"Explores the meaning of blacks and blackness in Whitman's imagination and, equally significant, also illuminates the aura of Whitman in African American letters from Langston Hughes to June Jordan, Margaret Walker to Yusef Komunyakaa. The essay, which feature academic scholars and poets alike, address questions of literary history, the textual interplay between author and narrator, and race and poetic influence."--Page [4] of cover.

Reproduction of the original: The Good Gray Poet by William D. O ́Connor

In 1864 the poet, Walt Whitman, was terminated from his job as a clerk for the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior. The reason was that the incoming Secretary of the Department read 'Leaves of Grass' and decided that Whitman was a publisher of vulgar literature. William Douglas O'Connor was a close friend and published this book to defend Whitman and 'Leaves of Grass' by stating that a lot of classic literature is filled with profanity and obscenity and that the book was one of them.

One of the Greatest Poems in American Literature Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was considered by many to be one of the most important American poets of all time. He had a profound influence on all those who came after him. “Song of Myself”, a portion of Whitman’s monumental poetry collection “Leaves of Grass”, is one of his most beloved poems. It was through this moving piece that Whitman first made himself known to the world. One of the most acclaimed of all American poems, it is written in Whitman’s signature free verse style, without a regular form, meter, or rhythm. His lines have a mesmerizing chant-like quality, as he sought to make poetry more appealing. Few poems are as fun to read aloud as this one. Considered to be the core of his poetic vision, this poem is an optimistic and inspirational look at the world in 1855. It is exhilarating, epic, and fresh in its brilliant and fascinating diction and wordplay as it tries to capture the unique meaning of words of the day, while also embracing the rapidly evolving vocabularies of the sciences and the streets. Far ahead of its time, it was considered by many social conservatives to be scandalous and obscene for its depiction of sexuality and desire, while at the same time, critics hailed the poem as a modern masterpiece. This first version of “Song of Myself” is far superior to the later versions and will delight readers with the playfulness of its diction as it glorifies the self, body, and soul. “I am large, I contain multitudes,”

John Gray was among the "tragic generation" of English decadent artists of the 1890s and the reputed model for the hero in Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Though John Gray is little known today, the story of his transformation from working-class laborer to avent-garde poet to patrician priest is fascinating in its own right and serves as a window into the world of such luminaries as Wilde, W. B. Yeats, Ernest Dowson, Lionel Johnson, Arthur Symons, and Aubrey Beardsley. Jerusha McCormack's lively critical biography draws upon unpublished journals and letters, extensive interviews, and autobiographical elements in Gray's poetry and prose to tell his complete story for the first time. -- from dust jacket.