The Cambridge Introduction to Walt WhitmanCambridge University Press, 2007 M03 8 Walt Whitman is one of the most innovative and influential American poets of the nineteenth century. Focusing on his masterpiece Leaves of Grass, this book provides a foundation for the study of Whitman as an experimental poet, a radical democrat, and a historical personality in the era of the American Civil War, the growth of the great cities, and the westward expansion of the United States. Always a controversial and important figure, Whitman continues to attract the admiration of poets, artists, critics, political activists, and readers around the world. Those studying his work for the first time will find this an invaluable book. Alongside close readings of the major texts, chapters on Whitman's biography, the history and culture of his time, and the critical reception of his work provide a comprehensive understanding of Whitman and of how he has become such a central figure in the American literary canon. |
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American appears beauty become biographer body Brooklyn Daily Eagle Calamus catalogue celebration Chapter Civil cluster comrades continued cosmic drama Cradle Endlessly Rocking criticism Crossing Brooklyn Ferry culture death democracy Democratic Vistas Drum-Taps early earth Ebb'd edition of Leaves Edward Carpenter elegiac elegy Emerson emotions essay example expanded experience face famous figure free verse gender genre historical homosexual hospitals human images imagistic included influence insists journalist kind language later Leaves of Grass Lincoln lines literary lover manifest destiny metaphor mode moral movement mystical narrative nature occasional poems ocean Passage to India person poem's poems poet poet's poetic poetry political postwar Preface prose published reader realized Romantic says scene Section seems sense sexual sing slave slavery Sleepers social purity movement soldiers Song soul Specimen Days spirit style suggests themes tone Transcendentalist vision voice Walt Whitman Whitman studies woman words writing wrote York young
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Page 5 - The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field : The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: . Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: But the word of our God shall stand for ever.