Walt Whitman
“The Naxos Great Poets series has finally gotten around to Whitman, and Garrick Hagon’s readings are worth the wait. He is declamatory at some points, soft and tender at others, and almost always rhapsodic. If you’re not familiar with Whitman’s poetry, this selection is an excellent introduction. It includes some of Whitman’s most renowned works (such as “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,” and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed”) and a couple that may be less familiar (“Beat! Beat! Drums!” for example). Hagon doesn’t try to imitate the one (disputed) recording we have of Whitman’s voice; instead he gives us the voice that Whitman should have had. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
AudioFile
Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
Walt Whitman stands out as one of poetry’s towering anomalies: In celebrating the trees, water, sky and air, the bear, the eagle, the buffalo and the lion, Whitman expressed a uniquely democratic vision that engulfs not only the American continent but the entire universe. His passionate vehemence, his faith in the common man, and his unflinching pursuit of the truth gave form to an arsenal of ideas, inspiring and motivating generations of writers to come.
This collection includes:
- I Hear America Singing
- Starting from Paumanok
- I Sing the Body Electric
- Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
- Beat! Beat! Drums
- Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking
- A Noiseless Patient Spider
- When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.
Delivered with verve and passion, Garrick Hagon’s reading is suffused with an energy found in Whitman’s most moving poetry.
Praise