| Title | : | Leaves of Grass and Other Writings |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0393974960 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780393974966 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 976 |
| Publication | : | First published July 4, 1855 |
Following the texts is an album of portraits of Whitman, as well as "Whitman on His Art," a collection of Whitman's statements about his role as a poet taken from his notebooks, letters, conversations, and newspaper articles.
While continuing to provide leading commentary on Whitman by major twentieth-century poets and critics, among them D. H. Lawrence, William Carlos Williams, and Randall Jarrell, this revised edition adds important commentary by Whitman contemporaries Henry David Thoreau, Fanny Fern, Henry James, and Oscar Wilde, among others. An entirely new section of recent criticism includes six essays--by David S. Reynolds, Karen Sanchez-Eppler, John Irwin, Allen Grossman, Betsy Erkkila, and Michael Moon--that reflect both the continuing historicist mainstream of Whitman literary interpretation and influential recent work in gender and sexuality studies.
The volume also includes a Chronology, a Selected Bibligraphy, and an Index of Titles.
Leaves of Grass and Other Writings Reviews
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They are lines in Song Of Myself that almost feel alien, as though a human man from this planet could not have written such beautiful, generous, true, and altruistic words. Inspired by the greatest summits of the human possibility, without arrogance or pride and infused with humanism, the all-encompassing kind, Whitman's poetry is mystical to me, yet never remote.
He seems to have been given the key to Arcadia, that pastoral and wonderful secret place the Greeks dreamed about.
As a bisexual person, I have yet to read anything that embodies the essence of how I view my own bisexuality than here, in Song Of Myself where at one time Whitman sleeps peacefully in the arms of his male lover without ever diminshing the love he feels for the woman he holds in his heart.
Fluid, natural, without guilt but always accountable.
I love him so much. He is a gentle giant and a friend and father to us all who read him. :-) -
I read Leaves the first time when I was fifteen, back in '66 or '67. Probably read it again every few years since. Then kicked it up to once a year. Recently I've started taking it up several times a year, in different editions, along with the writings of others about Leaves. It was refreshing to read many of the comments and reviews here. A thrill to know this book is still being read by so many over one-hundred and fifty years later. Ed Folsum's article, "So Long! So Long! Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and the Art of Longing" published in the Iowa Whitman Series volume "Walt Whitman, Where the Furture Becomes Present" has now incited me to locate the original edition of Hughes "Selected Poems" (thank goodness for interlibrary loans!) - where he begins with Whitman's finale: "So Long" -- and uses E. McKnight Kauffer's linotype in a reversal of Whitman's original 1855 front cover engraving of Schoff, with the image of a young African American. So all this to say, it's got me re-reading Langston Hughes work, and understanding the intertextuality between the two poets. I'm also glad my friend Mike Garrett got on Goodreads and wrote his review, so I could read his impressions.
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This is my favorite poet of all time. I love how he speaks to you. Talking about how he wrote these poems for you and me makes me get chills everytime I read something of his. I have this edition and then recieved a beatiful edition at Christmas and tears came to eyes. Walt Whitman is not for everybody but he wishes he could be.
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One of the great books of my life, and everyone's life. I come back to this one frequently. It is summertime, it is America, it is celebration.
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I would love to read this whole thing, had I energy enough (I could make time). But for now I'm simply trying to enhance my appreciation for the stand-alone Song of Myself that I read. The notes here helped a lot, but did not intrude interpretation... just right, iow. So, yes, I recommend the book to interested readers.
December 2021 -
A vivid daydream among the trees and the whispers of leaves crushing beneath the sole of our feet ... To recapture what makes us truly human, an experience we too often bury under greet & selfishness!
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No matter what is making me feel unsettled, this selection of poetry from the works of Whalt Whitman always brings comfort and somehow helps getting hold of my racing thoughts. The kind of poems book to read again and again and again...
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Prepare for freeform, chaotic meandering. Whitman holds an odd but special place in my heart, so I would encourage reading this. Just be prepared for some intense energy that doesn't always connect between poems. Certain poems are absolute gems, though. Read in multiple sittings.
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Happy Saturday, everyone! I have a "new" project! Reading poems and writing down those who hits home💖🌲🏚 I also change them a bit so they make more sense, cause damn those old dudes use weird words and frases😅 Next up is Oscar Wilde🙌
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I <3 WW
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I KEEP SAYING I WILL READ THE CLASSICS SO I'M GOING TO FINALLY DO IT. WHAT SHOULD I START WITH?
THE HORNY POETRY OF WALT WHITMAN. -
It was very interesting with occasional personal stories from the 1800s. I would read this again and I’m interested in reading more from the same author or similar.
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Excellent book on poetry
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Read for class. Did not read the entire book, because it's just under a thousand pages, but the third or so of it that I did read, I liked for the most part, despite not being a fan of poetry.
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wow , such sensitivity and lovely prose , so earthy and romantic
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had to read this for uni (did not read every single poems bc there’s too many) but overall it wasn’t that bad. some very interesting insights in the poems ig
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This is a Walt Whitman hate account
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A.
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The poems distilled from other poems will probably pass away. The coward will surely pass away. The expectation of the vital and great can only be satisfied by the demeanor of the vital and great. The swarms of the polished deprecating and reflectors and the polite float off and leave no remembrance. America prepares with composure and goodwill for the visitors that have sent word. It is not intellect that is to be their warrant and welcome. The talented, the artist, the ingenious, the editor, the statesman, the erudite . . . they are not unappreciated . . . they fall in their place and do their work. The soul of the nation also does its work. No disguise can pass on it . . . no disguise can conceal from it. It rejects none, it permits all. Only toward as good as itself and toward the like of itself will it advance half-way. An individual is as superb as a nation when he has the qualities which make a superb nation. The soul of the largest and wealthiest and proudest nation may well go half-way to meet that of its poets. The signs are effectual. There is no fear of mistake. If the one is true the other is true. The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.
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Okay, here's the deal... Leaves of Grass 5 stars. What follows pertains to this edition.
Exhaustively collecting everything Whitman ever put a pen to, this is the ultimate Whitman class in a cover, including plenty of unpublished poems and (which I find most interesting) lines scribbled in notebooks that never went anywhere.
Ultimately, though, the critical editions make their reputation on the interplay of the criticism chosen and the text, and here this edition is sorely lacking. There is an abundance of essays concerned with extra-literary topics (gender issues, political positions) that carry interest, but are, ultimately, extra-literary. There is almost nothing examining the formal structure of Whitman's work, as if just because it is free verse there is nothing to say about meter. Leaving the themes of which he sang largely untouched hurts the value of this edition. -
This book took me a long time to get through, but it should be noted that I did not read it continually and took long stretches off. This version is an anthology, so it included not only the poems but commentary, previous editions of poems, reviews, photos, etc. and I read it all. Whitman is not my favorite poet, but he is a quintessentially American poet and I appreciate his description of life in the United States and its ideals and, in my opinion, worthy of appreciation and study.
2016 Reading Challenge: A book of poetry -
Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' is America's presiding secular scripture. I find more faith in humanity--or at most, as much--throughout the vast majority of these poems than in much of the Greek New Testament. Regardless of your nationality or creed, Whitman will leave an indelible impression upon your soul.
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Song of Myself, although ostensibly a poem, reads so much better with the breadth and width of a novel of America.
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Yes, I've been reading this since 2003...
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811.3 W615Lg 2002
