Walt Whitman secretly reviewed his own poetry

A closer look

When the critics aren't giving you the respect you deserve, the only logical solution is to aggressively lie to the public. After self-publishing 'Leaves of Grass' in 1855, Walt Whitman secretly wrote three incredibly glowing reviews of his own poetry and submitted them anonymously to local newspapers. He described himself as a proud, towering genius of American art. It was the 19th-century equivalent of making fake Twitter accounts to praise your own podcast.