The Life of Walt Whitman in His Own Words (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Memoirs & Letters of Walt WhitmanBy Walt Whitman
Length22h 2m
About this audiobook
The Life of Walt Whitman in His Own Words gathers the poet's reflections, recollections, and self-interpretations into an intimate autobiographical portrait. Moving between memoir, prose meditation, and poetic self-fashioning, the book illuminates the making of the bard of American democracy: his childhood on Long Island, his journalistic apprenticeship, his Civil War nursing, and his lifelong defense of Leaves of Grass. Its style bears Whitman's characteristic breadth—expansive, candid, sensuous, and oracular—while standing firmly within the nineteenth-century American tradition of self-reliance, national becoming, and literary experiment. Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was printer, teacher, journalist, editor, volunteer nurse, and revolutionary poet, experiences that shaped his radical enlargement of poetic subject and voice. His encounters with ordinary laborers, wounded soldiers, urban crowds, and the American landscape gave him the democratic vision that made his work both controversial and foundational. This volume is recommended for readers seeking not merely facts about Whitman, but access to the consciousness behind them. It is especially valuable for students of American literature, admirers of autobiographical writing, and anyone wishing to understand how a poet transformed a life into a national and spiritual vocation.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- An Author Biography reveals milestones in the author's life, illuminating the personal insights behind the text.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
Audiobook details
GenreBiography and Memoir
Length22 hrs 2 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateMay 2, 2020
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1"Billy" Sunday, the Man and His Message (Annotated)
115LOCUSTS AND KATY-DIDS
2Specimen Days
116THE LESSON OF A TREE
3A HAPPY HOUR'S COMMAND
117AUTUMN SIDE-BITS
4ANSWER TO AN INSISTING FRIEND
118THE SKY—DAYS AND NIGHTS—HAPPINESS
5GENEALOGY—VAN VELSOR AND WHITMAN
119COLORS—A CONTRAST
Show all chaptersShow less
6THE OLD WHITMAN AND VAN VELSOR CEMETERIES
120NOVEMBER 8, '76
7THE MATERNAL HOMESTEAD
121CROWS AND CROWS
8TWO OLD FAMILY INTERIORS
122A WINTER DAY ON THE SEA-BEACH
9PAUMANOK, AND MY LIFE ON IT AS CHILD AND YOUNG MAN
123SEA-SHORE FANCIES
10MY FIRST READING—LAFAYETTE
124IN MEMORY OF THOMAS PAINE.
11PRINTING OFFICE—OLD BROOKLYN
125A TWO HOURS ICE-SAIL
12GROWTH—HEALTH—WORK
126SPRING OVERTURES—RECREATIONS
13MY PASSION FOR FERRIES
127ONE OF THE HUMAN KINKS
14BROADWAY SIGHTS
128AN AFTERNOON SCENE
15OMNIBUS JAUNTS AND DRIVERS
129THE GATES OPENING
16PLAYS AND OPERAS TOO
130THE COMMON EARTH, THE SOIL
17THROUGH EIGHT YEARS.
131BIRDS AND BIRDS AND BIRDS
18SOURCES OF CHARACTER—RESULTS—1860
132FULL-STARR'D NIGHTS
19OPENING OF THE SECESSION WAR
133MULLEINS AND MULLEINS
20NATIONAL UPRISING AND VOLUNTEERING
134DISTANT SOUNDS
21CONTEMPTUOUS FEELING
135A SUN-BATH-NAKEDNESS
22BATTLE OF BULL RUN, JULY, 1861
136THE OAKS AND I
23THE STUPOR PASSES—SOMETHING ELSE BEGINS
137A QUINTETTE
24DOWN AT THE FRONT
138THE FIRST FROST—MEMS
25AFTER FIRST FREDERICKSBURG
139THREE YOUNG MEN'S DEATHS
26BACK TO WASHINGTON
140FEBRUARY DAYS
27FIFTY HOURS LEFT WOUNDED ON THE FIELD
141A MEADOW LARK
28HOSPITAL SCENES AND PERSONS
142SUNDOWN LIGHTS
29PATENT-OFFICE HOSPITAL
143THOUGHTS UNDER AN OAK—A DREAM
30THE WHITE HOUSE BY MOONLIGHT
144CLOVER AND HAY PERFUME
31AN ARMY HOSPITAL WARD
145AN UNKNOWN
32A CONNECTICUT CASE
146BIRD-WHISTLING
33TWO BROOKLYN BOYS
147HORSE-MINT
34A SECESH BRAVE
148THREE OF US
35THE WOUNDED FROM CHANCELLORSVILLE
149DEATH OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
36A NIGHT BATTLE OVER A WEEK SINCE
150JAUNT UP THE HUDSON
37UNNAMED REMAINS THE BRAVEST SOLDIER
151HAPPINESS AND RASPBERRIES
38SOME SPECIMEN CASES
152A SPECIMEN TRAMP FAMILY
39MY PREPARATIONS FOR VISITS
153MANHATTAN FROM THE BAY
40AMBULANCE PROCESSIONS
154HUMAN AND HEROIC NEW YORK
41BAD WOUNDS—THE YOUNG
155HOURS FOR THE SOUL
42THE MOST INSPIRITING OF ALL WAR'S SHOWS
156STRAW-COLOR'D AND OTHER PSYCHES
43BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG
157A NIGHT REMEMBRANCE
44A CAVALRY CAMP
158WILD FLOWERS
45A NEW YORK SOLDIER
159A CIVILITY TOO LONG NEGLECTED
46HOME-MADE MUSIC
160DELAWARE RIVER—DAYS AND NIGHTS
47ABRAHAM LINCOLN
161SCENES ON FERRY AND RIVER—LAST WINTER'S NIGHTS
48HEATED TERM
162THE FIRST SPRING DAY ON CHESTNUT STREET
49SOLDIERS AND TALKS
163UP THE HUDSON TO ULSTER COUNTY
50DEATH OF A WISCONSIN OFFICER
164DAYS AT J. B.'S TURF-FIRES—SPRING SONGS
51HOSPITALS ENSEMBLE
165MEETING A HERMIT
52A SILENT NIGHT RAMBLE
166AN ULSTER COUNTY WATERFALL
53SPIRITUAL CHARACTERS AMONG THE SOLDIERS
167WALTER DUMONT AND HIS MEDAL
54CATTLE DROVES ABOUT WASHINGTON
168HUDSON RIVER SIGHTS
55HOSPITAL PERPLEXITY
169TWO CITY AREAS, CERTAIN HOURS
56DOWN AT THE FRONT
170CENTRAL PARK WALKS AND TALKS
57PAYING THE BOUNTIES
171A FINE AFTERNOON, 4 TO 6
58RUMORS, CHANGES, ETC.
172DEPARTING OF THE BIG STEAMERS
59VIRGINIA
173TWO HOURS ON THE MINNESOTA
60SUMMER OF 1864
174MATURE SUMMER DAYS AND NIGHTS
61A NEW ARMY ORGANIZATION FIT FOR AMERICA
175EXPOSITION BUILDING—NEW CITY HALL—RIVER TRIP
62DEATH OF A HERO
176SWALLOWS ON THE RIVER
63HOSPITAL SCENES—INCIDENTS
177BEGIN A LONG JAUNT WEST
64A YANKEE SOLDIER
178IN THE SLEEPER
65UNION PRISONERS SOUTH
179MISSOURI STATE
66DESERTERS
180LAWRENCE AND TOPEKA, KANSAS
67A GLIMPSE OF WAR'S HELL-SCENES
181ON TO DENVER—A FRONTIER INCIDENT
68GIFTS—MONEY—DISCRIMINATION
182AN HOUR ON KENOSHA SUMMIT
69ITEMS FROM MY NOTE BOOKS
183AN EGOTISTICAL "FIND"
70A CASE FROM SECOND BULL RUN
184NEW SENSES: NEW JOYS
71ARMY SURGEONS—AID DEFICIENCIES
185STEAM-POWER, TELEGRAPHS, ETC
72THE BLUE EVERYWHERE
186AMERICA'S BACK-BONE
73A MODEL HOSPITAL
187THE PARKS
74BOYS IN THE ARMY
188ART FEATURES
75BURIAL OF A LADY NURSE
189DENVER IMPRESSIONS
76FEMALE NURSES FOR SOLDIERS
190I TURN SOUTH AND THEN EAST AGAIN
77SOUTHERN ESCAPEES
191UNFULFILLED WANTS—THE ARKANSAS RIVER
78THE CAPITOL BY GAS-LIGHT
192A SILENT LITTLE FOLLOWER-THE COREOPSIS
79THE INAUGURATION
193THE PRAIRIES AND GREAT PLAINS IN POETRY
80ATTITUDE OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS DURING THE WAR
194THE SPANISH PEAKS—EVENING ON THE PLAINS
81THE WEATHER—DOES IT SYMPATHIZE WITH THESE TIMES?
195AMERICA'S CHARACTERISTIC LANDSCAPE
82INAUGURATION BALL
196EARTH'S MOST IMPORTANT STREAM
83SCENE AT THE CAPITOL
197PRAIRIE ANALOGIES—THE TREE QUESTION
84A YANKEE ANTIQUE
198MISSISSIPPI VALLEY LITERATURE
85WOUNDS AND DISEASES
199AN INTERVIEWER'S ITEM
86DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN
200THE WOMEN OF THE WEST
87SHERMAN'S ARMY'S JUBILATION—ITS SUDDEN STOPPAGE
201THE SILENT GENERAL
88NO GOOD PORTRAIT OF LINCOLN
202PRESIDENT HAYES'S SPEECHES
89RELEAS'D UNION PRISONERS FROM SOUTH
203ST. LOUIS MEMORANDA
90DEATH OF A PENNSYLVANIA SOLDIER
204NIGHTS ON THE MISSISSIPPI
91THE ARMIES RETURNING
205UPON OUR OWN LAND
92THE GRAND REVIEW
206EDGAR POE'S SIGNIFICANCE
93WESTERN SOLDIERS
207BEETHOVEN'S SEPTETTE
94A SOLDIER ON LINCOLN
208A HINT OF WILD NATURE
95TWO BROTHERS, ONE SOUTH, ONE NORTH
209LOAFING IN THE WOODS
96SOME SAD CASES YET
210A CONTRALTO VOICE
97CALHOUN'S REAL MONUMENT
211SEEING NIAGARA TO ADVANTAGE
98HOSPITALS CLOSING
212JAUNTING TO CANADA
99TYPICAL SOLDIERS
213SUNDAY WITH THE INSANE
100"CONVULSIVENESS"
214REMINISCENCE OF ELIAS HICKS
101THREE YEARS SUMM'D UP
215The Wound Dresser
102THE MILLION DEAD, TOO, SUMM'D UP
216THE GREAT ARMY OF THE WOUNDED
103THE REAL WAR WILL NEVER GET IN THE BOOKS
217LETTERS OF 1862-3
104AN INTERREGNUM PARAGRAPH
218LETTERS OF 1864
105NEW THEMES ENTERED UPON
219Letters
106ENTERING A LONG FARM-LANE
220PREFACE
107TO THE SPRING AND BROOK
221INTRODUCTION
108AN EARLY SUMMER REVEILLE
222A WOMAN’S ESTIMATE OF WALT WHITMAN1
109BIRDS MIGRATING AT MIDNIGHT
223LETTER I3. WALT WHITMAN TO W. M. ROSSETTI AND ANNE GILCHRIST
110BUMBLE-BEES
224LETTER XII. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN
111CEDAR-APPLES
225LETTER XXVII. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN
112SUMMER SIGHTS AND INDOLENCIES
226LETTER XLVI. HERBERT H. GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN
113SUNDOWN PERFUME—QUAILNOTES—THE HERMIT-THRUSH
227LETTER LXV. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN
114A JULY AFTER-NOON BY THE POND
WALT WHITMAN Ultimate Collection: 500+ Works in Poetry & Prose (Annotated)Walt Whitman79h 39m$2 · $0.00
GrashalmeWalt Whitman3h 15m$1 · $0.00
The Complete Poems of Walt WhitmanWalt Whitman19h 40m$1 · $0.00
WALT WHITMAN Ultimate Collection: 500+ Works in Poetry & ProseWalt Whitman79h 9m$1 · $0.00
Poèmes de Walt WhitmanWalt Whitman3h 38m$1 · $0.00
Leaves of GrassWalt Whitman14h 32m$2 · $0.00
Grashalmen (Geannoteerd)Walt Whitman4h 9m$2 · $0.00
SONG OF MYSELF (The Original 1855 Edition & The 1892 Death Bed Edition)Walt Whitman17h 56m$1 · $0.00
The Complete PoetryWalt Whitman20h 18m$1 · $0.00
Autobiographical WorksWalt Whitman22h 24m$1 · $0.00
Complete WorksWalt Whitman80h 44m$1 · $0.00
Gesänge und InschriftenWalt Whitman1h 24m$1 · $0.00
The Oxford Book of American EssaysWalt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, Richard Henry Dana, Theodore Roosevelt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Benjamin Franklin, Francis Hopkinson, William Peterfield Trent18h 20m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Poems of Walt WhitmanWalt Whitman20h 27m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Poetry of Walt Whitman (Annotated)Walt Whitman21h 2m$2 · $0.00
Leaves Of Grass: The First Edition of 1855 + The Death Bed Edition of 1892Walt Whitman17h 55m$1 · $0.00
180 Masterpieces You Should Read Before You Die (Vol.1)Walt Whitman, George Eliot, Herman Hesse, Kahlil Gibran, Anton Chekhov, Herman Melville, Oscar Wilde, Fyodor Dostoevsky, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Marcus Aurelius, Nikolai Gogol, James Joyce, Henry David Thoreau, T. S. Eliot, John Keats, Charles Baudelaire, Walter Scott, Daniel Defoe, Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Agatha Christie, Wallace D. Wattles, James Allen, Sigmund Freud, Miguel de Cervantes, Frederick Douglass, Voltaire, Sun Tzu, Plato, Upton Sinclair, Anthony Trollope, E. M. Forster, Theodore Dreiser, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, D. H. Lawrence, William Makepeace Thackeray, Marcel Proust, H. G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway1198h 39m$2 · $0.00
Der WundarztWalt Whitman1h 11m$2 · $0.00
Leaves of Grass (Annotated)Walt Whitman20h 1m$2 · $0.00
Why Not Me? A Feeling of Millions (Hinglish)Unknown Author4h 8m5 (1)$20 · $0.00
Matters of the HeartJacinta Nampijinpa Price9h 35m$29 · $0.00
How to Test Negative for StupidJohn Kennedy8h 13m$28 · $0.00
Defying JihadEsther Ahmad8h 50m$20
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m$24 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass42h 36m$1 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m$26 · $0.00
Ulysses S. Grant: Life of the Fearless General & Commander-in-Chief (Complete Edition - Volumes 1&2)Ulysses S. Grant30h 34m$2 · $0.00
Left for DeadEbony Canion5h 34m$17
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m$29 · $0.00
A Bridge Not Too FarDeepak Ohri4h 55m$15
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m$24 · $0.00
You may also like
The Complete Poetry: The Watchman and Other Poems + Uncollected Poems (Annotated)Lucy Maud Montgomery4h 49m$2 · $0.00
Orchard and VineyardV. Sackville-West2h 21m$2 · $0.00
New PoemsSir Charles G. D. Roberts58m$2 · $0.00
Soul FriendSheila McEntee1h 59m$7 · $0.00
Voices in the AirNaomi Shihab Nye2h 50m$18 · $0.00
The Pageant of SummerRichard Jefferies1h 20m$2 · $0.00
The Golden YearsRuskin Bond3h 7m$18 · $0.00
In Memoriam A. H. HAlfred Tennyson3h 39m$1 · $0.00
Woman at the CrossingSusan Okie59m$11.80 · $0.00
Poems New and OldJohn Freeman4h 49m$2 · $0.00
The Private Papers of Henry RyecroftGeorge Gissing7h 15m$2 · $0.00
Summer Cruising in the South SeasCharles Warren Stoddard8h 4m$2 · $0.00
Miscellaneous SonnetsWilliam Wordsworth2h 8m$15
Personal Reflections & MeditationsBernie S. Siegel1h 6m$13 · $0.00
Talk to Me AlwaysAlexi Lubomirski2h 18m$15
My Garden AcquaintanceJames Russell Lowell1h 29m$1 · $0.00
TO THE LIGHTHOUSEVirginia Woolf8h 28m$1 · $0.00
Six WalksBen Shattuck5h 26m$17 · $0.00
Isaac Levitan - Poet of the Russian LandscapeAlexei Fiodorov-Davydov2h 20m$16 · $0.00
GatheredGabrielle Cerberville11h 11m$29 · $0.00