Who is Walt Whitman from the nonfiction book, How to Read and Why?

Walt Whitman is an American poet, who lived from 1819 to 1892. He is credited with articulating the American voice, and he was honest about having been strongly influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose theories Whitman effectively fulfilled, in his own way. According to Bloom, Walt Whitman's self is divided into three parts, the 'rough', the Me Myself and My Soul. According to Bloom, the persona of the rough prevents a war between the absolute Soul and the willful Me Myself.