D5902

Literary Arts

Walt Whitman - Poet

Leaves of Grass

Cover Announcement 

Walter was a poet, essayist, and journalist whose influential writings resulted in his being known as the Father of Free Verse. Whitman was born on Long Island on May 31, 1819. He left school at age 11 to go to work. Upon reaching adulthood, he worked as a government clerk, a teacher, and a newspaper journalist.

About 1850 he began writing a collection of poetry that would become known as Lesves of Grass. He published it in 1855 using his own money. Whitman would continue editing and revising this major work until his death in 1892. There were 795 copies printed of the first edition. About 500 lines into the text, he calls himself, Walt Whitman, an American one of the roughs, a kasmos, disorderly, fleshly, and sensnal, no sentimentalist, no

stander above men or women or apart from them, no more modest that impostest." As the preceding makes evident, Whitunan was a very complex individual hoping to communicate with his fellow citizens.

My individually hand painted cachet shows the famous writer in his mid-thirties leaning against a wooden fence. Lilacs bloom behind him in a rural setting which at the time was the bedrock of American life. His stated intent for Leaves of Grass was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic.

The colors in the cachet were carefully chosen to coordinate with those in the new stamp. It is a pleasure to announce this philatelic salute to one of America's literary giants. Walt Whitman. Collins #D5902 - $16.50