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Walt Whitman: Poetry and Prose (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

This is the one to own.
A classic volume in my home
As a young man Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman were my holy
Best edition of Whitman you could find
To understand Whitman is to understand America

Walt Whitman: Poetry and Prose (Library of America)
Walt Whitman
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 094045002X

Book Description

Contains the first and "deathbed" editions of "Leaves of Grass," and virtually all of Whitman's prose, with reminiscences of nineteenth-century New York City, notes on the Civil War, especially his service in Washington hospitals and glimpses of President Lincoln, and attacks on the misuses of national wealth after the war.

Customer Reviews:

This is the one to own........2007-01-03

Beethoven killed classical style. It kind of ends with him. He was soooo good that he was impossible to follow. Others had to go in other directions.

But Whitman invents modern poetry. And with his Beethoven intensity and skill ought to have killed it, with his "Leaves of Grass". But poets are hardier than musicians, I suppose. You need a Whitman scale to rate poets. Really excellent gets a W0.5 (from 0 to 1). Like that.

But so does Whitman himself. His first real work was called "Leaves of Grass". His second was called "Leaves of Grass". His third, "Leaves of Grass"...

He kept improving his older stuff and adding on. It got bigger and bigger and bigger. Historically, you may want an older version. But this one is the mother load.

AND .... this is the big and .... it has the best preface of any book ever written. Period. No contest. He wrote this in his later years and the preface is a work of its own. Magnificent. This book makes me blue in that I could never rise to this level of speech and thought given infinite resources and tutoring. So it stands there like a continent. Explore it.

A classic volume in my home.......2006-01-29

I picked up this book in the Spring of 1990 while browsing in a bookstore. I'm no student of poetry, in fact I only purchased it because I randomly flipped it open and was enamored with the passage I found. I learned that the passage is from "Song of Myself" and have read both that epic poem and the entire collection through dozens of times.

I didn't know exactly what I had purchased that day. But over time find that turning to Whitman's poetry and prose has been a source of comfort. I find myself in his writings, and find that his messages apply clearly in the present day. This volume is a pretty hefty way to start with Whitman--you get everything from the start. If you choose to buy it, I suggest randomly exploring it--stopping here and there to read a poem. I spent weeks exploring that way, only later did I read everything from start to finish. The simplicity of the writing and the clarity of meaning is remarkable.

The Library of America edition is--in itself--beautiful. Well bound, fine paper, still in excellent condition after 15 years of use. When reading it, it is impossible not to appreciate the caliber of it's manufacture: the choice of paper, inks, typefaces, binding, etc. contribute to pleasurable experience. I have a small number of other Library of America volumes, and each is exquisitely assembled and a joy to read. They are not inexpensive, but I'd argue that they are most definitely worth every penny.

As a young man Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman were my holy .......2004-10-15

trinity. My debt and appreciation has never diminished to this threesome. In fact, only increases.

The reason that I came across the Library of America series is that after many years of use, my copy of 'Leaves of Grass' was giving way to time. I was looking for a quality hardcover that I would not only use over and over again, but one that looked elegant on my book shelf.

I am completely happy with both the quality of the book: binding, cover, print, paper and compactness as well as the contents. There are volumes of Whitman's written words available, and are worth the owning, but this collection captures his essence, and should go a long way in keeping the lover of 'Leaves of Grass' happy and satisfied.

Best edition of Whitman you could find.......2004-06-05

Leaving aside, for the moment, a review of Whitman's writing itself, let me say that this edition (by the Library of America series) is the best one out there. I've been hard pressed to find works of Whitman that aren't included in this volume: it has both the 1855 and 1892 editions of Leaves of Grass, complete, and virtually all of his prose. It even includes several important pieces that Whitman didn't add to the final edition of his works during his lifetime.

Add to that the fact that these books are well made and wear well with time, and it's definitely worth the slightly higher price (especially with the amazon discount!).

Having said that - Whitman's poetry is of course wonderful, and his prose is just as great. A lot of people know about Leaves of Grass...how many, I wonder, have taken the time to read _Specimen Days_ and find out just how great of a writer Whitman really is? This volume is heartily reccomended to give you a great all-around picture of Whitman and his work. If you're coming to Whitman for the first time, a small paperback would probably be the better bet, but if you've gotten that far and want more, this is the only book you'll need.

To understand Whitman is to understand America.......2001-09-18

This is one of the books that I bought for college that has become a well read favorite and that I think of often.

I know that critics object to Whitman's sprawling epic poetry, but it truly captures the spirit of America. This great volume includes the first and last editions of Leaves of Grass. Whitman viewed his poetry collection as something that should grow and change with time. Also included is his memoirs that show the Civil War through the eyes of a northern nurse. This is truly a unique and insightful perspective. His Civil War sensitivity comes across most clearly in the senstitive "O Captain"

Whitman's poems capture the momentum of life. No other poem can touch "There was a child went forth" for capturing the spirit of childhood. All stages of life are brilliantly illustrated here.

Whitman's life spanned such a unique era of American history and one cannot study the nineteenth century without reading Whitman.

Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography

Average customer rating:

Excellent Cultural Biography
The best biography of Whitman available
Whitman Poetry Lovers only
exhaustively researched , from an impartial biographer,
Walt Whitman As If He Really Walked on this Planet

Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography
David S. Reynolds
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War

ASIN: 0679767096
Release Date: 1996-03-19

Amazon.com

The greatest American poet is portrayed in this monumental biography as an essential American, not an isolated mystic but a man formed in large measure by his rapidly changing society. Drawing on his diligent research, and on his experience writing the monumental work Beneath the American Renaissance, noted scholar David S. Reynolds conclusively demonstrates the profound impact the popular culture of his day had on Whitman's awakening as an artist. This copious (nearly 700 page) volume tells the story of 19th-century America as well as the story of the Whitman himself.

Book Description

In his poetry Walt Whitman set out to encompass all of America and in so doing heal its deepening divisions. This magisterial biography demonstrates the epic scale of his achievement, as well as the dreams and anxieties that impelled it, for it places the poet securely within the political and cultural context of his age.

Combing through the full range of Whitman's writing, David Reynolds shows how Whitman gathered inspiration from every stratum of nineteenth-century American life: the convulsions of slavery and depression; the raffish dandyism of the Bowery "b'hoys"; the exuberant rhetoric of actors, orators, and divines. We see how Whitman reconciled his own sexuality with contemporary social mores and how his energetic courtship of the public presaged the vogues of advertising and celebrity. Brilliantly researched, captivatingly told, Walt Whitman's America is a triumphant work of scholarship that breathes new life into the biographical genre.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Cultural Biography.......2007-02-18

Whitman was a difficult man and poet. Obviously, if it were not for the poetry, no one would think about him at all today, but oddly what makes this book so good is its long look at 19th century America through Whitman's life experience rather than his words. There are not many quotes from the poems and they're not really missed, in fact some of the best are not even mentioned. ( For me, he is a frustrating poet, too insistent on "being himself", which, as with little children, can be just annoying, and often he seems to be out of his depth, promising information about higher things we may really want to know, but which he has really only read or heard about). Anyway, one's liking or disliking of Whitman do not affect one's enjoyment of this book, which is, as the title tells us, about America during Whitman's life. All of the major topics of the book: politics, homoeroticism, intellectual and religious movements, the growth of the cities, family life, have infinite possibilities and Reynolds does a good job of presenting an appetizing amount of information. He has a very balanced approach to topics quite liable to unbalance an author, I'm thinking especially of homosexuality and politics of the 1850s. And it was very interesting to know that censorship of Whitman was directed at the heterosexual images in the poems. One tends to forget how frigid society was in the Victorian age. how far it is from then to Howard Stern.

Reynolds also does a good job of describing Whitman's own ambitions and efforts at persona management. Poets are now so unpopular and so much in a realm of their own that we are surprised that the father of modern poetry hoped to be quoted frequently and by all types. It wasn't unreasonable: Longfellow was immensely popular and so was Whittier, but Whitman who, at least took up topics that still interest us, willfully insisted on a style that made his work very difficult to memorize. His one so to say singable verse, "Oh Captain" was popular and memorized. It was still included in old high school poetry textbooks when I was young - forty-five years ago - but I think has been now forgotten. And Reynolds depicts the aging Whitman trying to patch up and sustain a consistent public image. This too is interesting because this really did work. Whitman was the American image of a poet for quite a while. Nobody knows what Longfellow looked like, Poe certainly doesn't fit the part, and jumping to the 20th century, T. S. Eliot, though great, looks too constipated, in other words that avuncular Face easily confused with Santa meant uplifting and benevolent poetry to people who had never read and never would read a word of it.

All in all, highly recommended.

The best biography of Whitman available.......2005-12-05

I'm a latecomer to Whitman's work, only really discovering it in the past decade. (I'm in my 40s.) It was Reynold's book Beneath the American Renaissance that prodded me in this direction, and, naturally, I wanted to read his more complete take on Walt.

What stands out in this book is the way Reynolds weaves together not only Whitman's life but also the context of the period, which makes it so much easier to understand what Walt was saying. Reynolds is without doubt the best explainer of this period, as it applies to literature, and reading this book is both a pleasure and an enlightening experience, providing a history lesson at the same time as it looks at Whitman's writings.

A must-read book for any Whitman fan.

Whitman Poetry Lovers only.......2003-01-04

If you are a Whitman poetry lover (or aspire to be), this is an interesting book. The author explores the manifold influences on Whitman's writing, from Opera to Phrenology (and all the other letters of the alphabet), and uses snippets of poetry to prove his points.

I had not explored Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" before reading this book, and was looking for a portrait of Whitman and his times, not a compilation of "influences," A to Z. In short, I found it dull. The author's writing style doesn't help either, which is straightforward at best, pedantic at worst ("No other biographer has noted...").

If you love Whitman's poetry, by all means buy and read this book. However, if you are looking for a more straightforward biography or a picture of America in the age of Whitman, you might look elswhere. Please, tell me what you find!

exhaustively researched , from an impartial biographer,.......1999-08-21

I found this work extremely entertaining. It was like being back in mid-19th century America. It seemed to make the era come alive with real personalities and real historical character. To understand the complexities of this genious and his time, this book is a must. It seemed to be refreshingly candid and forth-right without the usual bias one expects on the subject. There was much more to the man and his times than his sexuality. This book reveals the other sides of Walt Whitman. You can feel his pain with him as you share in his America

Walt Whitman As If He Really Walked on this Planet.......1997-12-24

Reynolds' Walt Whitman is a fellow who absorbed his culture, tried to save it, but finally sold himself to it. The other Whitman biographies I've read always had a scholarly ax to grind; this one seems, not to cut away Walt Whitman to a one dimensional person, but to find Walt Whitman living a multi-dimensional life in an urbanizing, industrializing, upwardly literate American society. I thorougly enjoyed the chapters on mid-century American Culture; but was looking for an itinerary of hospital visits that Whitman made. It appears that the author appropriately limited himself to what Whitman reported of his own activity as a hospital nurse and to what few recollections of patients.

Walt Whitman: Words For America (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards))

Average customer rating:

A fantastic journey into the life of America's poet
Thunderstruck
A man who shook his white locks at the runaway sun
learn about Walt
Richie's Picks: WALT WHITMAN: WORDS FOR AMERICA

Walt Whitman: Words For America (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards))
Barbara Kerley
Manufacturer: Scholastic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0439357918

Book Description

Did you know that poet Walt Whitman was also a Civil War nurse? Devastated by his country dividing and compelled to service by his brother's war injury, Walt nursed all soldiers-Union & Confederate, black & white. By getting to know them through many intense and affecting experiences, he began to see a greater life purpose: His writing could give these men a voice, & in turn, achieve his greatest aspiration--to capture the true spirit of America. Dramatic, powerful, & deeply moving, this consummate portrait of Whitman will inspire readers to pick up their pens & open their hearts to humanity.

Customer Reviews:

A fantastic journey into the life of America's poet.......2005-12-12

I am doing my Masters Project on the life of Walt Whitman during the Civil War. Though this book does not add anything new to my project, I am including it in my Bibliography because it is a book I think everyone should read. Yes, it is a children's book, but it accurately portrays the life of Whitman from the time he was a child to the time of his death. I particularly like the section about the Civil War and I know that the author has all the facts correct. What makes this book such a great reading experience is the accompanying art work on each page. The art is exceptional and adds to the reading experience. Whether you are a child or an adult with a passing interest in Whitman, this book should be on the top of your reading list.

My favorite page is the one directly after the Civil War spread. It contains the portraits of Civil War soldiers. What makes this special is that each picture is based on an actual photo of real people, and the one portrait in color is really Whitman's brother George (I am using the same picture in my Masters Project). Each painting of the portrait really captures the expression of the soldiers. My other favorite painting is the close up of Whitman's face as an old man at the end of the book. The sparkle in his eye captures the sparkle in the man's entire life.

This is a fantastic book that I highly recommend. You should look at it as an experience - it is not a complete biography of America's famous poet, but an interactive experience between the important events in his life and the paintings that convey meaning and significance. I am very happy I came across this book, and I think everyone who buys and reads this book will also be impressed.

Thunderstruck.......2005-03-01

Walt Whitman lived a life of a "rough", or an everyman, and his poetry reflected his very special common uniqueness. Going against prescribed form of the time, Whitman fashioned himself a style of poetry unto itself, brash, fresh, untamed. Such words can be used to descirbe this stunning, and I mean absolutely stunning, children's book on the life of Walt Whitman, by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian Selznick.

Never before have I seen a celebration of a poet's life done so wonderfully. It manages to capture the beautiful essence of the man, while explaining to children in an easy to understand manner. The life of Walt comes alive, from his childhood to the very last years of his life, and the text is peppered with awesome quotes from some of his most famous poems.

Particularly amazing his how Kerley describes Walt's selfless love of the Civl War soldiers whom he tended in Washington DC hospitals. His actions during this time show the depth of feeling he had for these poor boys, and children will respond with their innate sense of empathy towards Walt.

The text is amazing, and the pictures equal it. Selznick has illustrated Walt in all stages of his life, from child to the wizened old man we've all come to associate with him. Selznick's pictures are honest and endearing, again, those that relate to Walt's caring of the soldiers. Even using type similiar to that Walt would have used in his earlier typesetting days, the pictures support and extend the text timelessly.

It's been amazing that within the last few years, a spate of books celebrating our nation's most beloved poets are coming to fruition. It's about time. Our youth need to hear the voices of these people... Langston Hughes... Emily Dickinson... and now Walt Whitman, not only to instill a sense of pride with the country that they live, but also, within the sense of pride within themselves. This book will serve as a benchmark for these books in years to come.

A man who shook his white locks at the runaway sun.......2005-02-23

The Barbara Kerly/Brian Selznick combination becomes more powerful each time it occurs. First of all, if you haven't gone out and viewed their "Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins" then you should do so immediately. Do not halt for man, angel, or beast. Just get out there, grab yourself a copy, and thank the high heavens that you did so before reaching the end of your brief span upon this globe. After having read that book (and you will be glad you did) you'll be ready to fully appreciate this author/illustrator duo's latest exploration into another fabulous human being's life. Our dear gay American poet Walt Whitman is their most recent subject and he is rendered here in full glorious life. Spotted with his poetry, his beliefs, and his incredible life, "Walt Whitman: Words For America" offers an answer to any kid who wonders why the heck they should study some old dead white guy from more than 100 years ago. A stirring answer at that.

Aside from the circular picture of Walt standing with a cocky fist on his hip, your first image in this book of the man displays him at the tender age of 12. Working carefully as a typesetter for a newspaper (comparisons to Ben Franklin seem obvious at this point), Walt began his career as a poet with a job that put him into direct messy contact with all kinds of letters and words. In addition to creating his own newspaper at 19, Walt read fantastical stories for his own amusement. You see him as a young man rushing through the streets of Manhattan fully clothed and along the beaches of Long Island buck naked (tastefully, of course). As Walt grew, his concern for fellow human beings, including the slaves of the South, did as well. He published "Leaves of Grass", traveled the country, then became involved with the war between the states. It's the Civil War that takes up most of Walt's life in this book. Whether he was tending to those wounded in battle, debating his own feelings towards President Lincoln, or collapsing from the exhaustion of working too darn hard, the book follows Whitman hither and thither. By the end Whitman truly became the poet of the people, giving the world poems that have remained deeply embedded in the human psyche, whether we know it or not.

As with their previous collaboration, Kerly and Selznick follow up their book with a long and extended section of additional facts about Mr. Whitman. They talk about how they become interested in the project, where their research took them, and how they feel about the man. They offer addition info on his life (preferring not to mention the whole homosexual aspect, I guess), Lincoln's life, and what Walt's life was like after the war. They also include eight poems, some complete and some just important snippets. It makes for a truly comprehensive picture book, I can tell you.

The book itself, however, is a visual delight. There are some truly gutsy moves being made within its pages. At one point you see only a bright blue sky containing a yellow sun and fast moving clouds containing the words, "Whoever you are now I place my hand upon you that you be my poem". At another point Selznick takes the photographs of the wounded holding slates and puts a word from a Whitman poem on each and every one. I was pleased to note that the authentic daguerreotypes that Selznick has reproduced here include black as well as white soldiers (something not every illustrator would think to include). Finally, in a truly cute move, Selznick just barely includes the two oranges and paper crane he found at Whitman's grave in the picture of the same.

As picture biographies go, this one is wordy but worth it. Kerley knows how to write an exciting tale and Whitman makes for a remarkably exciting personality. He's one of those heroes you aren't ashamed to call as such. A wonderful addition for anyone whose juvenile Whitman section seems a bit lacking.

learn about Walt.......2004-11-07

This is the life story of the famous poet Walt Whitman. We learn about his life growing up on into adulthood. We learn that he had a real passion for America and it;'s people. This is where the inispration for his poems came from.

The book was written in picture book/ storty book form. Although it was a non-fiction book it was fun and easy to read.

We would recommed this book to others who are interested in knowing more about Walt Whitman. This would be helpful to students who might be researching his life for school projects.

Richie's Picks: WALT WHITMAN: WORDS FOR AMERICA.......2004-10-12

"There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now;
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now."
--One of my favorite passages from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass,

Technically speaking, "breathtaking" is a term which denotes a combined physical and emotional reaction that can sometimes result from a significant stimulus to one or more of the senses.

Unfortunately, "breathtaking," (often written as "BREATHTAKING!!!"), has become an over-utilized adjective that is regularly tossed out when describing teeth whiteners, automobiles, photos from Mars, movies in which one or more people die, vacation rentals, revealing swim attire, and various other goods and services being offered for sale.

Therefore, I hesitate to use the term "breathtaking," even though it most accurately describes my initial reaction to a series of Brian Selznick's illustrations in the upcoming WALT WHITMAN: WORDS FOR AMERICA, Selznick's second illustrated biography with author Barbara Kerley.

This is a very different book for me than their previous collaboration, THE DINOSAURS OF WATERHOUSE HAWKINS, which received a 2002 Caldecott Honor. I had never even heard of Waterhouse Hawkins, and thus my fondest memories of that book naturally tend toward aspects of the man's unusual story, such as the extraordinary New Year's Eve feast Hawkins hosted inside a life-size iguanodon model, and the horror of Boss Tweed's having ordered the destruction and burial of the models Hawkins had spent years painstakingly laboring to build for an ill-fated Central Park museum.

In the case of Walt Whitman, I grew up on Long Island near Walt Whitman Road, Walt Whitman Mall, and various Walt Whitman historic markers. I became basically familiar with the work of Walt Whitman in high school English classes, and already knew the general highlights of his life. What I was hoping for, when I learned that Brian and Barbara were working on this book, was a new look at the man that would cause myself and young readers to feel like we had really gotten to know this great American poet.

As with Waterhouse Hawkins, they have succeeded in this regard with Walt Whitman.

In WALT WHITMAN: WORDS FOR AMERICA, Barbara Kerley begins with a wonderful portrayal of the poet's younger years that will provoke questions about the lives of kids in that era.

"At age 12, he began work as a printer's apprentice, learning to typeset newspaper articles. He saw the boxes of letters as a great mystery, waiting to unfold. Awkwardly, he held the compositor's stick, eager to see the words form--letter by letter--beneath his inky fingers."

"Within two years he was setting articles that he himself had written. After the newspaper was printed, his heart thumped 'double beat' as he smoothed it open and admired his work. Even when he wasn't working, Walt surrounded himself with words. He listened to famous speakers and joined a debating society. He attended plays, appreciating a fine performance 'in every...cell' of his head and heart."

So how does Selznick begin his visual accompaniment to Kerley's words? Opposite the title page he illustrates a wooden-framed typeset of that facing title page--the perfect mirror image as far as the type itself is concerned. The surrounding pieces of wood are shaded with the hints of rose and purples that anyone intimately familar with wood-grains will be able to immediately feel on their fingertips and savor just by looking at them.

In fact, throughout the book, one of the aspects to repeatedly strike me about Selznick's illustrations is his incredible success in creating that feel of the various woodgrains and the lamplight which illuminates the wood, whether it is raw wood or honeyed from varnish, wax, or wear. There was no such thing as plastic in Whitman's lifetime, and I was constantly drawn to the fact that Brian's paintings so meticulously and (yes) breathtakingly portray in every detail the texture and materials of the 19th century world in which the poet lived.

And then there are Selznick's various paintings of Whitman himself, from boy to man, to elderly poet. There is one such large portrait thoroughly etched into my brain, where Whitman, apparently reacting to the assassination of Lincoln, stares pensively out at us while a few whisps of his white hair fall across his brow.

Another unforgettable (and heartbreaking) vision is that of a family at home during the Civil War, reacting to having just received a letter from Whitman letting them know that their son, whom Whitman had been caring for in a hospital, was no longer.

Beyond the actual story, both Kerley and Selznick provide thoroughly fascinating notes at the conclusion of the book. For instance, Brian notes that:

"Ms. [Barbara] Henry told me that the capital letters were placed on the upper shelf and the others on the lower shelf which is why we now have the terms 'uppercase' and 'lowercase.' "

The book also concludes with the poems from which the excerpts in the story are taken.

I knew a bunch about Walt Whitman, but for the first time the storied namesake of paved roads and shopping emporiums has become a real person for me, both in words and in pictures.

The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War

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Whitman: Poet and nurse
Whitman: the poet and the man, in love and in war
Whitman as Civil War hero.
A Biography Lovingly Written-Superb!
Service takes many forms

The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War
Roy Morris Jr.
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

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ASIN: 019514709X

Book Description

On May 26, 1863, Walt Whitman wrote to his mother: "O the sad, sad things I see--the noble young men with legs and arms taken off--the deaths--the sick weakness, sicker than death, that some endure, after amputations...just flickering alive, and O so deathly weak and sick." For nearly three years, Whitman immersed himself in the devastation of the Civil War, tending to thousands of wounded soldiers and recording his experience with an immediacy and compassion unequaled in wartime literature anywhere in the world. In The Better Angel, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris, Jr. gives us the fullest accounting of Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil War Years and an historically invaluable examination of the Union's treatment of its sick and wounded. Whitman was mired in depression as the war began, subsisting on journalistic hackwork, wasting his nights in New York's seedy bohemian underground, his "great career" as a poet apparently stalled. But when news came that his brother George had been wounded at Fredericksburg, Whitman rushed south to find him. Though his brother's injury was slight, Whitman was deeply affected by his first view of the war's casualties. He began visiting the camp's wounded and, almost by accident, found his calling for the duration of the war. Three years later, he emerged as the war's "most unlikely hero," a living symbol of American democratic ideals of sharing and brotherhood. Instead of returning to Brooklyn as planned, Whitman continued to visit the wounded soldiers in the hospitals in and around the capital. He brought them ice cream, tobacco, brandy, books, magazines, pens and paper, wrote letters for those who were not able and offered to all the enormous healing influence of his sympathy and affection. Indeed, several soldiers claimed that Whitman had saved their lives. One noted that Whitman "seemed to have what everybody wanted" and added "When this old heathen came and gave me a pipe and tobacco, it was about the most joyful moment of my life." Another wrote that "There is many a soldier that never thinks of you but with emotions of the greatest gratitude." But if Whitman gave much to the soldiers, they in turn gave much to him. In witnessing their stoic suffering, in listening to their understated speech, and in being always in the presence of death, Whitman evolved the new and more direct poetic style that was to culminate in his masterpiece, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, The Better Angel explores a side of Whitman not fully examined before, one that greatly enriches our understanding of his later poetry. More than that, it gives us a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the "other army"--the legions of sick and wounded soldiers who are usually left in the shadowy background of Civil War history--seen here through the unflinching eyes of America's greatest poet.

Customer Reviews:

Whitman: Poet and nurse.......2005-09-01

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Walt Whitman wrote the patriotic poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" as his early contribution to the war effort. His brother George enlisted in the army and after he was wounded at Fredericksburg, Walt went to nurse him. Seeing the suffering of the wounded men moved him greatly, and he volunteered in the military hospitals in Washington. Faithfully Whitman attended to the wounded. Two volumes came out of this experience: DRUM-TAPS (poems) and SPECIMEN DAYS (reminiscences). He made many friends in the hospitals. It's this period in Whitman's life that Morris writes about. He captures the despair and courage that all were going through well. He looks at the poems produced by Whitman during this time as well at Whitman the man. Years later Whitman was dismayed that the war for most people had faded into distant memory. As a detailed look at a relatively short (though profound) period in Whitman's life, Morris's book will not fade into distant memory for most who read it.

Whitman: the poet and the man, in love and in war.......2004-06-01

Two of America's most famous nineteenth-century authors wrote enduring memorials about the soldiers of the Civil War--yet neither author fought alongside their colleagues. One, Louisa May Alcott, became known to the American public when she published "Hospital Sketches," about her experiences as a nurse in the typhoid-ridden hospitals of Washington. The second, Walt Whitman, incorporated his hospital experiences as background for a series of poems he eventually included in "Drum Taps." Roy Morris's brief and incisive account of Whitman's unofficial role as a nurse is fascinating not only for the history it contains but for the poetry it elucidates.

Although Whitman himself never took up arms, he experienced the brunt of combat both first-hand, through his trips to the frontlines (to seek out his brother), and--more horrifically in many ways--through his kindly visits to wounded and dying soldiers. He patiently spent hours every day, volunteering wherever he was welcome, bringing gifts and sweets and writing letters home for the incapacitated. His vigils often lasted until the boys' deaths, and he would send emotional, plaintive letters to their parents. There can be no doubt that his attentions were appreciated; many veterans wrote to him for the rest of their lives, addressing him as "Father" or "Uncle," and several named their sons after him.

Although most of his benevolence was altruistic, there can also be little doubt that a few of the relationships "seems to have exceeded mere wartime camaraderie," as Morris phrases it. Before he fell in love with the Confederate deserter Peter Doyle in 1865, Whitman formed intimate (though not necessarily sexual) associations with many of his patients. At their extremes, the aftermaths of these friendships left him desolate and jealous. In one instance, his pleading missives to the unresponsive Thomas Sawyer, a soldier who returned to the front, occasionally approached the shrillness of a spurned lover: "I don't know how you feel about it, but it is the wish of my heart to have your friendship, and also that if you should come safe out of this war, we should come together again in someplace where we could make our living, and be true comrades and never be separated while life lasts." And later, "I suppose my letter should sound strange & unusual to you as it is. . . I do not expect you to return for me the same degree of love I have for you." And later still: "I do not know why you do not write to me. Do you wish to shake me off? That I cannot believe."

Yet, in addition to shining a light on Whitman the man (and, sadly, Whitman the racist), Morris's book provides a wonderful guide to Whitman the poet, showing how certain biographical incidents manifested themselves in the haunting lyrics of "Drum Taps" and in the blunt reminiscences recorded ten years later in "Memoranda during the War." By that time, Whitman had become disillusioned by the nation's ability to forget the sacrifices so many men made, on both sides, during the Civil War. Through his poetry and journals, however, the "Good Gray Poet" guaranteed that the souls of his "dear suffering boys" would never be forgotten.

Whitman as Civil War hero........2001-07-13

Many were called to serve, and many paid the ultimate price, and then there were those who were called to witness. Walt Whitman, as evidenced in such poems as "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "O Captain! My Captain!," proved our greatest witness. Yet, this volume delves into a side of the poet heretofore never expounded upon, that of the benevolent stranger, a purveyor of hope and good will. From the moment he arrived in Washington D.C. Whitman was a daily visitor to the myraid of makeshift hospitals, bringing gifts of tobacco, books, paper and pencils. He would read to patients, write letters for them, and offer his sympathy and affection. In turn he was looked on as 'brother,' 'father,' 'uncle' and 'friend.' A great soul. This biographical sketch doesn't attempt to canonize Whitman. It talks frankly about his promiscuity, drinking and general caousing; as well as his homosexualty and his longtime companion, Peter Doyle. It is a poignant look at the defining years in the great scribes life, presenting Whitman, justly, as a true hero of the Civil War.

A Biography Lovingly Written-Superb!.......2001-04-01

This is a sensitively written biography covering in detail the life of America's greatest poet, Walt Whitman, during the Civil War years. This story of course has been told before, but never so completely, so lovingly. The author, Roy Morris, Jr. has done a superb job.

The first chapter gives some background and tells of Whitman's despair, wasting his time, his life in New York's seedy underground bohemian world, especially Pfaff's beer cellar. At 41, Whitman had lost his job as editor of the Brooklyn Daily Times newspaper, and was in a depressing downward spiral, doing only sporadic hack work as a journalist. The Civil War had begun and his brother George had enlisted. When reports reached New York that George was wounded and in a Washington, DC hospital, Walt rushed to be by his brother's side. It was this event that brought Whitman face-to-face with the terrible wartime hospitals and to his beloved dying soldiers. This was the event that turned his life around, even perhaps saved his life as Whitman himself later reported.

Finding that his brother's wounds were slight, Whitman began visiting the battlefield wounded. Here he almost by accident found his calling as the "Better Angel" of the book's title: helping the soldiers, or sometimes just listening and comforting his boys with small gifts and favors. Whitman clearly loved the young soldiers he watched die miserable deaths in the dreadful hospitals. The soldiers clearly loved him in return. This book is written with such sympathy that the reader can feel the love leap of the pages.

Whitman was a prolific letter writer. Much of the story recounted here comes from letters he wrote, especially to his beloved mother. Also the seeds of much of Whitman's Civil War poetry are given here in forms different from the poems themselves, but Morris also includes extensive excerpts from the poems. The scientific advances in medicine (Pasteur, etc.) were still a few years away, so it was a dangerous thing to be spending so much time in these filthy, disease-ridden hospitals. Whitman regularly touched, embraced, even kissed his dying soldiers to comfort them, so it is almost a miracle he only became seriously ill one time from this contact.

With all the sad death, this book is still uplifting and inspiring. Do buy it, read it, love it. After you have finished, you will want to get out your copy of "Leaves of Grass" and read the poems all over again with new insights and understandings. This is a lovely little book.

Service takes many forms.......2001-01-05

This is a beautiful little book, informative, elegantly written, and quite moving. It reminded me that serving one's country can take many forms. Whitman had little use for Christian pieties or military rigidity, neither of which offered much comfort to the thousands of wounded and dying young soldiers the great poet visited at their bedside. What he did offer them was the gift of human connection, kindness, and respect, qualities too often lacking in our American society, then and now. My one complaint is that Morris often quotes from Whitman's poems without always giving the title of the poem in question. One would love to be able to turn from Morris to Leaves of Grass and read a given poem in its entirety, but if one doesn't have the exact edition from 1973 he used then one is out of luck. This is a small criticism, however, and I am deeply grateful to the author for having written such an important, inspiring book.

Leaves of Grass, Second Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

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What book will you get when you order this?
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman is a Great Read!!!!!
Don't Try to Read it at One Sitting
Review of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"

Leaves of Grass, Second Edition (Norton Critical Editions)
Walt Whitman , Michael Moon , Sculley Bradley , and Harold W. Blodgett
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393974960

Book Description

This edition contains the most complete and authoritative collection of Whitman's work in one volume.

The basic text is the "Comprehensive Reader's Edition" of Leaves of Grass, which includes the 1892 "deathbed" edition preferred by Whitman, all the prefaces to the editions of Leaves of Grass, 45 poems and 28 passages from poems excluded from successive editions, 22 previously unpublished poems, and 43 poems and 60 manuscript fragments never before collected—the fragments comprise over half of those in existence. A special section, Whitman on His Art, contains prose statements on his role as an artist, taken from his notebooks, letters, conversation, and newspaper articles. Criticism begins with Whitman's own anonymous review and presents a wide selection of the diverse opinions that have been held since by critics and by poets. Harold Blodgett's concluding essay discusses the pattern of Whitman's critical fortunes.

About the series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

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Abraham Lincoln read it with approval, but Emily Dickinson described its bold language and themes as "disgraceful." Ralph Waldo Emerson found it "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet produced." Published at the author's expense on July 4, 1855, Leaves of Grass inaugurated a new voice and style into American letters and gave expression to an optimistic, bombastic vision that took the nation as its subject. Unlike many other editions of Leaves of Grass, which reproduce various short, early versions, this Modern Library Paperback Classics "Death-bed" edition presents everything Whitman wrote in its final form, and includes newly commissioned notes.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

What book will you get when you order this?.......2007-06-17

There seems to be some confusion, both in the editorial reviews and the customer reviews, about what edition is being referred to in this listing. the first editorial review correctly discusses the first edition as shorter and "less bloated" than the deathbed edition. however, the rest of the reviews seem to discuss either edition indiscriminately.

the two are effectively different books. the cover shown is of the first edition including an illuminating essay by malcolm cowley--that's certainly the edition I prefer, and I hope thats what you would get if you ordered this.

Leaves of Grass.......2007-03-19

Walt Whitman is one of the two most read poets by the American reading public. This is a classic and like Whitman, it covers every aspect of life, including his patriotism.

Walt Whitman is a Great Read!!!!!.......2007-03-09

If you love poetry, then this is a great read!!!

Don't Try to Read it at One Sitting.......2006-09-21

Whitman is not the world's greatest poet - that's probably Shakespeare - but he's certainly been the most influential American poetic voice over the past century. He was the first poet to take all of American life as his subject. Ever the Romantic, Whitman was also the first poet to bring Romanticism into line with everyday reality.

His narcissism can be annoying, but his panoramic descriptions of life and the imagination have a singularly cumulative power. Some of his short poems ("A Noiseless Patient Spider" and "To a Locomotive in Winter")are individually memorable. The longer poem "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed," indirectly about the Lincoln assassination, is brilliant. I think most of his Civil War poems are overpraised, but "Come Up from the Fields, Father" is a masterpiece of its kind.

On the negative side, Whitman's transcendental philosophy, which he likes to indulge at length, will strike many readers as very sappy. His style, lots of details piled up on top of one another, grows monotonous, and readers who criticize his lack of traditional poetic craftsmanship cannot just be brushed off. My advice is to not to try to get through it all at once. The poems rarely become "difficult," they just tend to blur one into the other. Which may actually have been Whitman's intention.

Overall,there's never been a book quite like "Leaves of Grass," in any edition, and that's why it keeps selling as a true classic. In other words, a very old book that people still buy and read and enjoy even when no teacher is telling them to. Reading it will get you as close as one book can to actually living in nineteenth-century America, with all its follies, inequities, and promise.

Review of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass".......2006-07-06

This thick soft-backed "pocket" book has 490 pages. It could be called The Complete Whitman. It contains hundreds of poems.
I am a senior citizen who had not read any Whitman for more than 50 years and am enjoying it very much. His descriptions of the 19th century's people, places, and inventions are eye-openers. He was actually a feminist before there was such a concept, and also an abolitionist. He truly believed in equality and democracy. He was a nature lover and wanted to protect the environment.
Of course, there are parts I could quibble about, but that would be foolish. Whitman was a man ahead of his time.

The Politics of Distinction: Whitman and the Discourses of Nineteenth-Century America

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The Politics of Distinction: Whitman and the Discourses of Nineteenth-Century America
Christopher Beach
Manufacturer: University of Georgia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0820318345

Minor Prophecy: Walt Whitman's New American Religion (Religion in North America)

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Minor Prophecy: Walt Whitman's New American Religion (Religion in North America)
David Kuebrich
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0253331919

A Historical Guide to Walt Whitman (Historical Guides to American Authors)

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A Historical Guide to Walt Whitman (Historical Guides to American Authors)

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195120825

Book Description

Few authors are so well suited to historical study as Whitman, who is widely considered America's greatest poet. This Guide combines contemporary cultural studies and historical scholarship to illuminate Whitman's diverse contexts. The essays explore dimensions of Whitman's dynamic relationship to working-class politics, race and slavery, sexual mores, the visual arts, and the idea of democracy. The poet who emerges from this volume is no "solitary singer," distanced from his culture, but what he himself called "the age transfigured," fully enmeshed in his times and addressing issues that are still vital today.

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To Walt Whitman, America
Kenneth M. Price
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807855189
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Book Description

Walt Whitman "is America," according to Ezra Pound. More than a century after his death, Whitman's name regularly appears in political speeches, architectural inscriptions, television programs, and films, and it adorns schools, summer camps, truck stops, corporate centers, and shopping malls. In an analysis of Whitman as a quintessential American icon, Kenneth Price shows how his ubiquity and his extraordinarily malleable identity have contributed to the ongoing process of shaping the character of the United States.

Price examines Whitman's own writings as well as those of writers who were influenced by him, paying particular attention to Whitman's legacies for an ethnically and sexually diverse America. He focuses on fictional works by Edith Wharton, D. H. Lawrence, John Dos Passos, Ishmael Reed, and Gloria Naylor, among others. In Price's study, Leaves of Grass emerges as a living document accruing meanings that evolve with time and with new readers, with Whitman and his words regularly pulled into debates over immigration, politics, sexuality, and national identity. As Price demonstrates, Whitman is a recurring starting point, a provocation, and an irresistible, rewritable text for those who reinvent the icon in their efforts to remake America itself.

American Quest for a Supreme Fiction: Whitman's Legacy in the Personal Epic

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American Quest for a Supreme Fiction: Whitman's Legacy in the Personal Epic
James E. Miller
Manufacturer: Univ of Chicago Pr (Tx)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Epic | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0226526127

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