Walt; The Good Gray Poet Speaks for Himself

This biographical novel of the life of Walt Whitman is based loosely upon letters, diaries, and journal entries that Corbett uses to recreate dialogues between Whitman and his friends and family. Corbett also creates scenes from Whitman's life out of whole cloth, such as an 1832 meeting with Mark Twain and an 1845 encounter with Edgar Allan Poe. Chapters 6, 14, and 15 feature conversations with Pfaffian Ned Wilkins, and chapter 44 depicts the 1881 conversation between Whitman and Charles Pfaff that Whitman mentions in [source]. Chapter 21 has a dialogue between Whitman and "Patsy Dee," a composite character of the Irish stagedrivers with whim Whitman fraternized during the Pfaff's period.