Walt Whitman, was born May 31, 1819, in Huntington, Long Island. When Whitman was young, his family was terribly poor and this was an unhappy thought he carried with him for the rest of his life. At the age of eleven he finished formal schooling and began looking for work to help his family pay the bills. Whitman found a decent job at a local print shop and began to learn about the printing press. This work later helped him in his writing career. A few years later Whitman found work as a teacher, which led to his unhappiness. He knew this work wouldn't be enough, so he needed to make some changes. After leaving his teaching job, he began writing editorials in local New York City newspapers. In 1850, Whitman began writing Leaves of Grass, a collection of poems that he continued to edit until his death. Approximately 795 copies were printed. That said, the plan didn't go as he planned. Whitman received much praise from fellow poet and friend Ralph Waldo Emerson through a five-page letter Emerson sent him. The poem “When I heard the le...