WALT WHITMAN: An American

An exceedingly interesting and challenging study of Walt Whitman, ""symbolic man of the 19th century...who made its inner, unconscious life, its bent for the future, articulate"". Of his writings, Dr. Canby says ""When you read Whitman, think of the Bible first, of Longfellow not at all"" and his analysis of the identity of Whitman, the man, with and through his work is the greatest contribution made in this significant study. He weighs the contribution and the value of the Whitman legend, in its entirety; the conclusions to which he comes are ably supported by primary source material in Whitman's known --and lesser known -- writings, letters, notebooks, jottings of poem beginnings, etc. Bit by bit, the pieces fall into place; one builds a sense of the man in his times.