Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections

Whitman’s Critical Reception

The Department's holdings contain a selection of works that document Whitman’s critical reception over the hundred years following the first publication of "Leaves of Grass." From Anne Gilchrist’s famous glowing praise to works about Anne Gilchrist’s famous glowing praise, from J. A. Symonds's enthusiastic monograph to Mila Maynard’s brief "Walt Whitman: Poet of the Wider Selfhood" (1903) and Gay Wilson Allen’s 1955 contribution, "The Solitary Singer," the works in the collection provide evidence of the evolving roles that Whitman came to fill for his reading public.