{"product_id":"walt-whitman-david-s-reynolds-9780195170092","title":"Walt Whitman","description":"From the great events of the day to the patient workings of a spider, few poets responded to the life around them as powerfully as Walt Whitman. Now, in this brief but bountiful volume, David S. Reynolds offers a wealth of insight into the life and work of Whitman, examining the author through the lens of nineteenth-century America.\u003cbr\u003e Reynolds shows how Whitman responded to contemporary theater, music, painting, photography, science, religion, and sex. But perhaps nothing influenced Whitman more than the political events of his lifetime, as the struggle over slavery threatened to rip apart the national fabric. America, he believed, desperately needed a poet to hold together a society that was on the verge of unraveling. He created his powerful, all-absorbing poetic \"I\" to heal a fragmented nation that, he hoped, would find in his poetry new possibilities for inspiration and togetherness. Reynolds also examines the influence of theater, describing how Whitman's favorite actor, the tragedian Junius Brutus Booth--\"one of the grandest revelations of my life\"--developed a powerfully emotive stage style that influenced \u003cem\u003eLeaves of Grass\u003c\/em\u003e, which took passionate poetic expression to new heights. Readers will also discover how from the new medium of photography Whitman learned democratic realism and offered in his poetry \"photographs\" of common people engaged in everyday activities. Reynolds concludes with an appraisal of Whitman's impact on American letters, an influence that remains strong today.\u003cbr\u003e Solidly grounded in historical and biographical facts, and exceptionally wide-ranging in the themes it treats, \u003cem\u003eWalt Whitman\u003c\/em\u003e packs a dazzling amount of insight into a compact volume.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David S. Reynolds\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0195170091\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780195170092\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/07\/2005\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.56h x 5.76w x 0.77d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/22\/2005 pg. 22\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/15\/2004 pg. 995\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/15\/2004 pg. 546\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/15\/2005 pg. 130\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2005 pg. 1590","brand":"David S. Reynolds","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44119412932863,"sku":"9780195170092","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_f8eeb2f4-37b5-4f1e-8a64-d9086d3196c4.jpg?v=1687409203","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/walt-whitman-david-s-reynolds-9780195170092","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}