Languages, Literature, and Philosophy

In discussing letter-writing, Whitman made his own views clear. Simplicity and naturalness were his guidelines. “I like my letters to be personal—very personal—and then stop.” The six volumes in The Correspondence comprise nearly 3,000 letters written over a half century, revealing Whitman the person as no other documents can.
(NYU Press)

Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting Leaves of Grass,[1] revising it multiple times until his death. There have been held to be either six or nine individual editions of Leaves of Grass, the count varying depending on how they are distinguished.[2] This resulted in vastly different editions over four decades—the first edition being a small book of twelve poems, and the last, a compilation of over 400.

The collection of loosely connected poems represents the celebration of his philosophy of life and humanity and praises nature and the individual human's role in it. Rather than focusing on religious or spiritual matters, Leaves of Grass focuses primarily on the body and the material world. With one exception, its poems do not rhyme or follow standard rules for meter and line length.
(Wikipedia)

"In 1858, Whitman published a 47,000 word series called Manly Health and Training under the pen name Mose Velsor.[40][41] Apparently he drew the name Velsor from Van Velsor, his mother's family name.[42] This self-help guide recommends beards, nude sunbathing, comfortable shoes, bathing daily in cold water, eating meat almost exclusively, plenty of fresh air, and getting up early each morning. Present-day writers have called Manly Health and Training "quirky",[43] "so over the top",[44] "a pseudoscientific tract",[45] and "wacky".[40]"
(Wikipedia)