Watch Voices Visions online: Episode 12 Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was the first major poet to create a truly American vision and style. His extraordinary example gave American verse much of its subsequent character and diction. Rejecting traditional constraints of form and subject matter, Whitman considered democracy itself appropriate grist for his own poetic mill, inventing a radically different sort of free verse to express what he had to say. In fact, newcomers to Whitman's work may enjoy learning all about this man who once stated in the preface of "Leaves of Grass" that "The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem."

click here to see where to watch or .