Tweet-a-Week V: Frances Wright

Whitman, while awesome in his sense of free thinking and nonconformity, was not the first of his kind. Neither was Frances Wright, but she did come first. A Scottish activist who proclaimed many of the ideas that Whitman would later absorb and spew back into the world in his own creative way, Wright was one of many major influences on Whitman's life and work. Whitman even saw her speak a few times, and read some of her work. As a young person trying to find his way in the world, I can see how a strong, loud, confident figure like Wright would be an inspiration. She was someone who understood some of the ideals that Whitman felt passionate for, and she helped first put to words those emotions that Whitman would come to express on his own in Leaves of Grass. They are birds of a feather, so it makes sense that they would stick together.