Although the Death Bed edition dilutes the energy of the 1855 one, it gains much from quieter and gentler moments. Book 27 is a particularly moving addition.

I think this book was unnecessary long and repetitive, and I definitely don't see "America" the same way Whitman did; I can't help but see him as a hypocrite who wrote about "women's rights and labor and immigration issues" in his poems, but supported the USA's expansionist war with Mexico in his journalism. He was white trash a blind patriot who thought abolitionists were too radical and I think he would support Trump if he was alive. I'm pretty sure white supremacists enjoy this kind of poetry...

If I were on a prison cell charged with life imprisonment, forbidden to interact with anyone, and restricted to read one book for the rest of my life, this would be my number one choice. I have found no greater peace, wisdom, suffering, voice, and humanity in what I believe is the best book of poetry ever written. It has been the only book to has made me cry three times while reading it, and they were cries of happiness. I too cry my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of this 21st century world, and b...

Leaves of Grass: First and “Death-Bed” Editions contains best known work of American poet Walt Whitman as well as additional poems that he published before his breakthrough work and that he didn’t include in his final publication. Containing hundreds of poems from the “father of free verse”, the reader gets a essentially a full view of Whitman’s career from beginning to end. In additional each new section of the book has an introduction by Dr. Karen Karbiener who also wrote the Notes at the end

Holy crap! It's a huge book, very intimidating when you first pick it up - mostly because you know the vast majority of it is poetry and it's something everyone should have read before you got to it. I kind of forgot I had it for a while, which took the shine off my panic. It should be required reading in schools. The first edition, I wondered why he's such an ego-maniac but by the time I got to the death-bed edition I realized it's the difference between third-person storytelling and 1st. He wa...

Whitman is known as the great American poet and before reading Leaves of Grass, I had not idea just how much that title was self-imposed. Whitman's poems are uniquely American - at once both expansive and intimate. He has a very egalitarian viewpoint, sometimes putting prostitutes and the President on the same human level. Parts of his work still feel very fresh and revolutionary. This edition features both the original edition and the "Death Bed" edition. The original is manifesto-like, while t...

Walt Whitman is our national bard, whose overwhelming poetic vision of America is so powerfully transcendent that one suspects he is our national bodhisattva as well. Pure, deep, gregarious, filled with love and intimacy…his verse has an uncanny knack for summoning up the best part of ourselves. His is a voice and a spirit one wishes to live up to.

This is such a good book, Walt Whitman is one of my favourite poets. Albeit he was a little full of himself, his poems move me in so many ways. Last summer I walked outback in my yard in a field and read and read this book. I really recommend this book to those ages 15-17 and up because of sexual lines(in a beautiful romantic way). The first edition of LOG is smaller, the "Death-Bed" edition is larger. The way he writes is so real, like it's a train of thought. Very good book.

I fully believe in a clue and purpose in Nature, entire and several; and that Invisible spiritual results, just as real and definite as the visible, eventuate all concrete life all materials, through Time (629) There’s so many quotes I could start with but my own perspective at the moment involves seeing the spiritual in Whitman. There’s a question at the end of this edition asking how we’d describe Whitman’s “religion” or “spirituality”. I’d describe it as universal and authentic, as believ

So, here's the deal. I took a long time with this, long for me. There were parts that I skimmed over, parts that made me uncomfortable, parts that made me reevaluate personal perceptions, parts that I couldn't identify with, and parts that I reread several times. All of these parts culminated in a five star rating, a five star read. That's not to say that editing couldn't or shouldn't be had. In fact, Whitman apparently held the same view and did the deed quite often. But that's just it... when

This review is of 'Leaves of Grass: First and "Death-Bed" Editions,' which I read in its 900 page entirety despite my aversion to almost all of it. Don't get me wrong you can pick out a poem or two, put it in a Levi's commercial and make it seem like some pretty compelling stuff. I just don't find the kind of thinker that I deem worthy of my reading attention behind these words. Whitman is most certainly overrated and done so, I would venture to say, most certainly by people who haven't read him...

Many exceptional poems.

This was the first time I really read any Whitman extensively. I couldn't help but think how groundbreaking this work must have been at the time. I probably shouldn't have read all of it in one sitting, as it all kind of blurred together. They're the kind of poems you read when you need a confidence boost.

These poems felt like that one audio u hear on tiktok/ Instagram reels where Beyoncé’s crazy in love instrumental plays and someone is going “Ammeyrican dreamm, best countrayy”

This is not a book to pick up and read straight through! It requires sufficient reflection, and time to visualize his words. Whitman questions cultural boundaries between people - men/women, rich/poor, races, and religions in much of his work. He explores all that is beautiful in life, and passionately theorizes/preaches about his and nature’s immortality. He “sings” of many things in his poems. I give many examples below, but these are MY personal interpretations, and may not always be in keepi...

It is mainly the subject matter that kept me from enjoying these poems. With some exceptions, his life experiences and thoughts don't make my heart sing with him.

Plain and simple words to live by. Everyone alive should read leaves of Grass at least once

Such a unique voice. I loved the combination of observation of everyday folks of all sorts, along with his own take on spirituality. Pretty radical for the time. Interesting that he kept revising Leaves of Grass and the final versions contain a lifetime of writing poetry.

from Starting from PaumanokHere lands female and male,Here the heir-ship and heiress-ship of the world, here the flame of materials,Here spirituality the translatress, the openly-avow'd,The ever-tending, the finale of visible forms,The satisfier, after due long-waiting now advancing,Yes here comes my mistress the soul. from I Sing the Body ElectricThis is the female form, A divine nimbus exhales from it head to foot,It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction.Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, n...

I am convinced Walt Whitman is the original Dr. Who. I'm not sure anything I say can do his genius justice but I will simply say that to read Whitman is to, not only live a multitude of lives, but to live them vicariously. I'm no poet but my goodness does reading Leaves of Grass make me want to be one.