Laws for Creations

In Walt Whitman Michael Cunningham sees a poet whose vision of humanity is ecstatic democratic and sensuous. Just over a hundred years ago Whitman celebrated America as it survived the Civil War as it endured great poverty and as it entered the Industrial Revolution which would make it the most powerful nation on Earth. In Specimen Days Michael Cunningham makes Whitmans verse sing across time and in Laws for Creations he celebrates what Whitman means to him and how he appeared at the heart of his new novel.Just as the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hours drew on the life and work of English novelist Viriginia Woolf Specimen Days lovingly features the work of American poet Walt Whitman. Bringing together extracts from Whitmans prodigious writings including Leaves of Grass and his journal Specimen Days Michael Cunninghams Laws for Creations provides an introduction to one of Americas greatest visionary poets from one of our greatest contemporary novelists.