He didn’t start life as an opera queen – “As a budding young journalist in New York, he was known to take potshots at the etiquette and artifice of what he saw as an aristocratic pastime. Whitman cultivated a more democratic persona and preferred popular songs, which he called ‘heart’ — as opposed to ‘art’ — music.” – but bel canto won him over, and massively influenced Leaves of Grass too.