Which author is credited with welcoming Whitman to a great career?

• A. Henry David Thoreau
• B. Margaret Fuller
• C. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• D. Nathaniel Hawthorne

Answer: (C)

The question tests how early support from a respected writer can launch a new poet’s career. Ralph Waldo Emerson played that role for Walt Whitman. Emerson read Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, recognized his unique voice, and publicly praised him, offering encouragement that helped Whitman gain attention from readers and editors. That endorsement carried weight in literary circles and gave Whitman a path to publication and a wider audience. The famous sentiment attributed to Emerson—welcoming Whitman to a great career—summed up how that recognition opened doors and legitimized Whitman’s work at a time when it was still controversial.

While Whitman had connections with other Transcendentalists who supported him—like Thoreau, Fuller, and Hawthorne—the enduring narrative centers on Emerson’s pivotal endorsement, which is why he’s credited with ushering Whitman into a broader literary career.