Walt Whitman did not aspire to be a literary critic, yet in the course of his career he did review the works of a large number of writers ranging from the ancient classicists to his contemporaries. In form and length Whitman's criticism is journalistic, reflecting his long training and experience on various newspapers. Although his attitudes toward writers and literature matured with experience, his critical principles stayed remarkably consistent. Most notably he sought to disassociate American literature from its English origins in order that America might have a "democratic" literature. To this end he viewed all literature of the past as material from which might be winnowed a literary canon that could be the bedrock of a literature for the commonalty. Hence literature was to be valued less for its "professional quality" than for its reflection of and sympathy with humanity. Certain corollaries followed. Overpreoccupation with revision and...