A collection of poetry by Walt Whitman, available on Amazon, but this version is public domain and available for free in various places.

The formatting on my Kindle app was terrible

The collection itself is hit-or-miss in terms of Whitman's writing

The introduction is excessive and boring

Find a better collection, and a well-narrated audiobook

Formatting issues, so-so mix of poems, boring introduction, no lack of choice for Whitman collections out there (so pick a different one)

I recognize this is a public domain book digitized by volunteers, and I am grateful for their work. Unfortunately, on my kindle app, the poems didn't render quite right, and it made reading quite a chore.

Placing that aside, I would much rather listen to Whitman's pieces than read them. Additionally, this particular volume is a blend of pieces that pretty much splits what I enjoy vs. what I could live without into a 50/50 mix.

There is some powerful, moving work in here. There is also some rambling and generally boring stuff in here. The lack of indexing makes for an experience in highlighting, that's for sure.

And like everyone else of the Dead Poet's Society initiation, I'm a huge fan of "Oh Captain, My Captain,", but the depth and simplicity of "Answer" makes it one of my favourites.

I would recommend (especially if you are new/reintroducing yourself to Whitman) to start somewhere else (audiobook, if you can). If you do start here, feel free to skip the introduction. You can always go back to check it out after the fact, and thank me later :)

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Created Oct 09, 2019 at 8:08pm • Submit your own review...