WALT WHITMAN'S MIDDLE YEARS: 1860-1867

This study is a definitive record of Whitman's activities during the eight crucial years between the publication of the third and fourth editions of Leaves of Grass. The largely out-of-print material has been assembled in chronological order, and the collection includes a number of unpublished letters. Pertinent passages from unpublished portions of Burroughs's and Emerson's journals are also presented.;The study demonstrates that Whitman entered upon this period under the impetus of a powerful mystical experience similar to that which first stimulated him to plan and write Leaves of Grass. Due to the Civil War, he had to postpone his planned lecture tour designed to supplement the gospel contained in his poems. During this time he befriended hundreds of young men in New York and then later in the military hospitals in Washington and this study indicates for the first time the extent to which his sympathies were aroused by the soldiers and the depths of his despair after the early Northern defeats. Through letters, the severity and duration of the illness that took him home to Brooklyn in the last half of 1864 has been determined.;An examination of the evidence traces Whitman's efforts to obtain a government clerkship after his arrival in Washington. Although he finally obtained a placement in the Office of Indian Affairs, he was dismissed from this post as a result of political intrigue and because Secretary Harlan possessed a puritanical distaste for his poetry.;Through the correspondence of Whitman and his friends, a considerably fuller account is presented here than in the works of previous biographers. The findings illustrate the immense development that took place in Whitman's ideas, his art, and his personality during the middle years of his life. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).;The narrative follows the form of a composite "diary" in which is entered every available fact concerning Whitman's career during the period of time under scrutiny. It is preceded by a sketch of his early life drawn mainly from secondary sources. It concludes with a brief estimate of the place this period occupies in relation to Whitman's career as a whole, and attempts to make allowances for the prejudices of earlier writers who tended to defame or defend him.