Memoranda During the War, Walt Whitman
Memoranda During the War, Walt Whitman
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Memoranda During the War
from Specimen Days

Author: Walt Whitman

Narrator: Robert Gorman

Unabridged: 4 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/07/2008

Synopsis

"The real war will never get in the books," Walt Whitman wrote in this diary he kept during the Civil War. Whitman chronicled his visits to Washington, D.C. hospitals where he comforted wounded men and assisted nurses and doctors. This journal, written by one of America's greatest poets and writers, captures the details and ironies of war.

About Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was born in Westhills, Long Island, and acquired his education in Brooklyn, New York. At thirteen he learned typesetting, and two years later he taught a country school. He contributed to the Democratic Review before he was twenty-one. At thirty he traveled through the Western States, spending one year in New Orleans editing a newspaper. Returning home, he took up carpentry and building, which he followed for a while. During the War of the Rebellion, he spent most of his time in the hospitals and camps, in the relief of sick and disabled soldiers. In 1856, Walt published a volume entitled Leaves of Grass. This volume showed unquestionable power and great originality, and it is considered one of the central volumes in the history of world poetry.
Walt continually expanded and revised the book over the course of much of his lifetime. His labors among the sick and wounded made great impressions; these took form in his mind and were published under the title Drum Taps. Walt's poems lack much of the standard of recognized poetic measure. He has a style that is peculiar to himself, and his writings are full of meaning, beauty, and interest.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jim on March 17, 2018

This was fantastic... well, not really. It was piecemeal & showed views of the American Civil War that I've never read about in such detail, but was rarely complete - a bunch of vignettes, diary entries that often led no where save to a single, stark, disturbing picture & the urge to weep. No real g......more

Goodreads review by Ray on June 15, 2019

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Walt Whitman the greatest American poet (along with Emily Dickinson) of the 19th century. So I thought I'd read some of his work. I chose this short book about his notes as a visitor to wounded troops during the Civil War. Besides being a great p......more

Goodreads review by Patrick on March 30, 2015

I don't know if I'm just getting lucky with these books I'm choosing (at random) or if the Civil War makes everyone who writes about it particularly inspired. This is a beautifully written, tragic portrait of the war.If ever a book was to be read out loud (even to yourself) this is it. History can b......more

Goodreads review by Nathan on March 19, 2020

This book made me feel very uncomfortable as a reader.  That does not make it a bad book but there are plenty of reasons why someone would consider this book to be cringeworthy one.  It is also not surprising that this book was initially released only to a small insider audience, considering that th......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on January 29, 2019

Walt Whitman reveals the gruesome reality of America’s 19th Century Civil War with a personal perspective like few that are readily available to the public today. There are many tidbits about the War, more from the Union perspective due to Whitman’s presence in hospitals in Washington during battles......more

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