A Companion to Walt Whitman (eBook)

Donald D. Kummings is a Professor of English at the Parkside Campus of the University of Wisconsin. His books on Whitman include Walt Whitman, 1940-1975: A Reference Guide (1982), Approaches to Teaching Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' (1990) and with J.R. LeMaster Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia (1998). In 1990, his collection of poems, The Open Road Trip was awarded the Posner Poetry Prize by the Council for Wisconsin Writers. In 1997, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named him Wisconsin Professor of the Year.

Notes on Contributors ix

List of Illustrations xiv

Abbreviations of Standard Whitman Works xvi

Introduction 1

Donald D. Kummings

Part I: The Life 9

1 Whitman's Life and Work, 1819-92 11

Gregory Eiselein

Part II: The Cultural Context 27

2 Journalism 29

Douglas A. Noverr

3 The City 42

William Pannapacker

4 Labor and Laborers 60

M. Wynn Thomas

5 Politics 76

Gary Wihl

6 Oratory 87

J. R. LeMaster

7 Slavery and Race 101

Martin Klammer

8 Nation and Identity 122

Eldrid Herrington

9 A Theory of Organic Democracy 136

Stephen John Mack

10 Imperialism 151

Walter Grunzweig

11 Sexuality 164

Maire Mullins

12 Gender 180

Sherry Ceniza

13 Religion and the Poet-Prophet 197

David Kuebrich

14 Science and Pseudoscience 216

Harold Aspiz

15 Nineteenth-century Popular Culture 233

Brett Barney

16 Opera and Other Kinds of Music 257

Kathy Rugoff

17 Nineteenth-century Visual Culture 272

Ed Folsom

18 Civil War 290

Luke Mancuso

19 Nature 311

M. Jimmie Killingsworth

20 Death and the Afterlife 325

William J. Scheick

21 Twentieth-century Mass Media Appearances 341

Andrew Jewell and Kenneth M. Price

Part III: The Literary Context 359

22 Language 361

Tyler Hoffman

23 Style 377

James Perrin Warren

24 Literary Contemporaries 392

Joann P. Krieg

25 The Publishing History of Leaves of Grass 409

Amanda Gailey

26 The Poet's Reception and Legacy 439

Andrew C. Higgins

Part IV: Texts 455

Works of Poetry 456

27 The First (1855) Edition of Leaves of Grass 457

Edward Whitley

28 "Song of Myself" 471

Kerry C. Larson

29 "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" 484

James Dougherty

30 "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" 496

Howard Nelson

31 "Live Oak, with Moss," "Calamus," and "Children of Adam"
508

Steven Olsen-Smith

32 Civil War Poems in "Drum-Taps" and "Memories of President
Lincoln" 522

Ted Genoways

Prose Works 539

33 Democratic Vistas 540

Robert Leigh Davis

34 Specimen Days 553

Martin G. Murray

35 The Prose Writings: Selected Secondary Sources 566

Donald D. Kummings

Index 588

"This book will be indispensable to Whitman lovers and
students of American literary and cultural history."
Choice

"A Companion to Walt Whitman is an erudite exploration of
not only the works themselves and their reflection of
Whitman's era, but also the valuable insights they convey to
present and future generations. Highly recommended."

Midwest Book Review

"A significant achievement, constituting a companion not only to
the poet, but to the entire field of Whitman studies."

Walt Whitman Quarterly Review