Walt Whitman

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Even readers already familiar with Walt Whitman (1819-1892) will find much to ponder in this forthright biography. Reef (Henry David Thoreau) traces the poet's life, from his unsettled childhood in New York's Long Island and Brooklyn to his declining years in Camden, N.J., also taking note of the anger and the admiration elicited by his work. The poems themselves are thoughtfully quoted, interpreted and placed in the context of biographical events. Readers may marvel that a knockabout journalist who left school at age 11 could have developed the genius to radically alter the form and content of American poetry. Reef, wisely, offers no answers to that enigma; she simply raises the question and points out that it continues to puzzle scholars. Approximately 70 photographs and engravings enhance this sturdy volume. Ages 9-up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Even readers already familiar with Whitman (1819-1892) will find much to ponder in this forthright biography enhanced with 70 photographs and engravings," wrote PW. "His poems are thoughtfully quoted, interpreted and placed in the context of biographical events." Ages 4-up. (Nov.)

Children's Literature

Catherine Reef pens a fascinating biography of the father of American poetry. Walt Whitman opens with the poet standing on a ferry and experiencing a strong connection with people of the past and present. "Just as you are refresh'd by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refresh'd," he writes in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," a poem in his great Leaves of Grass. Reef leads young readers through Whitman's life: his birth in 1819, his failed jobs, the publication of his first book of poetry in 1855, his nursing of wounded Civil War troops, and his death in 1892. But she also provides those details that help bring the poet to life. For example, he hated corporal punishment as a schoolboy and refused to whip errant students when he became a teacher. Reef includes numerous period photos and quotes liberally from Whitman's poetry, carefully analyzing how the man broke with the careful rhymes and strict rhythms of his predecessors. According to Reef, Whitman's looser lines, rhythms based on the cadences of American speech, and celebration of the American landscape influenced later poets such as Hart Crane and Allen Ginsberg. 2002 (orig. 1995), Clarion/Houghton Mifflin,
— Mary Quattlebaum

Children's Literature - Kathleen Karr

I rarely come across a biography I can't put down. This was one of them. Reef has crafted an intelligent, interesting, eminently readable book about one of America's greatest poets and eccentrics. She interweaves her story with excerpts from Leaves of Grass, bringing the poetry alive. In the process of telling Whitman's life, she also manages to give a vivid description of the times in which he lived. The physical book itself is also a delight-from its thick, glossy pages, to its many wonderful photographs and period prints, to facsimiles of Whitman's manuscripts and letters.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-9-This vivid, straightforward biography draws heavily on poetry and reminiscences to establish Whitman as the rebel poet whose robust free verse and unorthodox themes offended Victorian sensibilities, but greatly influenced American literature. Reef discusses significant events in her subject's life and traces the publishing history of his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass. Emphasis is placed on the Civil War years, a time when Whitman served as a battlefield nurse and wrote some of his most memorable poems. As his character emerges, readers view a man dominated by a strong democratic spirit and an abiding love for all humanity, characteristics readily discernible in both his poetry and prose. While most biographers circumvent Whitman's homosexuality, Reef addresses the issue openly, though briefly. The flowing text is at times lyrically descriptive. Many of the 70 black-and-white reproductions and photographs document the dramatic changes in Whitman's appearance over the years. The volume is well indexed. This title differs markedly from Nancy Loewen's Walt Whitman (Creative Editions, 1994), which is a combination of poetry, biographical vignettes, and photo-history. An absorbing, honest, and highly informative portrait.-Pat Katka, San Diego Public Library