Things Read Outside of class

In Mrs. Carson's class, we have been reading a lot about poetry lately. We have read some pieces from Emily Dickinson and from Walt Whitman. One day when we were reading a poem from Whitman, I realized something was different. Whenever he writes, he tends to make up words. For example, we read a poem about a brilliant astronomer and an adjective he uses to describe this person is learn'd. I believe the reason he did that was to make the reader place his/her own definition to that word in which ever way he/she perceives it. To me, this is an excellent way to make readers think instead of just reading and implying the understood meaning of each word.