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the program. Hello in July 1855 a Brooklyn printer journalist and property developer

called Walt Whitman published his first collection of poetry,

it began,

I celebrate myself, and what I assume you shall assume,

for every atom belong to me as good belongs to you. The book was called Leaves of Grass. In it

Whitman set out to break away from European literary forms and traditions.

Using long lines written in free verse he developed a poetry meant to express a distinctive American outlook.

Leaves of grass is full of verse that celebrates both the sovereign individual and the deep

fellowship between individuals.

Its optimism about the American experience was challenged by the Civil War in its aftermath,

but Whitman emerged as a celebrity and a key figure in the development of American culture. We need to discuss Walt Whitman

are Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of

Humanities at the University of London. Peter Riley, lecturer in 19th century American literature at the University of Exeter, and Mark Ford,

Professor of English and American Literature at University College London.

Mark Ford, can you tell us about Whitman's family in early life?

Yes, he had a what might seem to us a rather kind of rakety upbringing, his first sort of 20 years,

a very, very diverse range of experiences.

He was born in the middle of Long Island,

...