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Article: In Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. (book reviews)
- Article from:
- Insight on the News
- Article date:
- July 24, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In his early 20s, Walt Whitman was a snobbish dandy who sported "a dark frock coat and vest, fashionable black hat, a heavy polished cane and a look of slightly disdainful sophistication." Toward the end of his life, he railed about the streets of Camden, N.J., "the stinking reeking streets -- Mickle Street -- sluttish gutters -- women with hair a-flying -- dust-brooms clouding the streets." But in the 50 years between youthful snobbery and an old man's occasional crankiness, Whitman was a cosmos, the poet who loafed and invited his soul.
Whitman deliberately set out to create a new American poetry that renounced the "dazzling" aristocratic poetry of the Old World ...
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Encyclopedia entry: Walt Whitman
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition;
700+ words
...Walt Whitman (Walter Whitman), 1819-92, American ... the greatest of all American poets, Walt Whitman celebrated the freedom and dignity of ... 1961-77); G. W. Allen, New Walt Whitman Handbook (1986); biographies by G ...
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