From the highly controversial Leaves of Grass , with its overt sexual imagery and delight of sensual pleasures, to the iconic Captain, oh my captain immortalised in the film Dead Poets Society , this short collection is the ideal introduction to the poetry of Walt Whitman. One of the greats, he was celebrated both during his lifetime and ever since - he is widely considered to be the father of free verse. During the American Civil War he worked in hospitals caring for the wounded, and his own funeral in 1892 was a public event. In the words of the modernist poet Ezra Pound, Walt Whitman was 'America's poet . he is America'.