Q 01/05

Whitman is often called the father of which poetic form?

A) The sonnet

B) Blank verse

C) The haiku

D) Free verse

Answer · why

D) Free verse

His work blended transcendentalism and realism and was condemned by some as obscene.

Q 02/05

Where was Walt Whitman born in 1819?

A) Brooklyn Heights

B) West Hills, Long Island

C) Camden, New Jersey

D) Lower Manhattan

Answer · why

B) West Hills, Long Island

He was the second of nine children of Quaker parents and moved to Brooklyn at four.

Q 03/05

Why was he nicknamed 'Walt' from birth?

A) After a family friend

B) To tell him apart from his father, Walter

C) Because he could not say 'Walter'

D) It was his mother's maiden name

Answer · why

B) To tell him apart from his father, Walter

His mother was of Dutch descent and his father of English descent.

Q 04/05

At what age did Whitman leave school to go to work?

A) 14

B) 11

C) 12

D) 16

Answer · why

B) 11

He became an office boy and then a printer's devil for a Long Island weekly.

Q 05/05

Which newspaper did Whitman found himself in Huntington after giving up teaching?

A) The Aurora

B) The Brooklyn Eagle

C) The Patriot

D) The Long-Islander

Answer · why

D) The Long-Islander

He later edited the Aurora in 1842 and the Brooklyn Eagle from 1846 to 1848.