Leaves of Grass

By Walt Whitman

Book Overview

One of the great innovative figures in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves Of Grass is his one book. First published in 1855 with only twelve poems, it was greeted by Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the wonderful gift . . . the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed." Over the course of Whitman's life, the book reappeared in many versions, expanded and transformed as the author's experiences and the nation's history changed and grew. Whitman's ambition was to creates something uniquely American. In that he succeeded. His poems have been woven into the very fabric of the American character. From his solemn masterpieces "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" to the joyous freedom of "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," and "Song of the Open Road," Whitman's work lives on, an inspiration to the poets of later generations.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553211161
• ISBN13: 9780553211160
• Release Date: July 1983
• Publisher: Bantam Classics
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.5" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Always a good read

I love this book and the stories (poems) are beautiful and have so much meaning.It’s always a good time to pick this book up and enjoy

Excellent

Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" took various forms during the poet's lifetime. The 1855 lst edition was a thin pamphlet of 12 poems; the great final edition encompassed more than 300. It is the 1892 edition of "Leaves of Grass" commonly called "the Deathbed Edition"-that remains the bard's definitive version of what is indisputably and American classic. This special edition of "Leaves of Grass has been prepared in observance of the 100th anniversary of Whitman's death (March 26, 1892) and contains the entire "Deathbed Edition." In Leaves of Grass Witman abandoned traditonal Victorian poetic forms and language, handled decidedly unvonventional sujects & themes, and evoked so personal a tone and so candid a voice that in the book offended the few people who read it in the first voice that the book offended the few people who read it in the first edition. Only Ralph Waldo emerson hailed Whitman "at the beginning of a great careet." Today Whitman is revered for his accomplishment, and many of his poems are admired as among America's finest: the exquisite personal meditation of "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"; the celebraton of the human body & spitit in song of Myself; the paeans to companionship of the Calamus poems; and the landmark elegy for Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the dooryard Bloom'd. Throughout Leaves of Grass we glimpse the sublime beauty of the natural world and fel Whitman's lovoing embrace of the common man.

Excelente

Creo que es uno de los mejores libros de poesía americana que he leido

An Incomparable Masterpiece

Words cannot describe the complexity of Leaves of Grass. I am constantly amazed at how well Walt Whitman holds it all together, keeping is hand on one object while amorously praising another. Everything works in perfect cohesion...An unabashed love of self, of nature, of all that is divine and not divine. Leaves of Grass is a truly inspired work...its words are boundless and fluent, rising in an intoxicating crescendo of naked emotion. "I am the poet of the Body; and I am the poet of the Soul." Throughout Leaves of Grass there is an overwhelming theme of unity...unity of man and nature, of man and man, of man and God. Excitable sputterings of ageless wisdom become scattered, but somehow stay anchored to the intricate framework of the book. This sounds contradicting, and it is reminiscent of a line from the book --"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; (I am large-I contain multitudes.) After reading this book, you will delight in how large Walt Whitman is.

Moving!! Colossal!! A Celebration of being Alive!!

The best way to appreciate Whitman is to read him aloud as you walk down a street or the country side.You'd feel electricity stirring within you and all else would change too.Even the inanimate would seeth with life and vitality amidst the gentle choreography of nature.Thats what happens to me when I read "The Song Of the Open Road".It's amazing that Whitman could capture the deep inherent things we feel inside,things that stir us inside out and yet find it difficult to express.A timeless clasic that will stir people from generation to generation.Nothing like it.