Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

Walt Whitman in Brooklyn: Newspapers and “Leaves of Grass”

By Glynn Young 11 Comments

Hippie - Walt Whitman in Brooklyn: Newspapers and "Leaves of Grass"

When we read a poem, or a collection of poetry, we rarely make a connection to the poet’s geography, unless the poems are specifically about a place or a historical event, like Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade, ” Robert Frost and New England, or Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach.”

When we consider Walt Whitman (1819-1892), we might think of Washington, D.C., where he worked in the hospitals during the Civil War, or perhaps Camden, New Jersey, where he spent the last days of his life. And yet if there is one location that had a powerful influence on Whitman and his poetry, it was Brooklyn, New York.

Francis Guy painting Brooklyn Walt Whitman

Brooklyn in 1830 by Francis Guy – the area where the Whitman family first lived

Born on Long Island, Whitman was not quite four years old in 1823 when his father moved the family to Brooklyn, where they settled in a rental house on Front Street, according to Walt Whitman: A Life by Justin Kaplan. At the time, Brooklyn was the third largest city in the United States and exploding with growth, which Whitman’s father hoped to get a piece of.

From 1823 to 1835, Whitman lived at various addresses in Brooklyn. One of his earliest memories was watching the aged American Revolution hero the Marquis de Lafayette dedicate a Brooklyn library. When Whitman was 11, he was apprenticed to a printer, and served as office boy, delivery boy, and eventually printing itself. He would later tell the story of how frequently he crossed the Hudson on the Brooklyn Ferry, to deliver printing proofs to various customers, including Aaron Burr.

The Brooklyn Eagle Walt Whitman

The Brooklyn Eagle

His apprenticeship finished in 1835. He crossed the river and spent the next 10 years working in New York City, primarily in printing but also trying his hand at writing. He returned to Brooklyn in 1845, to work for a short time for the Brooklyn Star newspaper and then becoming editor at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. (Tania Wojczuk at Tin House has a concise summary of his work at the Eagle.)

Here at Brooklyn’s largest newspaper, he wrote on such issues as slavery and manifest destiny. He opposed the idea of popular sovereignty (articulated most famously by Stephen Douglas). Eventually dismissed by the Eagle, he left Brooklyn for a short time to become editor of the Crescent in New Orleans, but returned the same year and eventually established the Brooklyn Freeman, a newspaper supporting the presidential candidacy of Martin Van Buren. After its first issue, a fire destroyed the area around Fulton Street, where it was published. By November, he was able to resume publication.

Walt Whitman 1848 New Orleans

Whitman in 1848

He lived on Prince Street with his family, but eventually found his way to Myrtle Avenue. He became what today we’d call a property investor and developer, buying several houses on Cumberland Street. By the early 1850s, he was also working in New York and moving in literary, journalistic and artistic circles there and still managing properties in Brooklyn. In May 1854, he moved to a house on Skillman Street, and the next year to 99 Ryerson Street, where he finished work on Leaves of Grass.

Registered for copyright in May 1855, the poetry collection was being sold by July. Whitman had set the type himself at the printer’s shop in Brooklyn. Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of its wildly enthusiastic readers. “I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit & wisdom that America has yet contributed, ” he wrote in a letter to Whitman.

Brookhaven Front Cover-367

Buy Brookhaven Now!

In 1856, Whitman published “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, ” which was added to the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass.

He moved between Brooklyn and New York for the next several years, and was in New York when the Civil War began. At the end of 1862, he left New York for Washington, D.C.

Walt Whitman 1854 Leaves of Grass

Whitman in 1854; used with Leaves of Grass

In addition to “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, ” it is in “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass (with that wonderful prose-poem-like introduction) that one can see the sights, sounds and people of Brooklyn. And Whitman identifies with all of them—the butchers, the runaway slaves, the carpenters, the farmers, the printers, the spinning-girls, the machinists, the deckhands, the reformers, the young wives (and the old), the canal-boys, and more. Whitman spent 22 years of his life absorbing the sights and sounds of Brooklyn, and often reporting on them.

It is Brooklyn that became the poems of Leaves of Grass. And Whitman took what he saw as an extraordinary place and made it more so.

Related:

Walt Whitman’s Guide to Brooklyn, a photo essay by Conde Nast Traveler.

Walt Whitman and the Arts in Brooklyn, 1823-1860s, a photo essay by the Brooklyn Museum.

Brooklyn’s History Enlarged: Illustrations of Whitman’s Brooklyn in the mid-19th century.

An excerpt of “Song of Myself, “ read by Tom O’Bedlam.

Photo by misselejane, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Glynn Young, author of the novels Dancing Priest and A Light Shining, and Poetry at Work.

Browse more poets and poems

__________________________

How to Read a Poem by Tania Runyan How to Read a Poem uses images like the mouse, the hive, the switch (from the Billy Collins poem)—to guide readers into new ways of understanding poems. Anthology included.

“I require all our incoming poetry students—in the MFA I direct—to buy and read this book.”

—Jeanetta Calhoun Mish

Buy How to Read a Poem Now!

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Glynn Young
Glynn Young
Editor and Twitter-Party-Cool-Poem-Weaver at Tweetspeak Poetry
Glynn Young lives in St. Louis where he retired as the team leader for Online Strategy & Communications for a Fortune 500 company. Glynn writes poetry, short stories and fiction, and he loves to bike. He is the author of the Civil War romance Brookhaven, as well as Poetry at Work and the Dancing Priest Series. Find Glynn at Faith, Fiction, Friends.
Glynn Young
Latest posts by Glynn Young (see all)
  • A History of Children’s Stories: “The Haunted Wood” by Sam Leith - May 20, 2025
  • World War II Had Its Poets, Too - May 15, 2025
  • Czeslaw Milosz, 1946-1953: “Poet in the New World” - May 13, 2025

Filed Under: Americana Poems, Blog, New York Literary, Poems, poetry, Poets, Walt Whitman

Try Every Day Poems...

Comments

  1. Ayietim says

    March 29, 2016 at 5:20 am

    Whitman, a great poet, a great writer and a lyricist that wrote great stories in poetry.

    Reply
    • Bethany says

      March 29, 2016 at 11:24 am

      Ayietim, welcome to Tweetspeak Poetry! If you haven’t already visited our welcome space, The Mischief Cafe, it’s a fun spot to find our monthly theme, poetry promps, and other goodies. -> https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/mischief-cafe/

      Reply
    • Glynn says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:22 pm

      Thanks for reading, Ayietim!

      Reply
  2. Bethany R. says

    March 29, 2016 at 11:16 am

    “When we read a poem, or a collection of poetry, we rarely make a connection to the poet’s geography, unless the poems are specifically about a place…” Excellent point, Glynn. And physical geography can inform the writing in a rich way. Thank you for the history here on Walt Whitman’s “home town.”

    Reply
    • Glynn says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:25 pm

      Bethany – I think only skimmed the surface of Whitman’s time in Brooklyn. He wrote hundreds of newspaper editorials and articles, and was an early proponent of abolition. And the idea of him poring over his page proofs of “Leaves of grass,” making his own corrections and changes — that’s probably a book in and of itself. Thanks for reading!

      Reply
  3. L. L. Barkat says

    March 29, 2016 at 11:22 am

    Always so interesting to see how poets support themselves and what roles they play in society beyond “poet.” A developer? Who knew 🙂

    (And I love that painting of early Brooklyn!)

    Reply
    • Glynn says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:26 pm

      Poets have to do something to support themselves. I’ve always said only three poets in the US make a living from poetry, and two of them are Billy Collins.

      Reply
  4. Rick Maxson says

    April 2, 2016 at 5:42 am

    Glynn, you always bring such a fresh perspective on poets/authors new and familiar. This was no exception, but it is one of my favorites.

    I particularly honed in on Whitman’s apprenticing to a printer at age 11. That had to have influenced greatly who he became. Being an apprentice (not the Trump variety) to a specific vocation at an early age might serve a child far better that “middle school.”

    I have never read the 1855 edition but I have one on the way. Thanks for writing this.

    Reply
    • Glynn says

      April 2, 2016 at 11:29 am

      Rick – I was more familiar with Whitman’s years in Washington, D.C., and his experience with the wounded of the civil War. I knew his early years had been spent in Brooklyn, but what I didn’t know was how truly formative those early years were for his poetry. And the connections to newspapers — typesetter, reporter, editor — rolled him into politics, journalism, and the life around him.

      Separately, I’ve been reading several books published decades ago about 19th century American literary life and how a national literary “self” was shaped for the United States. Building on the Emersons, Hawthornes, Irvings, and other earlier authors, three authors particularly shaped the 19th and the 20 centuries in a literary sense — Melville, Whitman (both born on the same day in the same year), and Twain.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. New York Bluebird - 50 States of Generosity | Tweetspeak Poetry says:
    February 19, 2021 at 5:00 am

    […] and then back to this land and the bluebird tales of the Navajo and the Cochiti. New York contains multitudes, as does the […]

    Reply
  2. Horace Traubel and the Final Words of Walt Whitman - Tweetspeak Poetry says:
    December 16, 2024 at 12:44 pm

    […] Walt Whitman in Brooklyn: Newspapers and “Leaves of Grass” […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our May Menu

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

The Graphic Novel

"Stunning, heartbreaking, and relevant illustrations"

Callie Feyen, teacher

read a summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

meet The Yellow Wallpaper characters

How to Write Poetry

Your Comments

  • Glynn on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Sandra Fox Murphy on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Glynn on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”
  • Bethany R. on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2025 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy