Walt Whitman fully absorbed 19th-century cultural life, both reflecting and transfiguring it through his poetry and prose. This encyclopaedia gathers information on Whitman from a variety of sources, and presents more than 750 entries in an A-Z format. Over 200 contributions include short entries, and longer in-depth essays. An appendix of Whitman's ancestry and a chronology is also included.

Now at seventy-three volumes, this popular MLA series (ISSN 10591133) addresses a broad range of literary texts. Each volume surveys teaching aids and critical material and brings together essays that apply a variety of perspectives to teaching the text. Upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, student teachers, education specialists, and teachers in all humanities disciplines will find these volumes particularly helpful.

Comprising more than 30 substantial essays written by leading scholars, this companion constitutes an exceptionally broad-ranging and in-depth guide to one of America's greatest poets.

• Makes the best and most up-to-date thinking on Whitman available to students
• Designed to make readers more aware of the social and cultural contexts of Whitman's work, and of the experimental nature of his writing
• Includes contributions devoted to specific poetry and prose works, a compact biography of the poet, and a bibliography