speech patterns.
Although contemporary critics and readers were skeptical of this revolutionary poetical style, Leaves of Grass went into six editions, and included one of his most popular poems, “Song of Myself.” Aside from his work as a poet, Whitman is important as a literary artist in a broader sense. Whitman wrote, composed, printed, and published Leaves of Grass himself, blurring the lines between author, printer, and publisher. He also undermined conventional ideas of print editions, as each edition of Leaves of Grass was edited, amended, and added onto, in ways which were obvious, intentional, and extensive. In this way, the text of the poem and its materiality meld into a single entity, for which Whitman is wholly responsible.
Whitman's influence as a visionary poet, printer, and as a gay man inspired Oberlin College students to choose one of the poems; "In Paths Untrodden," as the subject for their Winter Term Intensive book project produced in January 2025.