Leaves of Grass
By Walter Whitman Jr.
Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing, rewriting, and expanding Leaves of Grass until he died in 1892. Six or nine individual editions of Leaves of Grass were produced, depending on how they are distinguished. This resulted in vastly different editions over four decades. The first edition was a small book of twelve poems; the last was a compilation of over 400. The collection of loosely connected poems represents the celebration of his philosophy of life and humanity and praises nature and the individual human’s role in it. Rather than focusing on religious or spiritual matters, Leaves of Grass concentrates primarily on the body and the material world.
Its poems do not rhyme or follow standard meter and line length rules. Leaves of Grass is regarded by many scholars as a completely do-it-yourself project. Whitman chose his idealized self as the subject of the book, created the style in which it was written, and worked hard and intelligently to perfect the style over six or seven years, making the personality of the proletarian bard, the supposed writer of the poems. Leaves of Grass is notable for discussing delight in sensual pleasures when such candid displays were considered immoral. The book was highly controversial during its time for its explicit sexual imagery, and Whitman was subject to ridicule by many contemporary critics. Over time, however, the collection has infiltrated popular culture and became recognized as one of the central works of American poetry.
Among the works in this collection are “Song of Myself”, “I Sing the Body Electric”, and “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”. Later editions would include Whitman’s elegy to President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”.
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Walter Whitman Jr.
Walter Whitman Jr. ( May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist.
Biography
He is considered one of the most influential poets in American history. Whitman incorporated transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality. Whitman was born in Huntington on Long Island and lived in Brooklyn as a child and throughout his career. At the age of 11, he left formal schooling to go to work. He worked as a journalist, a teacher, and a government clerk. Whitman’s primary poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, was financed with his money and became well known.
The work attempted to reach the ordinary person with an American epic. Whitman continued expanding and revising Leaves of Grass until he died in 1892. During the American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C., and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded. His poetry often focused on both loss and healing. On the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman greatly admired, he authored two poems, “O Captain! My Captain!” and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, and gave a series of lectures on Lincoln. After suffering a stroke towards the end of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined.
When he died at 72, his funeral was a public event. Whitman’s influence on poetry remains strong. Art historian Mary Berenson wrote, “You cannot understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass… He has expressed that civilization is ‘up to date,’ as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him.” Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman “America’s poet… He is America.”
Walter Whitman Jr.
