(Brian Brodeur, Cornelius Eady, David Kirby, Nickole Brown, Dorianne Laux) The bard of democracy arrived in the Federal District to nurse his brother George, who was wounded at Fredericksburg in 1862. In the decade that followed, Whitman lived in the capital as civil servant, comforter of dying Union soldiers, and witness to the political upheaval of the end of the Civil War, the assassination of Lincoln, and Reconstruction. Join us for a discussion of this decade's influence on Whitman, and the legacy of this poet's life and work on American poetry and poetics.

Published Date: June 28, 2017