An American Primer (Classic Reprint) [Paperback]

Walt Whitman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 23, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1440058369 | ISBN-13: 978-1440058363

FOREWORD The American Primer is a challenge rather than a finished fight. We find Whitman on this occasion rather laying his plans than undertaHng to perfect them. It would be unfair to take such a mass of more or less disjointed notes and pass them under severe review. Whitman never intended them for publication. He should not be criticised, as he has been by certain American editors, for an act for which he is in no way responsible. The Primer is not a dogma. It is an inter-rogation. Even as a dogma something might be said for it. As a question it intimates its own answer. One of Whitman's remarks about it was this: " It does not suggest the invention but describes the growth of an American English enjoying a distinct identity" Whitman would every now and then get on his financial uppers. Then he would say: *' I guess I will be driven to the lecture field in spite of myself" The Primer was one of his projected lecture themes. The lecture idea had possessed him most convincingly

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.

Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Published for the first time in paperback, this short essay is composed of 110 notes for a linguistic project never completed by the poet. At the core of the effort: a celebration of the American language's past and its possibilities.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 56 pages
• Publisher: Forgotten Books (March 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1440058369
• ISBN-13: 978-1440058363
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,255,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > United States > Classics > Whitman, Walt

More About the Author

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, near Huntington, Long Island, New York. On July 4, 1855, the first edition of Leaves of Grass, the volume of poems that for the next four decades would become his lifes work, was placed on sale. Although some critics treated the volume as a joke and others were outraged by its unprecedented mixture of mysticism and earthiness, the book attracted the attention of some of the finest literary intelligences. His poetry slowly achieved a wide readership in America and in England, where he was praised by Swinburne and Tennyson. (D. H. Lawrence later referred to Whitman as the"greatest modern poet, and"the greatest of Americans. Whitman suffered a stroke in 1873 and was forced to retire to Camden, New Jersey, where he would spend the last twenty years of his life. There he continued to write poetry, and in 1881 the seventh edition of Leaves of Grass was published to generally favorable reviews. However, the book was soon banned in Boston on the grounds that it was obscene literature. In January 1892 the final edition of Leaves of Grass appeared on sale, and Whitman's life work was complete. He died two months later on the evening of March 26, 1892, and was buried four days afterward at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden.