Introduction

One of the most influential writers in American history, Walt Whitman became the voice of cultural American in the 19th century. Though somewhat controversial during his life, his writings incorporate both Transcendentalism and realism. His major poetry collection, “Leaves of Grass”, first published in 1855, was a landmark in the history of American literature and included the poem "All is Truth." In this poem, Whitman, who had been a man of slack faith for so long, comes to the realization of an all-diffused truth. He discovers that there is no lie or form of lie, and that truth grows as inevitably upon itself as any law of the earth or any natural production of the earth. This realization leads him to celebrate anything he sees or is, and to sing, laugh, and deny nothing.