Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself

by Jerome Loving

Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself is the first full-length critical biography of Walt Whitman in more than forty years. Jerome Loving makes use of recently unearthed archival evidence and newspaper writings to present the most accurate, complete, and complex portrait of the poet to date. This authoritative biography affords fresh, often revelatory insights into many aspects of the poet's life, including his attitudes toward the emerging urban life of America, his relationships with his family members, his developing notions of male-male love, his attitudes toward the vexed issue of race, and his insistence on the union of American states. Virtually every chapter presents material that was previously unknown or unavailable, and Whitman emerges as never before, in all his complexity as a corporal, cerebral, and spiritual being. Loving gives us a new Poet of Democracy, one for the twenty-first century.

Loving brings to life the elusive early Whitman, detailing his unhappy teaching career, typesetting jobs, quarrels with editors, and relationships with family and friends. He takes us through the Civil War―with Whitman's moving descriptions of the wounded and dying he nursed, the battlegrounds and camps he visited―demonstrating why the war became one of the defining events of Whitman's life and poetry. Loving's account of Whitman's relationship with Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most complete and fascinating available. He also draws insights from new material about Whitman's life as a civil servant, his Lincoln lectures, and his abiding campaign to gain acceptance for what was regarded by many as a "dirty book." He examines each edition of Leaves of Grass in connection with the life and times that produced it, demonstrating how Whitman's poetry serves as a priceless historical document―marking such events as Grant's death, the completion of the Washington monument, Custer's defeat, and the Johnstown flood―at the same time that it reshapes the canon of American literature.

The most important gap in the Whitman record is his journalism, which has never been completely collected and edited. Previous biographers have depended on a very incomplete and inaccurate collection. Loving has found long-forgotten runs of the newspapers Whitman worked on and has gathered the largest collection of his journalism to date. He uses these pieces to significantly enhance our understanding of where Whitman stood in the political and ideological spectra of his era.

Loving tracks down the sources of anecdotes about Whitman, how they got passed from one biographer to another, were embellished and re-contextualized. The result is a biography in which nothing is claimed without a basis in the factual record. Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself will be an invaluable tool for generations to come, an essential resource in understanding Leaves of Grass and its poet―who defied literary decorum, withstood condemnation, and stubbornly pursued his own way.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Poetry, American History

582 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Except for a few scenarios such as the vivid, chilling descriptions of the American Civil War; most notably the conditions in the overflowing hospitals filled with dead and dying...and his and his family's experiences and those of others and a few other historical connections and anecdotes such as concerning 'General' Custer, et al, along with the almost eerily topical sad state of the American political and government situation throughout his lifetime...HELLO!...and a few pages surprise to me concerning his some months sojourn, circa mid 1887ish, to Canada where he traveled by train and ship from London Ontario to Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and on up the St. Lawrence River to the Saguenay area, the ONLY time he ever ventured outside of the United States...the book, for the most part, was waterlogged with redundancies, repetition and hay-wagon loads of 'Who cares?!'

[Kmkreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling biography of a wonderful poet. We need Whitman's outlook and wisdom today.

[Katrinka]

Helpful companion piece to the collected writings.

[Bradthad Codgeroger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only took me two years to finish, and made me think that Walt was kind of a jerk. There are better bios of Whitman, or, at least, more enjoyable.

[Joan Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this very intersting. I assumed from reading Leaves of Grass that walt was gay. The book discusses this issue at length and there is no proof either way. He had illegitimate children so he was possibly bisexual. He wasn't afriad of writing on sexuality in his time and that was what caused him trouble. He was a bohemian if there ever was one.

You learn alot about his life, family, friends, work and travels in this book. It includes some great photographs of the era.

[Aspasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography I read for a research paper- a bit long-winded at times but very informational.