Walt Whitman, Yesterday & Today

A critical study traces the 1855 emergence of Whitman’s landmark poetry volume, recounting its unorthodox form and frank sensuality and the furious contemporary denunciations alongside a notable endorsement by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It surveys the poet’s evolving editions, the clusters of poems that provoked censure, and a range of material from lyric passages to list-like catalogues and local sketches. The author analyzes recurring themes—bodily celebration, democratic inclusiveness, and rhetorical audacity—and explains how shifting critical perspectives and editorial changes shaped public reception and the work’s perceived artistic purpose.