Learning from the Source: Whitman on Lincoln – Putting Loss into Words

Learning from the Source: Whitman on Lincoln – Putting Loss into Words

During the civil war Walt Whitman worked in Washington D.C. and spent much of his spare time visiting wounded soldiers in the hospital. He was a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln whom he saw around the city frequently. Like many, Whitman was deeply saddened at the loss of  President Lincoln, assassinated at Ford’s Theatre on…

Today in History: O Captain! My Captain!

Today in History: O Captain! My Captain!

Today in History–February 9–the Library of Congress features a letter Walt Whitman wrote on this day in 1888 noting corrections to his poem “O Captain! My Captain!” published that year by The Riverside Literature Series No. 32. Whitman informed the publishers that they had not printed the most recent version Whitman had revised for the…