Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An haife shi a Portland, Oregon, Whalen ya girma a The Dalles daga shekaru hudu har sai ya koma Portland a 1941. Ya yi aiki a Rundunar Sojan Sama ta Amurka a lokacin Yaƙin Duniya na II. Ya halarci Kwalejin Reed a kan GI Bill. A can, ya sadu da Gary Snyder da Lew Welch, kuma ya kammala karatu tare da BA a 1951. Ya karanta a sanannen karatun Six Gallery
a 1955 wanda ya nuna kaddamar da West Coast Beats a cikin jama'a ido. Ya bayyana, a cikin nau'i mai ban mamaki, a matsayin hali "Warren Coughlin" a cikin Jack Kerouac "The Dharma Bums", wanda ya haɗa da asusun wannan karatun. A cikin "Big Sur" ana kiransa "Ben Fagan". An gabatar da waƙoƙin Whalen a cikin littafin tarihin Donald Allen "The New American Poetry 1945-1960".