Complete Prose Works
Beyond his revolutionary poetry, Walt Whitman wrote luminous prose, and this collection gathers his essays, memoranda, and reflections—including Specimen Days, his moving record of nursing wounded soldiers during the Civil War and his communion with American nature. Whitman writes of the war’s suffering, the beauty of the land, democracy, literature, and the meaning of the American experiment with the same expansive, generous spirit that fills his verse. Intimate and wide-ranging, the prose reveals the man behind Leaves of Grass. For readers who love Whitman, his Complete Prose Works offers a rich and personal companion to his poetry and a vivid firsthand portrait of nineteenth-century America.
About the Author
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist, author of Leaves of Grass and a founding figure of American literature. His work celebrated democracy, the body, and the self.
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Listen to Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman free online. The full audiobook (11 hr 4 min, 20 chapters, read by volunteer narrators) streams free on this page.
Complete Prose Works (1882) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Happy Hour's Command --- Sources of Character-Results-1860 | 50:47 | |
| 2 | Opening of the Secession of War --- Patent Office Hospital | 28:25 | |
| 3 | The White House by Moonlight --- The Most Inspiriting of All War's Shows | 29:00 | |
| 4 | Battle of Gettysburg --- Summer of 1864 | 33:23 | |
| 5 | A New Army Organization Fit for America --- A Model Hospital | 22:23 | |
| 6 | Boys in the Army --- Death of President Lincoln | 33:08 | |
| 7 | Sherman's Army's Jubilation-Its Sudden Stoppage --- The Real War Will Never Get in the Books | 37:40 | |
| 8 | An Interegnum Paragraph --- Colors-A Contrast | 42:21 | |
| 9 | Nover 8, '76 --- The Oaks and I | 41:13 | |
| 10 | A Quintet --- Death of William Cullen Bryant | 28:39 | |
| 11 | Jaunt Up the Hudson --- Wild Flowers | 34:52 | |
| 12 | The Civility Too Long Neglected -- Meeting A Hermit | 33:34 | |
| 13 | An Ulster County Waterfall -- Swallow on the River | 30:05 | |
| 14 | Begin a Long Jaunt West -- The Women of the West | 58:44 | |
| 15 | The Silent General -- Seeing Niagara to Advantage | 21:47 | |
| 16 | Jaunting To Canada --- Death of Thomas Carlyle | 28:51 | |
| 17 | Carlyle From American Points of View -- Millet's Pictures Last Items | 51:18 | |
| 18 | Birds - Death of Longfellow | 34:04 | |
| 19 | Starting Newspapers --- Nature and Democracy-Morality | 20:27 | |
| 20 | Notes | 3:26 |
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