In honor of the “I Sing the Body Electric: Walt Whitman and the Body” exhibit (drawn from our extensive Whitman collection) on display until October 28th in the Biddle Rare Book Room, I will be writing several blog posts about Walt Whitman and his life. For this post I want to share where to look to find the works he has written. Reading Whitman for yourself will help you to see why he’s still such a large figure in American Literature.
First you can find a lot of Whitman’s poetry online, if you just want to get a taste of his poetry. Here are two of of my favorite places to look: Poets.org and Poetry Foundation
Walt Whitman Archive
The Walt Whitman Archive, a project spearheaded by several important Whitman scholars, has a wealth of resources about and by Whitman. It is well worth investigating all the resources in that archive, but of special interest is the Published Works Section. It provides access to the six American editions of Leaves of Grass published in Whitman’s lifetime and the so-called deathbed edition of 1891–92. If you want to really investigate the major changes and expansions that Whitman added to Leaves of Grass, this is the perfect place to look.
Books by Whitman
You can find many different editions for Whitman’s works. Here are a couple of especially good versions in our general collection.
Leaves of Grass: The Complete 1855 and 1891-92 Editions
Complete Poetry and Collected Prose
Leaves of Grass and Other Writings: Authoritative Texts, Other Poetry and Prose, Criticism
Song of Myself: With a Complete Commentary
Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself
Drum-taps: The Complete 1865 Edition
Specimen Days, Democratic Vistas, and Other Prose
If that’s just not enough Whitman for you, you should also know that there will be talk and exhibit tour on September 21st from 11:45-1:30 in Rubenstein Library 153. A light lunch will be served.