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Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman On How To Read Leaves of Grass

September 17, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

how Fred Vaughan, an omnibus driver, might have looked Walt Whitman’s original essay, “A Backward Glance O’er Travel’d Roads,” was printed at the end of the 1891-92 edition of Leaves of Grass. The following adaptation is an attempt to quite radically “translate” its disorganized, disgressive, awkward “Whitmanese” into the standards of prose clarity expected by 21st century readers.

When I say prose clarity, I am not only referring to a very aggressive copy edit. I have also subjected it to a critical, discerning lens of historical perspective. The result is Whitman’s clearest directions on how to read Leaves of Grass. — Mitchell Santine Gould, Curator, LeavesOfGrass.org. [Read more…] about Walt Whitman On How To Read Leaves of Grass

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Cultural History, Literature, Poetry, Walt Whitman, Writing

Charlie Pfaff, Walt Whitman and the King of Bohemia

October 6, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Pfaffs advertisementDuring the 1830s, young Romantic poets in Paris were loud and rebellious. They raised the noise levels in literature. Pétrus Borel headed the “Petit Cénacle,” an eccentric group of writers who had declared war on Classicism.

Considered a social nuisance, their rowdy and unruly behavior led to arrests. A journalistic term of abuse was turned into a banner of pride. The group’s members adopted the name Les Bousingos (“faiseurs de bousin” = brawlers). [Read more…] about Charlie Pfaff, Walt Whitman and the King of Bohemia

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Cultural History, Literature, Mark Twain, New York City, Publishing, Walt Whitman

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