Walt Whitman: A Companion

Over a span of several decades, Walt Whitman created, in various editions of Leaves of Grass, what is arguably the most influential book of poems to have been published anywhere in the past 200 years. Whitman absorbed the world, transmuting it into poems that address a spectrum of topics of enduring human interest-from democracy and religion to sexuality, gender, class, and identity. In his exuberant persona, he incarnated his epoch and times at the same time as he invoked you -readers and poets to come -to join him as co-creators of what he called a poetry of the future.

The first A to Z Whitman reference to incorporate 21st century scholarship, this work is ideal for contemporary readers who want a concise but comprehensive introduction to Whitman’s major poems and prose and to the people, places, and topics that were central to the poet’s life. Each of the book’s 142 subject entries is followed by cross-references to related entries and suggestions for further reading. Also included are an introduction, a brief biography, a chronology of Whitman’s life and major works, and a bibliography of some 300 primary and secondary sources on this most timeless and contemporary of poets.