Masculine Beauty: A Collection of Walt Whitman's Poetry of Same-Sex Affection

This volume seeks to give readers and scholars a single source to consult when the aim is to read Whitman’s homoerotic verse. It contains only those poems Whitman wrote exploring masculine beauty and/or same-sex affection. An abridged introduction by John Burroughs places the work in its historical context.

Sometimes gay readers and scholars have occasion to seek out the homoerotic passages of Whitman, whether to read for the pure pleasure of the experience or for scholarship. This need has been problematic in the past because Leaves is a huge volume to read through to find what one is seeking, shorter editions of “selected” Whitman poems are generally more apt to omit his homoerotic material than to include it (and certainly do not highlight it), and if one turns only to his “Calamus” section, his most homoerotic “chapter,” one misses out on a great deal more. This volume seeks to give readers and scholars a single source to consult when the aim is to read Whitman’s homoerotic verse.

.......... Watersgreen House is an independent international book publisher with editorial staff in the UK and USA. One of our aims at Watersgreen House is to showcase same-sex affection in works by important gay and bisexual authors in ways which were not possible at the time the books were originally published. We also publish nonfiction, including textbooks, as well as contemporary fiction that is literary, unusual, and provocative.