Allen, Gay Wilson. The Solitary Singer: A Critical Biography of Walt Whitman.

New York: New York University Press, 1967. The first critical biography to connect the poet's life to his work.

Comprehensive if not always penetrating.

Bedient, Calvin. "Walt Whitman." In Voices and Visions, edited by Helen Vendler. New York: Random House, 1987. An excellent, appreciative essay which places the poet and his work in the context of American poetry and thought.

Davenport, Guy. "Whitman." In The Geography of the Imagination.

Berkeley, CA: North Point Press, 1981.

An exceptionally imaginative and empathetic essay that captures the sensibility of the poet and sets it within the cultural context of Whitman's times.

Kaplan, Justin. Walt Whitman: A Life.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980.

Winner of a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, this fine biography combines research with perceptive, revealing commentary.

Zweig, Paul. Walt Whitman: The Making of...