Walt Whitman was a man who slowly developed his personality throughout the course of his life. It can be said that his emotions were a very broad spectrum, and at times, even contradictory. Much like many people in today's society, it took some horrific experiences in Whitman's life to turn him into the "good grey poet" that we know him as today. One of the most significant events that helped mold Whitman's personality was observing was observing the death of our nation's beloved 16th president, Abraham Lincoln.
Many people feel that there are no similarities between Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. President Lincoln and Whitman were alike as far back as childhood, and grew more and more a like on a philosophical level as time went on. Our good grey poet loved Lincoln, which is why the assassination of Lincoln was such an upset to Whitman. As children, Whitman and Lincoln attained unusual growth in early youth; therefore that is where their similarities started (Barton 109). They both grew like weeds through adolescence and began growing beards premature. However Lincoln kept his dark hair till death, where as Whitman's began turning grey at age thirty. Abraham only went to school to age four; where as Whitman was more privileged and was able to go to age thirteen. This was much more common then, yet they still share the fact that they succeeded in life without much education (Barton 134).
Later in life Whitman and Lincoln began to drift apart as Whitman began his journey into writing and Lincoln into politics. Coincidently, both of these two men were carpenters sons; they both even had an aprentership in the trade for a while (Barton 135). Early in life Lincoln and Whitman were both Democrats, yet somewhere along the way they both became Republicans. Neither Lincoln nor Whitman could call himself an adamant abolitionist; yet they both enjoyed the freedom of man and the love on the union.
