About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated

ISBN-100199374414

ISBN-139780199374410

eBay Product ID (ePID)201548761

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Number of Pages400 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameContaining Multitudes : Walt Whitman and the British Literary Tradition

SubjectGeneral, Poetry

Publication Year2014

TypeTextbook

AuthorGary Schmidgall

Subject AreaLiterary Criticism

FormatHardcover

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Item Height1.4 in

Item Weight24.7 Oz

Item Length6.5 in

Item Width9.2 in

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Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2014-007047

Reviews"Written in limpid prose that welcomes readers, Containing Multitudes offers a uniquely telling examination of what Whitman made of poetry from Great Britain. Gary Schmidgall's deft and detailed readings illuminate how thoroughly Whitman interacted with canonical authors from Shakespeare and Milton to Burns, Wordsworth, and Tennyson." - Robert Crawford, author of Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature "A comprehensive account of Whitman's surprisingly rich engagement with British poetry, Schmidgall looks beyond Whitman's nationalistic bluster to recover a poet who wrestled with the legacies of Shakespeare and Milton as well as figures such as Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth. Containing Multitudes not only tracks lines of influence, it seeks out resonances between Whitman's career and those of precursor poets, and suggests the importance of British poetry to nineteenth-century American culture writ large." - Meredith L. McGill, co-editor of The Traffic in Poems: Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Transatlantic Exchange "Containing Multitudes describes not only Walt Whitman's many profound and often hidden literary influences, but also Gary Schmidgall's achievement here. His capacious study is remarkably learned and audacious. In digging up Whitman's buried British treasures, Schmidgall decisively alters our understanding of the poet and even makes one wonder if the treasures were hidden so as to be discovered-not obliterating but clarifying Whitman's American difference." - Robert Weisbuch, author of Atlantic Double-Cross: American Literature and British Influence in the Age of Emerson "Written with brio, this important reappraisal presses well beyond limiting concerns with 'influence' to reveal undiscovered depths of imaginative affinity between Whitman and a number of prominent writers from the British literary tradition. Conclusions revelatory in character and grounded in solid scholarship are here advanced with a disarming adroitness of touch. The result is sensitive illumination of neglected major dimensions of Whitman's creative sensibility." - M. Wynn Thomas, author of Transatlantic Connections: Whitman U.S., Whitman U.K. "Eloquently written and provocative, Containing Multitudes demonstrates the myriad ways in which Whitman was indebted to and in dialogue with a British literary tradition. In telling chapters on Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth, Schmidgall deftly analyzes the numerous echoes and divergences between these prior poets' lyrics and Whitman's verse. This book will be required reading for anyone interested in the subtle ways in which the British poetic canon was transmitted through one of America's most original and influential poets." - Anne K. Mellor, author of Mothers of the Nation: Women's Political Writing in England, 1780-1830, "Written in limpid prose that welcomes readers, Containing Multitudes offers a uniquely telling examination of what Whitman made of poetry from Great Britain. Gary Schmidgall's deft and detailed readings illuminate how thoroughly Whitman interacted with canonical authors from Shakespeare and Milton to Burns, Wordsworth, and Tennyson." - Robert Crawford, author of Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature "A comprehensive account of Whitman's surprisingly rich engagement with British poetry, Schmidgall looks beyond Whitman's nationalistic bluster to recover a poet who wrestled with the legacies of Shakespeare and Milton as well as figures such as Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth. Containing Multitudes not only tracks lines of influence, it seeks out resonances between Whitman's career and those of precursor poets, and suggests the importance of British poetry to nineteenth-century American culture writ large." - Meredith L. McGill, co-editor of The Traffic in Poems: Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Transatlantic Exchange "Containing Multitudes describes not only Walt Whitman's many profound and often hidden literary influences, but also Gary Schmidgall's achievement here. His capacious study is remarkably learned and audacious. In digging up Whitman's buried British treasures, Schmidgall decisively alters our understanding of the poet and even makes one wonder if the treasures were hidden so as to be discovered-not obliterating but clarifying Whitman's American difference." - Robert Weisbuch, author of Atlantic Double-Cross: American Literature and British Influence in the Age of Emerson "Written with brio, this important reappraisal presses well beyond limiting concerns with 'influence' to reveal undiscovered depths of imaginative affinity between Whitman and a number of prominent writers from the British literary tradition. Conclusions revelatory in character and grounded in solid scholarship are here advanced with a disarming adroitness of touch. The result is sensitive illumination of neglected major dimensions of Whitman's creative sensibility." - M. Wynn Thomas, author of Transatlantic Connections: Whitman U.S., Whitman U.K. "Eloquently written and provocative, Containing Multitudes demonstrates the myriad ways in which Whitman was indebted to and in dialogue with a British literary tradition. In telling chapters on Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth, Schmidgall deftly analyzes the numerous echoes and divergences between these prior poets' lyrics and Whitman's verse. This book will be required reading for anyone interested in the subtle ways in which the British poetic canon was transmitted through one of America's most original and influential poets." - Anne K. Mellor, author of Mothers of the Nation: Women's Political Writing in England, 1780-1830 "Gary Schmidgall is far from the first to discuss Walt Whitman and British literary tradition. What he brings to the project is a fresh eye, deep learning, and an ambitious historical range" -- Modern Language Quarterly, "Written in limpid prose that welcomes readers, Containing Multitudes offers a uniquely telling examination of what Whitman made of poetry from Great Britain. Gary Schmidgall's deft and detailed readings illuminate how thoroughly Whitman interacted with canonical authors from Shakespeare and Milton to Burns, Wordsworth, and Tennyson." - Robert Crawford, author of Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature"A comprehensive account of Whitman's surprisingly rich engagement with British poetry, Schmidgall looks beyond Whitman's nationalistic bluster to recover a poet who wrestled with the legacies of Shakespeare and Milton as well as figures such as Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth. Containing Multitudes not only tracks lines of influence, it seeks out resonances between Whitman's career and those of precursor poets, and suggests the importance of Britishpoetry to nineteenth-century American culture writ large." - Meredith L. McGill, co-editor of The Traffic in Poems: Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Transatlantic Exchange"Containing Multitudes describes not only Walt Whitman's many profound and often hidden literary influences, but also Gary Schmidgall's achievement here. His capacious study is remarkably learned and audacious. In digging up Whitman's buried British treasures, Schmidgall decisively alters our understanding of the poet and even makes one wonder if the treasures were hidden so as to be discovered-not obliterating but clarifying Whitman's Americandifference." - Robert Weisbuch, author of Atlantic Double-Cross: American Literature and British Influence in the Age of Emerson"Written with brio, this important reappraisal presses well beyond limiting concerns with 'influence' to reveal undiscovered depths of imaginative affinity between Whitman and a number of prominent writers from the British literary tradition. Conclusions revelatory in character and grounded in solid scholarship are here advanced with a disarming adroitness of touch. The result is sensitive illumination of neglected major dimensions of Whitman's creativesensibility." - M. Wynn Thomas, author of Transatlantic Connections: Whitman U.S., Whitman U.K."Eloquently written and provocative, Containing Multitudes demonstrates the myriad ways in which Whitman was indebted to and in dialogue with a British literary tradition. In telling chapters on Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth, Schmidgall deftly analyzes the numerous echoes and divergences between these prior poets' lyrics and Whitman's verse. This book will be required reading for anyone interested in the subtle ways in which the Britishpoetic canon was transmitted through one of America's most original and influential poets." - Anne K. Mellor, author of Mothers of the Nation: Women's Political Writing in England, 1780-1830"Gary Schmidgall is far from the first to discuss Walt Whitman and British literary tradition. What he brings to the project is a fresh eye, deep learning, and an ambitious historical range" -- Modern Language Quarterly

Dewey Edition23

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal811/.3

Table Of ContentNote on Notes and CitationPreface1. An Introduction: Leaves and the Retrospective Lands"Terrible Query": An American Literature?"That Wonderful Little Island": British Literature in Leaves of Grass Prospective: "Lacks and Wants Yet"2. Shakespeare and Whitman Whitman and the Bacon Debate Walt vs. The Bard Mellifluous and Honey-tongued PoetsWhitman and the Romantics' Shakespeare: Victor Hugo Parallel Lives? 3. Milton and Whitman Debutant Poets: 1645, 1855 Whitman and America Read Milton Camerados Close Satan and Walt Answerable Styles Strange Bedfellows After All? Awakeners 4. Burns and Whitman Camerado Bards Walt Reads Rob Self-esteem Mystic Tie of Brotherhood The Self-satisfied Preachers Outré Beings Conscious Painful Being Old Acquaintance Of Tombs: A Coda 5. Blake and Whitman Making the Connection Two Mystics Together Clinging Other, Stronger Lessons Poets of Contrariety and Rebellion Iconoclasts: Poetry Unfettered Poets of Sexual Delight Announcing Adhesiveness Death's Door: A Coda 6. Wordsworth and Whitman Walt on Wordsworth The 'Prelude' to Whitman Prospectus: Knowing the World Self-empowerment 'Green' Poets: Nature and Democracy 'Mighty Scheme of Truth': Prophets of a New Religion 'Great Social Principle of Life': Comradery At War with General Tendency Separate Persons7. Whitman and Some Other 'Big Fellows' Walter Scott Thomas Carlyle Alfred Tennyson Oscar Wilde Algernon Swinburne NotesForeword IntroductionShakespeareMiltonBurnsBlakeWordsworthSome Other 'Big Fellows'

SynopsisWalt Whitman burst onto the literary stage raring for a fight with his transatlantic forebears. With the unmetered and unrhymed long lines of Leaves of Grass, he blithely forsook "the old models" declaring that "poems distilled from other poems will probably pass away." In a self-authored but unsigned review of the inaugural 1855 edition, Whitman boasted that its influence-free author "makes no allusions to books or writers; their spirits do not seem to have touched him." There was more than a hint here of a party-crasher's bravado or a new-comer's anxiety about being perceived as derivative. But the giants of British literature were too well established in America to be toppled by Whitman's patronizing "that wonderful little island," he called England - or his frequent assertions that Old World literature was non grata on American soil. As Gary Schmidgall demonstrates, the American bard's manuscripts, letters, prose criticism, and private conversations all reveal that Whitman's negotiation with the literary "big fellows" across the Atlantic was much more nuanced and contradictory than might be supposed. His hostile posture also changed over the decades as the gymnastic rebel transformed into Good Gray Poet, though even late in life he could still crow that his masterwork Leaves of Grass "is an iconoclasm, it starts out to shatter the idols of porcelain." Containing Multitudes explores Whitman's often uneasy embrace of five members of the British literary pantheon: Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth (five others are treated more briefly: Scott, Carlyle, Tennyson, Wilde, and Swinburne). It also considers how the arcs of their creative careers are often similar to the arc of Whitman's own fifty years of poem-making. Finally, it seeks to illuminate the sometimes striking affinities between the views of these authors and Whitman on human nature and society. Though he was loath to admit it, these authors anticipated much that we now see as quintessentially Whitmanic., Walt Whitman burst onto the literary stage raring for a fight with his transatlantic forebears. With the unmetered and unrhymed long lines of Leaves of Grass , he blithely forsook "the old models" declaring that "poems distilled from other poems will probably pass away." In a self-authored but unsigned review of the inaugural 1855 edition, Whitman boasted that its influence-free author "makes no allusions to books or writers; their spirits do not seem to have touched him." There was more than a hint here of a party-crasher's bravado or a new-comer's anxiety about being perceived as derivative. But the giants of British literature were too well established in America to be toppled by Whitman's patronizing "that wonderful little island," he called England-or his frequent assertions that Old World literature was non grata on American soil. As Gary Schmidgall demonstrates, the American bard's manuscripts, letters, prose criticism, and private conversations all reveal that Whitman's negotiation with the literary "big fellows" across the Atlantic was much more nuanced and contradictory than might be supposed. His hostile posture also changed over the decades as the gymnastic rebel transformed into Good Gray Poet, though even late in life he could still crow that his masterwork Leaves of Grass "is an iconoclasm, it starts out to shatter the idols of porcelain." Containing Multitudes explores Whitman's often uneasy embrace of five members of the British literary pantheon: Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth (five others are treated more briefly: Scott, Carlyle, Tennyson, Wilde, and Swinburne). It also considers how the arcs of their creative careers are often similar to the arc of Whitman's own fifty years of poem-making. Finally, it seeks to illuminate the sometimes striking affinities between the views of these authors and Whitman on human nature and society. Though he was loath to admit it, these authors anticipated much that we now see as quintessentially Whitmanic., Walt Whitman burst onto the literary stage raring for a fight with his transatlantic forebears. With the unmetered and unrhymed long lines of Leaves of Grass, he blithely forsook "the old models" declaring that "poems distilled from other poems will probably pass away." In a self-authored but unsigned review of the inaugural 1855 edition, Whitman boasted that its influence-free author "makes no allusions to books or writers; their spirits do not seem tohave touched him." There was more than a hint here of a party-crasher's bravado or a new-comer's anxiety about being perceived as derivative. But the giants of British literature were toowell established in America to be toppled by Whitman's patronizing "that wonderful little island," he called England-or his frequent assertions that Old World literature was non grata on American soil. As Gary Schmidgall demonstrates, the American bard's manuscripts, letters, prose criticism, and private conversations all reveal that Whitman's negotiation with the literary "big fellows" across the Atlantic was much more nuanced and contradictory than might be supposed. His hostileposture also changed over the decades as the gymnastic rebel transformed into Good Gray Poet, though even late in life he could still crow that his masterwork Leaves of Grass "is an iconoclasm, it starts out toshatter the idols of porcelain." Containing Multitudes explores Whitman's often uneasy embrace of five members of the British literary pantheon: Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Blake, and Wordsworth (five others are treated more briefly: Scott, Carlyle, Tennyson, Wilde, and Swinburne). It also considers how the arcs of their creative careers are often similar to the arc of Whitman's own fifty years of poem-making. Finally, it seeks to illuminate the sometimesstriking affinities between the views of these authors and Whitman on human nature and society. Though he was loath to admit it, these authors anticipated much that we now see as quintessentially Whitmanic., This study explores Walt Whitman's contradictory response to and embrace of several great prior British poets: Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Blake, and Wordworth (with shorter essays on Scott, Carlyle, Tennyson, Wilde, and Swinburne).

LC Classification NumberPS3242.L5S36 2015

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Containing Multitudes : Walt Whitman and the British Literary Tradition by Gary Schmidgall (2014, Hardcover)

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