English socialist poet, Edward Carpenter, and the famous Oscar Wilde viewed Whitman as a prophet of same-sex desire and utopian future.
As you can see from the infographic, Walt Whitman is ranked the 2nd most influential poet, falling behind Shakespeare. He has been deemed the first ‘poet of democracy’ in the US. English socialist poet, Edward Carpenter, and the famous Oscar Wilde viewed Whitman as a prophet of same-sex desire and utopian future. The vagabond lifestyle used in Whitman’s poets influenced the style of poets Gary Snyder, Adrienne Rich, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg.