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Laws for Creations
In Walt Whitman, Michael Cunningham sees a poet whose vision of humanity is ecstatic, democratic, and sensuous. Just over a hundred years ago, Whitman celebrated America as it survived the Civil War, as it endured great poverty, and as it entered the Industrial Revolution, which would make it the most powerful nation on Earth. In Specimen Days Michael Cunningham makes Whitman's verse sing across time, and in Laws for Creations he celebrates what Whitman means to him, and how he appeared at the heart of his new novel. Just as the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hours drew on the life and work of English novelist Viriginia Woolf, Specimen Days lovingly features the work of American poet Walt Whitman. Bringing together extracts from Whitman's prodigious writings, including Leaves of Grass and his journal, Specimen Days, Michael Cunningham's Laws for Creations provides an introduction to one of America's greatest visionary poets from one of our greatest contemporary novelists.
208 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 2006
About the author
Walt Whitman
1,694 books5,561 followersWalter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality.
Whitman was born in Huntington on Long Island, and lived in Brooklyn as a child and through much of his career. At the age of 11, he left formal schooling to go to work. He worked as a journalist, a teacher, and a government clerk. Whitman's major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, was financed with his own money and became well known. The work was an attempt to reach out to the common person with an American epic. Whitman continued expanding and revising Leaves of Grass until his death in 1892.
During the American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C., and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded. His poetry often focused on both loss and healing. On the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman greatly admired, he authored two poems, "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and gave a series of lectures on Lincoln. After suffering a stroke towards the end of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. When he died at the age of 72, his funeral was a public event.
Whitman's influence on poetry remains strong. Art historian Mary Berenson wrote, "You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him." Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet... He is America."
Whitman was born in Huntington on Long Island, and lived in Brooklyn as a child and through much of his career. At the age of 11, he left formal schooling to go to work. He worked as a journalist, a teacher, and a government clerk. Whitman's major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, was financed with his own money and became well known. The work was an attempt to reach out to the common person with an American epic. Whitman continued expanding and revising Leaves of Grass until his death in 1892.
During the American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C., and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded. His poetry often focused on both loss and healing. On the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman greatly admired, he authored two poems, "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and gave a series of lectures on Lincoln. After suffering a stroke towards the end of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. When he died at the age of 72, his funeral was a public event.
Whitman's influence on poetry remains strong. Art historian Mary Berenson wrote, "You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him." Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet... He is America."
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 28, 2026
“Camerado, this is no book,
Who touches this touches a man,
(Is is night? are we here alone together?)
It is I you hold and who holds you,
I spring from the pages into your arms. . . .”
–Walt Whitman, “So long!” from Leaves of Grass, every edition from 1861 onwards
This was a companion publication to Michael Cunningham’s novel, Specimen Days, curated by Cunningham himself. It’s a great introduction to Whitman, who can be intimidating to pick up. As Cunningham explains, Whitman condensed, expanded, edited, and reworked Leaves of Grass from its 1855 publication until just before his death. It’s one book and also nine books. None of the editions is the definitive one.
You could do worse than starting here. This is a selection of Whitman’s writing, chosen by Cunningham to be an entry point, “albeit a quirky and personal one.” There's the famous “I celebrate myself” or “Song of Myself” from the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass in its entirety, selections of many other poems from the 1891-1892 final edition, and some prose, including excerpts from Whitman's memoir, Specimen Days. It closes with Whitman’s preface to the final edition of Leaves of Grass.
Putting aside Cunningham’s curation of Whitman’s writing, in my opinion this is worth hunting down for the introductory essay alone. Cunningham explains Whitman’s ecstatic writing well, and how it goes beyond the beauty of any given line.
Who touches this touches a man,
(Is is night? are we here alone together?)
It is I you hold and who holds you,
I spring from the pages into your arms. . . .”
–Walt Whitman, “So long!” from Leaves of Grass, every edition from 1861 onwards
This was a companion publication to Michael Cunningham’s novel, Specimen Days, curated by Cunningham himself. It’s a great introduction to Whitman, who can be intimidating to pick up. As Cunningham explains, Whitman condensed, expanded, edited, and reworked Leaves of Grass from its 1855 publication until just before his death. It’s one book and also nine books. None of the editions is the definitive one.
You could do worse than starting here. This is a selection of Whitman’s writing, chosen by Cunningham to be an entry point, “albeit a quirky and personal one.” There's the famous “I celebrate myself” or “Song of Myself” from the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass in its entirety, selections of many other poems from the 1891-1892 final edition, and some prose, including excerpts from Whitman's memoir, Specimen Days. It closes with Whitman’s preface to the final edition of Leaves of Grass.
Putting aside Cunningham’s curation of Whitman’s writing, in my opinion this is worth hunting down for the introductory essay alone. Cunningham explains Whitman’s ecstatic writing well, and how it goes beyond the beauty of any given line.
Whitman was among the first writers, and the first major poet, to ferret out what I’ll call the epic concealed within the ordinary. For centuries, writers had differentiated between the consequential and the quotidian, the hero and fool. Beauty was elevated and idealized - the urn, the nightingale, the lovely young face – and everything else was, well, everything else. Whitman et al. [Flaubert, Joyce, Woolf] didn't just blur the boundaries, they declared the boundaries to be meaningless.For Whitman, there was no difference between the industrialists and the destitute, between the factory and the farm fields, between the living and the dead. It's not that Whitman chose the lowly as protagonists, or insisted they were as beautiful as the nightingale or the urn. There were no protagonists. Both the high lady and the prostitute were worthy of consideration, and the prostitute did not have to be golden-hearted to be worthy. For him, we were all part of the great being of existence. He embraced both the optimism and brutality of 19th century American, the longing and the loneliness. “He was every bit as much a poet of yearning as he was a poet of love.”
September 21, 2020
There are volumes of Whitman available everywhere (my favorite is the Essential Whitman by Galway Kinnel). This is a quality paperback and worth the read just for Cunningham's introduction.
March 31, 2022
Booorinng
Checked out from the English Language section at the public library so there weren’t many options
Checked out from the English Language section at the public library so there weren’t many options
October 11, 2017
"Laws for Creation"
By Walt Whitman
Laws for Creations,
For strong artists and leaders—for fresh broods of teachers, and perfect
literats for America,
For noble savans, and coming musicians.
All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of
the world;
There shall be no subject too pronounced—All works shall illustrate the
divine law of indirections.
What do you suppose Creation is?
What do you suppose will satisfy the Soul, except to walk free, and own no
superior?
What do you suppose I would intimate to you in a hundred ways, but that man or
woman is as good as God?
And that there is no God any more divine than Yourself?
And that that is what the oldest and newest myths finally mean?
And that you or any one must approach Creations through such laws?
By Walt Whitman
Laws for Creations,
For strong artists and leaders—for fresh broods of teachers, and perfect
literats for America,
For noble savans, and coming musicians.
All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of
the world;
There shall be no subject too pronounced—All works shall illustrate the
divine law of indirections.
What do you suppose Creation is?
What do you suppose will satisfy the Soul, except to walk free, and own no
superior?
What do you suppose I would intimate to you in a hundred ways, but that man or
woman is as good as God?
And that there is no God any more divine than Yourself?
And that that is what the oldest and newest myths finally mean?
And that you or any one must approach Creations through such laws?
Want to Read
January 16, 2009Just saw this on an Amazon e-mail and thought it sounded interesting. Tied to Michael Cunningham's Specimen Days -- even the cover uis similar -- and presents excerpts of Whitman including Whitman's own writing titled Specimen Days from which Cunningham took his own title.
February 19, 2009
Better off just grabbing Leaves of Grass, obviously.
January 23, 2010
I got this and the first version Leaves of Grass from Amelia for Christmas and it was fun to read them back to back and see how his perspective matured over the 30 years in between.
May 21, 2013
Beautiful. Probably one of my favorite books.
Read
August 16, 2017Walt Whitman's work has always been intriguing to me. Laws of Creations is a great read all the way through! His literary style is timeless, I would read it again! :)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews