THE POETRY OF WALT WHITMAN A+ Audio Study Guide

A brief exegesis on the life and works of the ground-breaking nineteenth-century poet features excerpts from his writing and snippets of instrumental music by Carl Ives and Sergei Prokofiev. Familiar to TV viewers, Peter Strauss gives an amiable, intimate reading of the essay and an unctuous, if not particularly insightful, rendering of the verse. Unfortunately, he cannot overcome the flat writing of Dr. Kristen Silva Gruesz, who sticks to clear language but fails to imbue her discussion with liveliness. The effect is of a "dumbing down" by a scholar who has better things to do. The narrator seems far more interested in Whitman than the expert. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]