Walt Whitman
Lesson plans and teaching ideas

1900 America: Historical Voices, Poetic Visions
Using Whitman's Song of Myself (1855) and Hart Crane's The Bridge, students examine the historical context of poetry, analyze American life at the turn of the 20th century, and explore poetic technique. Technology is integrated into this lesson.

American Experience: Walt Whitman
Support for the PBS program, including a timeline and teacher guide.

The Classroom Electric: Dickinson, Whitman, and American Culture
"Users can explore images of original manuscripts, rare photographs, notebooks, scrapbooks, letters, and maps in sites informed by cutting-edge scholarship."

Guide to Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass
Biography, introduction, some general analysis, a close reading of "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," discussion questions, suggested reading, and other resources. This 8-page guide requires Adobe Reader or compatible application for access.

One Life: Walt Whitman, a kosmos
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery offers a timeline of Whitman's life, commentary, and audio files of excerpts from "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" and "America."

"A Passage to India"
Video of the poem, analysis, and teaching tips.

"Patrolling Barnegat"
Background, analysis, and suggestions for responding to the poem.

Poet at Work: Recovered Notebooks from the Thomas Biggs Harned Walt Whitman Collection
The notebooks have been photographed and loaded onto this Web site at the Library of Congress American Memory section.

Repeat After Us
Audio files and texts of some Whitman poems. A good site for LD students, ELL students, and for those who read well and might like to record and contribute. Files are in alphabetical order by poet; scroll down.

Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass
This exhibit from the Library of Congress includes biographical information and photographs of Whitman and other artifacts.

Study Questions on Walt Whitman
A collaborative approach to "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" and questions about "The Death of Abraham Lincoln."

Walt Whitman
Biography, images, links to several texts.

Walt Whitman Archive
Manuscripts, criticism, teaching ideas, even an audio file of Whitman reading one of his poems.

Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy
Students explore Whitman's poetry, focusing on his views of democracy. Scroll to part 3 to compare and contrast with Langston Hughes.

Walt Whitman's City
Students read about Whitman and New York in the late 1800's. A follow-up activity encourages students to write poetry about their own towns. This site is designed for grades 4 - 8.

The Whitman Project Main Index
Biography, e-texts, manuscripts, notebooks and letters, reviews.

Writing Poetry like Pros
This extensive set of lessons includes an activity using Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" in Lesson 1, Group 6.