Journey2Being is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting and encouraging
the voices of our community (past and present).

We feature the works of the great classic poets of our time.

We also offer the musings and stories of writers in our community.
In addition, we present “Two Voices,” a discussion forum about writing by 2 writers.

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)

Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor. He has been nicknamed the Bard. At 18 years old, he married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway. They had three children. His only son, Hamnet, passed away when he was 11 years old. His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and other poems. His plays have been translated many times over. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, two months after the wedding of his youngest daughter. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Walt Whitman has been described as the first expression of a distinctly American voice. He was a nonconformist poet, breaking new ground in abandoning rhyme and meter, in opposition to the structured rigidity of the European poets of the time. His literary style was experimental in free verse, celebrating nature and the self. He expressed his philosophy on such issues as democracy, war, politics, race, and slavery. Some of his poems are patriotic. Others are celebrations of nature and homosexual love with vivid descriptions of the human form. He was a part of the transition between Transcendentalism and Realism. During the Civil War, Whitman moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as a civil servant and volunteer nurse. Over a 37-year period, Walt Whitman published nine separate editions of his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass.

Robert Frost (1874 – 1963)

Considered as America’s unofficial poet laureate, Frost was known for his depictions of rural life, and received more than 40 honorary degrees during his lifetime. He published his first poem “My Butterfly” in a New York newspaper The Independent, on November 8, 1894. After World War I started, Frost and his wife left England to return to the United States, where Frost would write and teach. In 1924, he was awarded his first of Pulitzer Prize for his poetry book New Hampshire. Frost subsequently won Pulitzer Prizes for three other collections: Collected Poems (1931), A Further Range (1937) and A Witness Tree (1943). In 1960, Frost was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his poetry.

Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)

Emily Dickinson was an American poet known for her eccentricity. She stayed in contact with her friends through letters, reluctant to actually greet people in person, and liked to dress in white. Her favorite poetic themes were death and immortality. She was a prolific poet, but no one knew the breadth of her writing until her sister found her cache after Emily’s death.