Prose Works 1892, Volume II

Book excerpt: General Series Editors: Gay Wilson Allen and Sculley Bradley Originally published between 1961 and 1984, and now available in paperback for the first time, the critically acclaimed Collected Writings of Walt Whitman captures every facet of one of America's most important poets. The two-volume set of Prose Works 1892 proves that Whitman’s prose has a quality no less original and distinctive than his poetry. Volume II of Prose Works 1892 contains three of Whitman’s prose collections, Collect, November Boughs, and Good-Bye My Fancy. Whitman’s thoughts on a wide variety of topics are laid out in such essays as “Death of Abraham Lincoln,” “Some War Memoranda,” and “American National Literature.” Seven pieces not included in the original 1892 edition of the Complete Prose Works are also presented here, including “A Backward Glance O’er Travel’d Roads.“ In his preface, Stovall describes why the pieces were not part of Whitman’s printing and lays out his reasons for including them in this volume.