Word: walt
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...When Walt Whitman's Drum Taps, a book of Civil War poems, appeared in 1865, a 22-year-old reviewer named Henry James laced into the good grey poet. "To become adopted as a national poet," wrote young James, "it is not enough to discard everything in particular and to accept everything in general, to amass crudity upon crudity, to discharge the undigested contents of your blotting-book into the lap of the public. You must respect the public which you address; for it has taste, if you have not." To which Whitman, for once laconic, snorted: "Feathers...
James later regretted his brashness, and still later, U.S. readers did adopt Walt Whitman as a national poet, but the clash between the two men dramatized the perennially split personality of American writing. Critic Philip Rahv has aptly defined it as a clash between "paleface and redskin." This is critical shorthand for the interrelated battles of highbrow v. lowbrow, refined sensibility v. raw energy, the tradition-directed writer v. the self-made writer. The palefaces, e.g., Hawthorne, Melville, James, ruled the 19th century; the redskins, e.g., Dreiser, Anderson, Wolfe, Hemingway, Faulkner, rule the 20th. As the first great chief...
...Kiss from Lafayette. Whitman Specialist Allen serves a full-course literary meal, and he takes his time about it, but anyone who sits patiently at his table will leave it fat with facts. Walt Whitman was born in West Hills, near present-day Huntington, Long Island, in 1819, but was taken to Brooklyn at the age of three. His father was a good carpenter but a poor provider, who spouted Tom Paine to his eight children. Walt had a skimpy schooling, and the most dramatic event he later recalled from his childhood was the day Lafayette, on a triumphal visit...
...glistening motorcade of Lincolns and Mercurys. In Houston, Sullivan agreed to preside at the opening of the new $9,000,000 Prudential Insurance building, but first arranged for a display of his sponsor's cars in the lobby. When Sam Goldwyn, Oscar Hammerstein II, Josh Logan or Walt Disney are guests on Toast of the Town, Sullivan sees to it that their wives get gift Lincolns. ("That gets a lot of caste-conscious people buying Lincolns...
Interest in hockey in Kirkland has increased more this year than in past seasons, although a few of last year's team are back. Center Walt Gannon with Norm Gahm and Roger Gratwick as wings make up the first line. Phil DeCaro and Mike Moskoware at defense with Tom Walsh and Andy Casner. Gordie Lunn is the team's goalie. The second line consists of Bob Lloyd, Bill Johnson, and John Dwyer...