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Walt Whitman: he was a liberator of people and culture, using a liberated poetic form. (Articles).(Biography)

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From: The Nation
Date: 20030721
Author:Gambino, Richard

In 1848, 29-year-old Walt Whitman was for three months a reporter for the Daily Crescent in New Orleans, writing fluff pieces about local color and charm as seen through Yankee eyes. But he also saw darker spectacles there--streetside auctions of slaves--and six years later put his emotions into ironic verse.

 
   I help the auctioneer, the sloven does not half 
   know his business... 
   Have you ever loved the body of a woman? 
   Have you ever loved the body of a man? 
   Do you not see that these are exactly the same to all in all nations 
   and times all over the earth? 
   ...

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