Walt Whitman was born 200 years ago (May 31, 1819), his life coincided with a time of great division in America—the Civil War. Whitman eulogized the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in “O Captain! My Captain!”, a moment in history marked by hatred and bloodshed. His poem “The Wound Dresser” described the job of a first aid responder on the battlefield, in which he mourns the loss of life that the division of the United States caused.

Join the contributors of Remembering Walt Whitman as they read their tributes to The Bard of Democracy