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Though Walt Whitman's poetry is known for its unabashed physicality and sexual energy, few biographers have directly confronted the impact of Whitman's sexuality and his cherished fraternal relationships on his art. Gary Schmidgall's fresh, insightful readings and innovative biographical technique illuminate the vital connection between Whitman's life as a homosexual and his legacy as a landmark literary artist.Through careful examination of contemporary sources and Whitman's own writing, including his letters and personal journals, Schmidgall explores Whitman as artist, lover, and friend. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of a man of deeply sexual nature, ardently pursuing the objects of his desire in erotic encounters and love affairs that fueled his creative energy and inspired his seminal literary achievements.Candid, unapologetic, and deeply revealing, Walt Whitman: A Gay Lifeenriches our understanding of the father of American poetry.Amazon.com Review
Walt Whitman's place in U.S. letters is unchallenged: he isthe poet of America, democracy, and individual freedom. Yet Whitmanand his work have been misrepresented by scholars and critics duringthe 20th century, and it is only recently that they have begunadmitting the poet's homosexuality and examining its effect on hiswork. Gary Schmidgall's bold and well-researched Walt Whitman: AGay Life presents abundant and irrefutable evidence of the poet'svibrant sexuality and details Whitman's sexual and romanticaffairs. More important, however, he explains how Whitman's attractionto men was at the root of his poetic vision: in Whitman's work the"body electric" is more than a metaphor. Walt Whitman: AGay Life is a vital addition to Whitman studies and critical workon American literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

I... don't really think Whitman wanted us to ponder this
In a world where historical figures as prominant and as influential as Walt Whitman are thought to be Homosexual, its very unfortunate for people who study Modern American literature like myself that "Historians" jump to outrageous conclusions, spurred on by desire for fame and a savage media, as in this book.

Didn't Walt Whitman want his readers to be captivated by his beautiful use of the English language and criticize events such as the American Civil War? These overprivalaged "hisorians" need not take out frustrations on such great men. The fist of Satan on America and the rest of the world is tightening, especially with the reelection of an international terrorist in November and our little "War on Terrorism" which enters its 4th year in September. What we need is a War on Poverty, a War on Ignorance, and a War on Men such as Bush who do an excellent job of speeding up the decline of the American Empire. "Bread and Circuses" and constant warfare with people like the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. I think America will go out in a classical style and fear that another Middle Ages will haunt generations which will come a few hundred years after this is published.


Mr. Schmidgall, I must applaud you for trying to bring Whitman to another generation but I personally think you might've taken the words of Ginsberg a little too seriously...

Walt would love this...
One of the things that people often do is to take their heroes and try to see within that person themselves. It's only natural. It's through someone else's greatness that we experience it, and often, find our own. So it's not surprising that many Whitman biographers have passively denied Whitman's homosexuality, or out right refuted it. It's also not surprising that Gary Schmidgall takes a different view, and sees Whitman through the eyes of a gay man, writing an impressive, passioned look at Whitman's life called "Walt Whitman: A Gay Life".

Based on a look on Whitman's poetry, letters, and other sources, Schmidgall tells a tale of a gay Whitman. This isn't a biography, however, which Scmidgall admits right away. His book attempts to describe Whitman during different phases in his life, particularly important ones that would have shaped his gay identity. Therefore, the focus is not broad across the span of Whitman's many years, but very intensely focused specific times, for example, Whitman as an opera lover.

Schmidgall admits upfront the task before him which is enormous; being that in all of Whitman's known correspondances, interviews, archival evidence, details on his sexuality and sex life is scanity at best. We have no big true confessional, and when asked directly about the sexual content of "Leaves of Grass", his pat answer is to let the work speak for itself. However, Schmidgall does an awesome job reconstructing Whitman, looking at everything through the eyes of a gay man, bringing the poet alive much more than other biographies which I've read.Schmidgall liberally uses the words like "imagine, think, suppose" when talking about his points, but you forgive him. The task is daunting, but well done.

Whitman is alive in this book as he never has been before. Whereas more scholarly books fail to adequately persue Whitman's sexuality, this one brings it alive, and therefore, brings Whitman alive in a wonderful sense. You can almost hear the poet chuckling in the background as you read some of the passages. Whatever the effect, Whitman has been drawn closer to my heart because of this book, and I highly recommend it.

not the only book on whitman, but...
this is a great book to add to the growing collection of whitman biographies. don't make this the only one you read, however. that said, it does an amazing and passionate job that i think whitman would appreciate.

Finally, the Truth About Whitman
Undoubtedly, the most amazing thing about the many Whitman bio's (and there's certainly no shortage of them), is their denial of hishomosexuality.This is why Schmmidgall's work stands head and shouldersabove them all (including Jerome Loving's seemingly exhaustive bio thatdoesn't present Whitman as being gay).The trouble with Loving and therest who would deny Whitman's sexuality is that they are either terriblyhomophobic, or that they never read any of Whitman's poetry.The onlyreason I gave the book a three star rating, is because I don't feel it's agood first-Whitman-book to read for the uninitiated.Rather, I would startwith his actual poetry, maybe read a popular bio, and then end up withSchmidgall's "Gay Life". ... Read more

Product Description
Walt Whitman transcended the conventional sentiments and romanticized morality of his era with a body of work that incorporated new poetic forms and controversial subject matter. This volume examines Whitman’s innovations with an introduction by Professor Harold Bloom, an extensive biography of Whitman, and a critical analysis of his work, including "Leaves of Grass."

Bloom’s BioCritiques is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School; the preeminent literary critic of our time. This series presents lengthy and engaging biographies that explore the lives of the world’s greatest writers. Each book also includes an original critical analysis detailing the important themes, symbols, and ideas that appear in the writer’s body of work, as well as additional essays that represent some of the best criticism available on the writer and his or her work. These volumes are the perfect introduction to critical study of the important authors currently read and discussed in high schools, colleges, and graduate schools. ... Read more

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While Walt Whitman is best known as America’s first great urban poet, he was also a gifted nature poet, as the selections in this book show. Here his celebration of the “body electric” from Leaves of Grass expands into a celebration of an equally electrifying nature as he memorializes the seashore, the night sky, animals, even daydreaming in the grass. Whitman considered humans and animals “an interesting continuum,” in the words of editor Howard Nelson, and felt that “wilderness—the true, essential wilderness of the universe—is still with us as long as we can see a river or an ocean or the night sky.”

Whitman was unsurpassed at describing people as natural creatures—including not only experiences of animal calm but also the instinctual life and the sensations and yearnings of the body. Earth, My Likeness, which includes numerous prose selections taken from the author’s Specimen Days, showcases his entwining of outer nature and inner nature, the unique way he made his nature poetry and his love poetry inseparable. Howard Nelson’s introduction includes biographical information, analysis, and a fascinating comparison of Thoreau, Melville, and Whitman. Roderick MacIver’s shimmering watercolors perfectly complement Whitman’s immortal words. ... Read more

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"This remarkable book is proof that a light hand is the most masterful. Anne Pierson Wiese’s poems read so easily and pleasurably that one hardly realizes one has been confidently moved to a slightly different dimension, a world resembling ours but better observed, and quieter—in the best sense. . . . This is completely accomplished poetry of a very brave kind, daring to be immodestly good—modestly."—Kay Ryan, from her judge’s citationAnne Pierson Wiese’s first collection of poems illuminates the everyday and the lessons to be learned amid life's routines. The poems in Floating City might be called poetry of place. Many are set in New York City, but they simultaneously inhabit a realm in which a mundane physical location or daily exchange can be seen to have human significance beyond the immediate. When one dismisses from one's mind the idea that going to the park, doing the laundry, buying a sandwich, and riding the subway are familiar experiences, one makes room for the actual to ally with the hypothetical by means of the emotions. The result, Wiese eloquently shows, is a form of truth that is silently generated whenever human beings earnestly endeavor to absorb the world.

The century plant’s flowered spear appearsonly once, twenty feet tall, shortly beforeits death. Given the proper conditions, all plantsbloom on schedule. We are less sureof ourselves, the conditions we makefor presenting what's inside usto the world less specific; we are hauntedby unplantlike doubts about the worthof what we have to offer. The BotanicGarden had advertised the event. I don'tremember how old I was, maybe ten.There was a onceinalifetime linein the conservatory, a familiar smellof growth and decay, the choice to look or look away.

"The Century Plant" published in Floating City by Anne Pierson Wiese Copyright © 2007 by Anne Pierson Wiese. All rights reserved.

AUTHOR BIO: Anne Pierson Wiese was born in Minneapolis and raised in Brooklyn. She was the recipient of the 2004 "Discovery"/The Nation Poetry Prize and a 2005 New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowship. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including The Nation, Southwest Review, Prairie Schooner, Raritan, Carolina Quarterly, and others. She currently resides with her husband in New York City. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Just read one of the poems, gonna buy the book
Read "Tell Me", on "The Writer's Almanac" daily e-mail.Had to read the last line twice.A great thought:To be done with caring so much about what others think of me; No more secrets between us.I see myself reading this collection, appreciating life, gaining a little wisdom.Thank you to the author. ... Read more

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Whitman Accessible

All these years after not appreciating Walt Whitman in high school, it's wonderful to have the opportunity to read him with such ease and accessibility.Chris Highland offers lovely meditations from Whitman's writings that stand alone, coupled with quotes of cultures and traditions from all over the world.This book is a treasure. ... Read more

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LEAVES OF GRASS, BY WALT WHITMAN EASTON PRESS 1977 COLLECTOR;S EDITION, GREEN LEATHER BOUND, GOLD LEAF EDGES, VERY GOOD CONDITION SATIN PLACEMARK ... Read more

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Shortly after the third edition of Leaves of Grass was published, in 1860, Walt Whitman seemed to drop off the literary map, not to emerge again until his brother George was wounded at Fredericksburg two and a half years later. Past critics have tended to read this silence as evidence of Whitman's indifference to the Civil War during its critical early months. In this penetrating, original, and beautifully written book, Ted Genoways reconstructs those forgotten years--locating Whitman directly through unpublished letters and never-before-seen manuscripts, as well as mapping his associations through rare period newspapers and magazines in which he published. Genoways's account fills a major gap in Whitman's biography and debunks the myth that Whitman was unaffected by the country's march to war. Instead, Walt Whitman and the Civil War reveals the poet's active participation in the early Civil War period and elucidates his shock at the horrors of war months before his legendary journey to Fredericksburg, correcting in part the poet's famous assertion that the "real war will never get in the books." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Stronger Lessons
A well written book weaving the changing political landscape
of the time that led up to the civil war with the movements, known
and unkown, of Walt Whitman - creating a revealing work and an entertaining read.
A work that gets more revelatory with each turn of the page.
A recommended purchase.
Complementing the book - is the Leaves of Grass, 1860: The 150th Anniversary Facsimile Edition (Iowa Whitman Series)
... Read more

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Was Walt Whitman--celebrated poet of freedom and democracy--a determinist at heart? A close study of Leaves of Grass shows that Whitman consistently acknowledges the inevitability of all things. As John McDonald argues, this seeming contradiction lies at the heart of Whitman's poetry, a fact continually overlooked in the more than 100 years that critics have written about the poet and his magnum opus. This volume contains an extensive study of Walt Whitman's poetry that explores both Whitman's guiding philosophy and its uses to unlock meaning within Leaves of Grass. Beginning with a detailed explanation of determinism, the author examines Whitman's use of indirection, which the poet referred to at times as a game played to evade the reader's comprehension. The work seeks to define a philosophy which was, in the author's opinion, the most significant influence in Whitman's thought and in his art. Various poems are examined in depth, including Song of Myself, Passage to India and the particularly significant With Antecedents. Gathered here will be evidence from Whitman's poems and prose and from his notes and quoted remarks, enough evidence to show beyond doubt that determinism was indeed his most significant influence. An innovative look at one of America's greatest poets. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Indispensable for the student of Whitman
This book, 54 years in the making, was crafted not only outside of the Whitman scholarship cartel but largely outside of academia itself, by a man who for 18 years worked as a Florida lobster fisherman. In academia, such facts throw up nothing but the red flags of folly. But Whitman gave his trust to precious few academics (such as Edward Dowden and Daniel G Brinton), and reserved his deepest admiration for honest working men, particularly professional fishermen. Referring to the intellectuals of his day, Whitman groused, "not one of them all... has grasped the truth, the principle: has come into contact with, and prized, what is the first essential. Oh! It is a shallow, shallow brood!"

What the shallow brood of academics and authors could not grasp, as amply proved by this unique, brilliant study, is the "first essential"--the lambent pulse of determinism that continuously powered his lifework of poetry and prose, as he "remained loyal to the same ideas throughout the thirty-seven years from the publication of "Leaves of Grass" in 1855 to his death in 1892." Pointing out that in the 1855 Preface, Whitman writes, "no result exists now without being from its long antecedent result, and that from its antecedent, and so backward..." McDonald exclaims, "This statement by Whitman is so obviously a statement of determinism that one wonders how his critics can have so long ignored it. The answer must be that they are ignorant of determinism, so much that they can look right at it and not see it." As the pioneer in identifying the particulars and the scope of the Quaker testimony in "Leaves of Grass," this is a feeling I know all too well myself.

One of the many arresting descriptions of determinism is supplied by a Whitman favorite, Fichte, in a dramatic thought experiment on what it would really mean to have one grain of sand appearing a few feet further inland than it actually is. Tracing causality backwards, Fichte visits the implications for wind, weather, continental temperature, and geology--cumulative changes easily large enough to mean that one's ancestors might not have survived to give rise to the philosopher himself. Other profound and touching results of Walt Whitman's determinism were: the remarkable solace it furnished in the poet's sickest or most anguished hours; his serenity under pressure; his absolute disbelief in the Christian notion of sin; and his complete acceptance of his fellow citizens despite their follies and evils. He could see the forces of causality which led them to their destinies.

Very late in his life, McDonald admired David Reynolds and appealed to him for encouragement and a supporting "forward" for the book, but Reynolds refused, on the grounds that he had a superior insight into Whitman's actual views on determinism. The irony is that while Reynolds' "Walt Whitman: a Cultural Biography" is largely a compendium of circumstantial evidence the size of a phone-book, "Philosopher Poet" is the opposite: concentrated, sustained, penetrating, and positively irrefutable. Indeed, a famous mystical passage from "Song of Myself" is easily explained with McDonald's grasp of determinism, but Reynolds, reduced to naïve schoolboy slang, dubs the same passage "wacky."

The book's flaws are minor, such as the nervous tick of using "sic" in an eccentric way and the author's dismal scheme for showing the many staggering parallels ("echoes") between the original sources and Whitman's own writings. The book's many redundancies, on the other hand, are surprisingly more a strength than a weakness. Leaving aside McDonald's amusing tendency to identify anything worthwhile as the product of determinism, I find the author's judgment is largely impeccable, his feet of clay being his acceptance of the extreme hagiography generated by Whitman's disciples, and some of his dated views. I was particularly saddened by the way McDonald could continue to cite Freud, approvingly, in this day and age.

You need not fully understand nor believe in determinism after reading this book, but you will understand and believe that McDonald has made good on his claim to have revealed the secret to understanding Whitman's philosophy and writings. If the most important "book" ever written about Whitman is the 9-volume "With Walt Whitman in Camden," and I'm sure it is, I place this book at a distant second, ahead of anything else in the field.

Gay readers will always come to Whitman, as I do myself, with a preemptively gay reading of the famous secrets and indirections. However, McDonald's analysis is so compelling that I am tempted to make room for his compromise position. Regarding Whitman's most famous claims about secrets which can be claimed by only a few of his lovers, McDonald suggests these lines could be philosophical/sexual double-entendres. The highest compliment I can give this book is to say I am tempted to agree. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Good Grey Poet
This is a servicable biography of Whitman that gives a solid and straightforward, though relatively unimaginative, overview of his life and writing.First published in 1955, it does a frustrating dance around the subject of Whitman's sexuality.But Jerome Loving's bio from the 1990s, it turns out, doesn't manage to unearth any more concrete evidence about this side of Whitman's life than Allen did nearly half a century ago.Allen's a little dull and unwilling to risk speculation where the record's blank, but writing before the Whitman 'boom' he's able to concentrate on the main outlines of his subject instead of the scholarly bones more recent biographers tend to pick.He sketches in Whitman's family and friends without bogging you down with exhaustive detail, and Whitman stays front-and-center through the tumultuous political crises that could easily swallow a lesser work.A good place to start if you've read the poems and want to know more about the curious man who wrote them. ... Read more

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Offers an introduction to Walt Whitman's life and work, including a short biography and 26 collected poems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Poetry for Young People Walt Whitman
Excellent book for teachers or anyone that wants an easy to readbeautifully illustrated synopsis of a poets life. I just wish there were more poets available. The poets available are excellent examples, from Walt to Maya Anjelo is a good start. These make great sources for teachers who want a weeks worth of material and background info.Would also be good gifts for a parent who wants to introduce the art of words to a child.

Young People's Guide to Walt Whitman
I think this is a wonderful guide to poetry by Walt Whitman.I was able to learn something about his poetry myself.The illustrations are very good and the poetry is presented in manageable pieces.That is important for teachers who are teaching the poetry.

THE BOOK IS A WORK OF ART AND OF COURSE SO IS THE POETRY
I cannot think of a better way to introduce the poetry of Walt Whitman than this small volume.The selection is excellent and of interest you the young reader.The commentary is quite relevant as are the pictures which accompany it.I find that often now, our young people go all the way through the early grades in school and many of them have never heard of Walt Whitman, much less read their poetry.This was the sort of stuff my generation and the generation before it grew up on and cut our teeth on.I do not feel I am any worse for the wear.I am fearful that we are bringing up an entire generation (rightfully or wrong, although I feel it is the later) of young folks who will have no appreciation to this great art form and will miss a lot.This book helps.This entire series helps, as a matter of fact and I certainly recommend you add this one and the others to your library.Actually, it is rather fun reading these with the young folk and then talking about them.Not only do you get to enjoy the work your self and perhaps bring back some great memories, but you have the opportunity to interact with your child or student.It is actually rather surprising what some of the kids come up with.I read these to my grandchildren and to the kids in my classes at school.For the most part, when I really get to discussing the work with them, they enjoy it.Recommend this one highly.

A beautifully illustrated introduction to a great poet
Editor Jonathan Levin and illustrator Jim Burke have put together a wonderful introduction to the poetry of Walt Whitman. Although marketed as a children's book, this volume will also appeal to older admirers of the "Good Gray Poet."

Levin has judiciously selected some of Whitman's most memorable poems, and thoughtfully gives definitions of potentially unfamiliar words ("Pleiades," "hieroglyphic," etc.) at the bottom of each page. A five page biography of Whitman at the start of the book is another useful touch. Many of Burke's full-color visuals are stunning, and stand on their own as admirable pieces of art. Particularly memorable are the illustrations which accompany Whitman's address to a locomotive and his compassionate description of a slave's body at auction. "Walt Whitman: Poetry for Young People" is a fine book to share with its target audience. ... Read more

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Edited, with an Introduction, by Lawrence Buell ... Read more

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The poetry of Walt Whitman is the cornerstone of modern American verse.He was America's first truly great poet and his influence is still evident today.The first edition of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, published in 1855, was a revolutionary manifesto declaring America's independence from European cultural domination.His rhapsodic free verse broke radically with poetic, tradition: it was poetry about America, its democracy, its people, and its hopes.It was uniquely American without apology—brash, proud, optimistic, and filled with the bustling energy of the new and growing nation.
This collection brings together Whitman's greatest and most famous poems spanning the whole of his career.From the groundbreaking first edition of Leaves of Grass are seven poems, including "Song of Myself" and "I Sing the Body Electric."
From later editions there are such masterpieces as "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," and "I Hear America Singing."Also included is Whitman's great cycle of Civil War Poems, Drum-Taps, which he wrote in the months when he was ministering to the wounded in battlefield hospitals.Concluding this collection is one of his last poems, "Good-bye My Fancy!"—his touching farewell to his muse, his life, and his readers.
More than one hundred years after his death, Walt Whitman's poetry has become part of the American heritage.It is a visionary which speaks as aptly to readers today as it will to future generations.As he says in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," "others...look back on me because I look'd forward to them."Whitman's poetry is a link that connects all Americans—past, present, and future.
This book features a deluxe cover, ribbon marker, top stain, and decorative endpaper with a nameplate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

good service
I had a small problem with this order, a slightly different edition was sent, but when I contacted the seller, they made an immediate correction.The service was excellent and rapid and I would certainly order from them again.

Walt Whitman is a talented, visionary writer!
This book is highly entertaining and quaint, and it also teaches acceptance and peace through example. With views that even today are still evolving in America, Whitman almost seems to have written this book in2050, and just slipped it back in time for us to read now. ... Read more

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By reconsidering Whitman not as the proletarian voice of American diversity but as a historically specific poet with roots in the antebellum lower middle class, Andrew Lawson in Walt Whitman and the Class Struggle defines the tensions and ambiguities about culture, class, and politics that underlie his poetry.Drawing on a wealth of primary sources from across the range of antebellum print culture, Lawson uses close readings of Leaves of Grass to reveal Whitman as an artisan and an autodidact ambivalently balanced between his sense of the injustice of class privilege and his desire for distinction. Consciously drawing upon the languages of both the elite culture above him and the vernacular culture below him, Whitman constructed a kind of middle linguistic register that attempted to filter these conflicting strata and defuse their tensions: “You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, / You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.” By exploring Whitman's internal struggle with the contradictions and tensions of his class identity, Lawson locates the source of his poetic innovation. By revealing a class-conscious and conflicted Whitman, he realigns our understanding of the poet's political identity and distinctive use of language and thus valuably alters our perspective on his poetry. ... Read more

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Makes available research from international experts
This Encyclopedia gathers, for the first time, information not easily found elsewhere without extensive research. The material has been distilled from a variety of sources by over 2-internationally recognized contributors-including such leading Whitman scholars as James E. Miller, Jr., Roger Asselineau, Betsy Erkkila, and Joel Myerson. Writing under the guidance of a distinguished 11-member advisory board, they provide unprecedented access to important information about Whitman.

Comprehensive A-to-Z coverage of more than 750 topics
In all, the volume comprises more than 750 signed entries arranged in convenient alphabetical format. Coverage includes:
*Biographical Information-all names, dates, places, and events important to understanding Whitman's life and career.
*Whitman's Works-essays on all eight editions of "Leaves of Grass," major poems and poem clusters, principal essays and prose works, as well as his more than two dozen short stories and the novel, Franklin Evans.
*Prominent Themes and Concepts-essays on such major topics as democracy, slavery, the Civil War, immortality, sexuality, and the women's rights movement.
*Significant Forms and Techniques-such as prosody, symbolism, free verse, and humor.
*Important Trends and Critical Approaches in Whitman Studies-including New Historicist and cultural criticism, psychological explorations, and controversial issues of sexual identity.
*Surveys of Whitman's International Impact-as well as an assessment of his literary legacy.

A user-friendly guide
Useful for students, researchers, librarians, teachers, and Whitman devotees, this volume features extensive cross-references, numerous photographs of the poet, a chronology, a special appendix section tracking the poet's genealogy, and a thorough index. Each entry includes a bibliography for further study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

ESSENTIAL FOR THE WHITMAN SCHOLAR AND SCHOOL LIBRARIES
An expensive book but worth every penny.This is not an ordinary encyclopedia written by an in-house staff.The essays are all written by serious Whitman scholars, and they are a pleasure to read--not just sources of information.After you get copies of Kummings' and Giantvalley's bibliographies, this is the book you need.My copy is almost worn out--both by me (I am writing a book on Whitman) and by my students (they are always searching for paper topics).Simply a must for Whitman scholars (and, probably, many scholars of the 19th-century US) and any library that seeks to support work on American literature and culture. ... Read more