Walt Whitman

Bloom's Classic Critical Views

by Harold Bloom (Introduction)

Walt Whitman was one of the most gifted American poets of his time, and his influence can be seen by a vast number of poets that followed him. In this text, Harold Bloom, D.H. Lawrence, and others examine his poetry. This title, Walt Whitman, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Views series, examines the major works of Walt Whitman through full-length critical essays by expert literary critics. In addition, this title features a short biography on Walt Whitman, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Poetry, Biography, Nonfiction

Library Binding

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title implies, this is a mix of Bio and Critiques. (There is a series of ~27 of these books). There are distinct sections here that have a bit too much overlap and mix to make this smoothly readable.

1. After a short intro by Harold Bloom, there is a Bio by Judith Connors. This solid 50page bio summarizes the life of Walt Whitman satisfactorily. This is the first real bio of Walt I've read, so I was captured nicely here. The full personality of Walt Whitman is brought to light, with all his ego and a do-not-care-if-you-know-I-can-love-men attitude here in pre-Civil-War USA 1850's.

I did not know that "Leaves of Grass" was SO unaccepted in his time that he had to borrow money up through his death. It was great to hear how many famous people realized late in his life how exciting this new style of poetry really is, and they all came to honor him.

2. Another bio (30 pgs) by Matt Longabucco followed. Since I had just finished reading a 50 page bio, I could not focus my attention here per the huge overlapping as his life is retold. This time a little bit more focus on his poetry, but my focus was gone.

3. Some Lines from Whittman (16 pages)
Randall Jarrell dissects the poetry of Walt. I love reading poetry. And I'm learning to like some dissection/discussion on poetry, but this got deep quickly. It really assumed the reader KNOWS his "Leaves of Grass" - I don't 'know' it - I've only read pieces. So tough reading for me here, but this critique part might really appeal to someone that has this type of strong interest.

4. "As If I Were With You" - The Performance (24 pgs)
Walt has a LOT of "I" first person in his poetry. First poem, in first edition, is called "Song of Myself". Lots of critical discussion here about the I/My in his poetry, and the personality of Walt that is seen throughout his writing. Again, a serious poetry student might like this section.

Chronology
Works by Walt
Works about Walt

I give 4* to that concise bio that starts this book. The critiques sounded deep for a reader that wants this.

I think this series of books might be valuable to a student of poetry. Beyond the bio(s), the reading really appeals to a serious mind. I can read quantum physics easier than finding all the symbology and meaning that scholars work to find in poetry. I just like reading poetry for the changing feelings I get from the authors, and even the new completely different feelings that the same poem can evoke in me reading it in a different time/place/life-circumstance.

4*

[Russell Bittner · Rating 3 out of 5]

“(T)hese savage, wolfish parties alarm me” (p. 55).

Although the quote belongs to Whitman himself (while speaking about political parties in or around 1871), this tome from the Modern Critical Views collection (edited and with an Introduction by Harold Bloom) is about Whitman (and his work) rather than by him.

I frankly haven’t read—other than the occasional magazine or newspaper review — this kind of literary critique since college. Nor have I ever been a big fan of Walt Whitman’s poetry. Has this collection of literary essays changed my mind — or at least motivated me to pick up Leaves of Grass and/or some of Whitman’s other work? Possibly. As I now know (thanks to this collection) a bit more about Whitman — the man and not just the poet — I’m far more likely to look upon his verse sympathetically. In that sense, this tome — which I found on the street here in Brooklyn as a give-away — was a valuable find. As with any good art or music criticism, I now have a better sense of why Whitman (the poet) made the choices he did. In that sense, this book was well worth the several hours it took me to read it.

Are all of these essays easily accessible to a general reading public? No. With the exception of the essays of D. H. Lawrence and James Write, all of the contributors are academicians. And academicians — as we all so fondly remember — have a rather erudite (not to say ‘hermetic’) way of looking at the world However, if words like “anacoluthon,” “autochthonic,” “literatus,” “transumptive” and “vivification” don’t put you off, go for it! I, personally, had to look each one of these words up, however useful my ever-fading memory of Latin and Ancient Greek roots, prefixes and suffixes might’ve aided at least in putting me in some ballpark of understanding.

But I don’t mean to suggest that each and every one of these scholars will assault the chinks in your armored senses with sesquipedalian slings and arrows. Just some of them will. And while the arguments of some of these intrepid word warriors may pass as easily over your head as they did mine, there are nuggets here to be mined — and minded.

And so, read at your own risk. All in all, there are worse ways to spend a rainy afternoon. As James A. Wright wisely suggests on p. 88, “(f)or some time the features of American poetry most in evidence have been very different from Whitman’s: in short, recent American poetry has often been flaccid, obtuse and muddied, and fragmentary, crippled almost. Yet there is great talent alive in our country today, and if the spirit of Whitman can help to rescue that talent from the fate of so many things in America, that begin nobly and end meanly, then we ought to study him as carefully as we can.”

If nothing more, spend half an hour with the final essay, by Paul Zweig, titled “The Wound-Dresser” to get a real sense of Walt Whitman — the man, and not just the poet — as he tends to casualties (from both sides!) of the Civil War. Allow me to quote both Zweig and Whitman from pp. 146 – 147: “Men died while he watched. (‘Death is nothing here.’) It was an upheaval, an overthrowing of all his feelings. For a decade he had written poem-sermons on the health and youth of the flesh. The poems had reverberated with a kind of invulnerability. Yes, there had been a dark side culminating in the ‘death death death death death’ of “Out of the Cradle,” but it had been romantic and songlike. Death had been a nervous tune, edging around his song of health. But here were actual men dying; here were bodies ripped open by shrapnel, drained by disease. ‘Now that I have lived for 8 or 9 days amid such scenes as the camps furnish,’ he wrote his mother, ‘…really nothing we call trouble seems worth talking about.’”

I was reminded, upon concluding this final essay, of my first reading of MacKinlay Kantor’s novel Andersonville (published in 1955) some 45 – 50 years ago. Maybe it’s time to re-visit that novel — and that war — to “contextualize” (as our academicians/scholars/word warriors would likely put it) some of Whitman’s work.

RRB
04/27/14
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

[Lisa Konet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was brief but very informative analysis of Walt Whitman’s well known work and how it pertains to modern life. Insightful but I was looking for a collection of his work;not to have it broken down and thoughtfully analyzed and critiqued.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I didn't actually read the whole book, but I can say that the best chapter was definitely D H Lawrence's, because his writing style is both interesting and hilarious, and he has strong opinions that are also smart. I need to read more critical essay by this guy... Bloom, well, I'll need to revisit him with better concentration if I want to get back to academic-level lit analysis ;) Which I do.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected here. Instead this was a critical and analytical look at Whitman's most popular poems from dozens of different essayists. Pretty informative and interesting, however, not the introduction to Bloom I was looking for.