Found an unknown poem by Walt Whitman

WASHINGTON. Until recently, an unknown poem by the American poet Walt Whitman was found in the Library of Congress. Poetic lines dedicated to Whitman’s best friend were written by him at a young age.

Walt Whitman’s previously unknown poetic work was discovered by Wendy Katz, professor of art history at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The professor studied art criticism of the mid-nineteenth century and took for work the press of those times from the Library of Congress, where she found Walt Whitman’s poem on the page of one of the newspapers. The poem was published in the far unpopular and cheap NewEra newspaper. A sample of the early work of the American poet was signed by the initials WW and had the name "Brian, the poet of nature."

Professor Wendy Katz was so interested in this find that she continued the search and found out that this poem was addressed to the romantic poet Cullen Bryant, with whom Whitman was friends. At that time, Bryant worked as an editor in the New York Evening Post and wrote poetry. Historians and literary critics argue that it was Cullen Bryant’s work that influenced the poetry of Whitman himself. By the way, it should be noted that the world-famous collection of poems "Leaves of Grass", which glorified Walt Whitman, was published only 13 years later (in 1855) after the publication of the poem "Brian, the poet of nature."

Svetlana Korableva © Gallerix.ru