Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself Book

A brilliant, comprehensive and moving biography of the great poet. It's revealing of how cultural changes effect literature. Though some criticism of his forthright handling of sexual matters was directed at Whitman when the first edition of Leaves of Grass was published, it was nothing compared to the attacks of the 1880's during the height of the Victorian era. Though Whitman occasionally submitted to removal of some poems in later editions, he consistently defended his manuscript and insisted that the final and definitive edition of Leaves of Grass be inclusive and intact. In his personal life, Whitman engaged a lifelong support of the downtrodden and especially the wounded Civil War veterans. Whether he was homosexual, as seems likely, and if so whether he indulged in physical affairs seems inconsequential. In a few instances, he changed the gender of a subject of his poetry, probably to silence criticism, though the rabid homophobia of the latter 19th century did not effect Whitman, who was by then elderly and revered, unlike Wilde who was sent to prison. Whitman met and corresponded with the literary and artistic luminaries of his day. Though his health was impacted by a series of strokes, he lectured, traveled and socialized with his comrades. Leaves of Grass was Whitman's masterpiece, one that he revised and added to, constantly. Other single poems such as "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" secured his reputation, but the stylistic innovations of Leaves of Grass mark its creator as a genius.