Walt Whitman Got Rejected From 'The Atlantic' For Being Too Timely

That's right, "1861" was a little too 1861 to publish in 1861. "There’s something problematic about asking our art to be of the 'moment' (or declaring, after the fact, that it is), or demanding that it fit into one of two boxes: being about politics or an escape from it. Art is and should be more complicated than that."

Article source here:Arts Journal