Walt Whitman: Voices in Poetry

by Nancy Loewen

A collection of poems, biographical vignettes, and photographs offers a look at the life and work of Whitman

Genres: Poetry

48 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1991

About the author

Nancy Loewen grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, surrounded by library books and cats. She's published more than 140 books for children. FOUR TO THE POLE (co-authored with polar explorer Ann Bancroft) and THE LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN were Minnesota Book Award finalists. Her WRITER'S TOOLBOX series received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers.

Nancy lives in Saint Paul and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. She has two adult children and a cat who sometimes bites her knees under the table as she writes.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was surprised to learn about some of his past. Realized I didn't enjoy his poetry as much as I thought I did.

[Gail Sacharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another poet biography book, part of a series. Although I've heard much about Walt Whitman & his masterpiece Leaves of Grass, I've never read about him or read the book. This was fascinating. He was a pioneer of free style poetry, a kind of hippie before hippies were thought of, a nature lover who spent countless hours outdoors observing wildlife & plantlife & enjoying it. He gave much of his time to helping in tent hospitals during the Civil War sitting with soldiers, writing letters for them, treating wounds. He truly loved his fellow men & women no matter their station in life, skin color, wealth or poverty. He took joy in everything he did & then wrote about it in an honest way which was considered, for the time, too personal & inappropriate. He was appreciated by a few writers of his time like Ralph Waldo Emerson. but not until after his death did his writing become popular & recognized for the beauty it contained. The book, like the Emily Dickinson volume, contains illustrations that are so detailed & realistic you feel you could touch them & pictures from his life. I very much enjoyed it & want to learn more about him & his poetry.

[Cheryl A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the format; all in this series are a fantastic intro for all ages. In particular, this one includes an early political essay (from Democratic Vistas and Other Papers) that 1. I'd never known existed, 2. shows another facet of Whitman, and 3. is still relevant today.

Interesting fact: we've all heard how Whitman's sensual free verse was scorned, even despised, by many critics of the day. But I didn't know that Ralph Waldo Emerson admired it, even from the first brief edition of Leaves of Grass.

IF2: Whitman designed his own tomb. Loewen claims he thought of it as a resting place. I'd've thought Whitman would want a platform to feed the vultures, or ashes sprinkled in the Ohio River, or something natural and earthy, like that, not a tomb, which implies ego and spirituality.

4.5 stars rounded up. The font could be a little larger, the illustrations (the original) could be more vibrant or interesting or relevant. (The archival illustrations are fine.)

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition includes well written excerpts about his life and well chosen poetry and journal entries to accompany the biography. All in all, a good, simple introduction to an famous man.