Department of English

Edited by Max Cavitch

Oxford World's Classics

• A lively introduction which explains why Specimen Days is one of the great 19th-century autobiographies and why it should be considered an early Modernist autobiography, and gives a clear account of its relation to autobiographical literature as well as to Whitman's own life and other writings
• Includes extensive explanatory notes to provide important context and background information for readers unfamiliar with 19th-century history and literature
• Provides a glossary of persons mentioned which identifies almost every person referred to in Specimen Days and gives a brief account of their significance to Whitman
• Shares an insight into Whitman's international reception and his own understanding of American national identity through the inclusion of the two prefaces that Whitman wrote for the British edition of Specimen Days

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/specimen-days-9780198861386