Miracles and Vistas: A Walt Whitman Compendium

Summary

“My words itch at your ears till you understand them.”
—“Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman 

There is a reason the words of Walt Whitman have persisted in American literature, in literature at large, for so long. He was not simply a man of his time, not just a writer for the moment. Whitman was a man of the people and a writer of the soul—the souls of humankind, and the soul of America.

Miracles and Vistas: A Walt Whitman Compendium spans the breadth of Whitman’s literary and lyrical work, from his lectures and essays to his prose and to both his short- and long-form poetry. The Compendium begins with Whitman’s political works, several of which have direct relevance on the state of America and the world today. After these pieces comes a selection of his humorous, touching, and unusual fiction and short poetry. Then the whole compilation culminates in his unparalleled and all-encompassing “Song of Myself.”

Compiled by Stefan Rudnicki with Alison Belle Bews, this original collection from Skyboat Media showcases the “multitudes” contained in Whitman’s writing.

Full Contents:

1. Introduction by Stefan Rudnicki

2. “Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand”

3. “Origins of Attempted Secession”

4. “Abraham Lincoln”

5. “Some War Memoranda”

6. “Last of the War Cases”

7. “O Captain! My Captain!”

8. “Death of Abraham Lincoln Lecture”

9. “President Lincoln’s Funeral Hymn”

10. “Democratic Vistas”

11. “Miracles”

12. “The Love of the Four Students”

13. “Revenge and Requital”

14. “The Dark Side”

15. “Death in the School-Room”

16. “A Noiseless Patient Spider”

17. “Some Fact-Romances”

18. “Song of Myself”