"This mighty convulsion" : Whitman and Melville write the Civil War

Resource Information

The work "This mighty convulsion" : Whitman and Melville write the Civil War represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Bowdoin College Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

"This mighty convulsion" : Whitman and Melville write the Civil War

Title remainder

Whitman and Melville write the Civil War

Statement of responsibility

Christopher Sten & Tyler Hoffman, editors

Title variation

Whitman and Melville write the Civil War

Contributor

• Sten, Christopher, 1944-
• Hoffman, Tyler,

Editor

• Hoffman, Tyler,
• Sten, Christopher, 1944-

Subject

• 1861-1865
• American Civil War (1861-1865)
• Civil war in literature
• Civil war in literature
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Historical poetry, American
• Historical poetry, American
• History
• Literature
• Melville, Herman, 1819-1891
• Melville, Herman, 1819-1891 -- Criticism and interpretation
• Poetry
• Poetry
• United States
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- In literature
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Poetry
• Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892
• Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892 -- Criticism and interpretation

Genre

• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• History
• Poetry

Language

eng

Summary

"While several essays treating the Civil War poetry of Whitman and Melville together have appeared in scholarly journals over the past few decades, "This Mighty Convulsion" is the first book exclusively devoted to the Civil War writings of these two poets, arguably the most important poets of the most convulsive event in American history. The essays brought together in this volume add significantly to recent critical appreciation of the skill and sophistication of these poets; growing recognition of the complexity of their views of the war; and heightened appreciation for the anxieties they harbored about its aftermath. These essays also add to our critical understanding of the distinctive qualities of the two poets and to a clear appreciation of how their views converged or diverged from one another. Both in the ways they come together and seem mutually influenced, and in the ways they disagree, Whitman and Melville, whether in the smallest of signifiers or in the larger ideological currents of their poetry, grapple with the casualties, complications, and anxieties of the War while highlighting its irresolution. Although often approaching the War and its effects with different assumptions and with markedly different frames of mind, both poets shed light on the conflicting impulses behind the War and probe the gaps and fractures in a way that recognizes the ongoing cultural work of reparation and healing across racial and regional lines." --

Member of

• Iowa Whitman series

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Government publication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

The Iowa Whitman series