Walt Whitman is one of the great seers of modern poetry. He meditates on the shades and colours of the human soul often found in Hindu Bhakti writing. His work contains the infinite and the multiple in small strokes of sentences. Each poem is consciously incised to reveal something deep in very short spaces. Whitman sees the world literally like he is an ant on a blade of grass, and he just wants to observe it, between the tugs and tussles of the wind.

"Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,Out of the mockingbirds throat, the musical shuttle,Out of the Ninth-month midnight ......Simple, visceral words phrased in long steady breaths -- a human meter. i could read this collection over and over. actually i do and so do my students and always there is one in the class who loves it as much as i do -- maybe more.uncle walt -- omisexual super poet of the body, soul, and mind.

I can never sing Whitmans praises enough, the man was a genius before his time - he knew, profoundly, that we are all one and are all connected and that all is just experience..."Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul. Lack one lacks both, and the unseen is proved by the seen, Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn."Mystic, poetic soul, lover of everything, God.

Whitman’s vision of mystic unity informs a generous sympathy expressed in long lines, chants, and lists. The flip side is a lack of analytic discrimination.

Whitman starts off in a grandiose and expansive style and never shifts from it, staying in the highest possible register at all times. While his poems are individually titled they form a single mass of life-affirmation and Whitman's own style of patriotism and religious devotion.Most interesting to me is Whitman's highly ambiguous attitude to gender and sexuality. He calls for equality, and reveals an odd mixture of traditional and progressive views. His motifs sometimes recall Spartan ideals. H...

I have read some Whitman and I liked it. I have by no means read enough to give it any honest judgment, but I would like to read more, which I can only say for a few of the poets I've read, which likely reflects on my poor appreciation for poetry as a medium but my enjoyment of topics that resonate with my interests. what can I say, I'm selfish.

What can you say about Walt Whitman. He was a genius. His writing is beautiful and human. He undertands mankind. Not all of his poems are masterpieces; that is the down side of buying complete works, but with some writers you don't want to miss a word. He is one of those.

There's nothing to like about Whitman's poetry.

Whitman’s poetry is supposed to be an ecstatic celebration of nature, democracy, diversity, human ingeniousness, and life itslef. It is supposed to be elevating, optimistic, and renewing the reader’s appreciation of the universe. Yet, I found this exhaustive collection of his works one of the most ennui-inducing books I have ever encountered (not an exageration). I could feel that his enthusiasm was genuine but unfortunately to me it was anything but contagious. The style, praised as “free-flowi...

"The prescient poet projects himself centuries ahead and judges performer or performance after the changes of time. Does it live through them? Does it still hold on untired? Will the same style and the direction of genius to similar points be satisfactory now? [...] Is he beloved long and long after he is buried?" I've been with Whitman over a month now and I'm still thrumming, so this isn't hyper coherent but. But. I came to this not only as a modern audience but as a definite outsider and as

I have been in the process of reading, The Complete Poems, by Walt Whitman and I have not regretted a single page. His book contains every poem he has written and is great for someone who is looking to learn more about Walt Whitman. My book is marked with lots of annotations from reading and his wisdom is beyond my years. He is hands down one of my favorite poets. I highly recommend this book.

" . . . read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life . . . dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body." I could have done without Whitman's overzealous patriotism, but the genius of his work is beautiful and utterly undeniable.

I got sidetracked with this while I was trying to finish Mistborn 3. Whitman has been on the brain lately so I pulled out my book and have been reading it off and on for a month. I can't say I have read every page, but I have read most of it over the course of years. Oh me! Oh life!

(My edition was published by Wordsworth Poetic Library) Whitman's elegant works were extraordinarily progressive and underscored by passion and spirituality. He saw the beauty and the wonder in even the smallest of details and philosophised on what it means to be oneself. Truly, an essential poet. Reading his works is like looking at the world with a fresh pair of eyes.

I loved this book much more on a reread than I did 30 years ago. I wonder who I was then that I didn't appreciate this book as it deserves! Anyway, I'm very glad that I've continued to read and reread it. Obviously, something continued to draw me to it. While I do think there are many flaws in some of his poems and some are definitely great than others, I his work as a whole as brilliant and powerfully impacting American literature. What is great is so very great. It's one of those books that le...

AcknowledgementsTable of DatesIntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on the Text--'Leaves of Grass' Title PageInscriptions--One's-Self I Sing--As I Ponder'd in Silence--In Cabin'd Ships at Sea--To Foreign Lands--To a Historian--To Thee Old Cause--Eidólons--For Him I Sing--When I Read the Book--Beginning My Studies--Beginners--To the States--On Journeys through the States--To a Certain Cantatrice--Me Imperturbe--Savantism--The Ship Starting--I Hear America Singing--What Place is Besieged?--Still throu...

Thanks Pete! You gave me several books for my 50th and this is one of them. Two years and two days later I finish it. That’s ok, it’s not a book. It’s to be read, word for word, as opportune allows. I have always been a fan of rhythm and rhyme; I love the bush poetry of Patterson. This is the first time I really read any free verse. Free from the constraints of cadence and rhyme and I found it almost invigorating. I guess the greatest compliment I can give it is a poem I wrote, for one of my sis...

An American Ubermensch--Nietzsche would have loved Whitman's expansive, all-encompassing poetry that celebrates the human body, soul, and the world; Whitman's poems all say "yes" to life, an ideal Nietzsche found to be the philosophy of the future in contrast to the "nay-saying" philosophies and religions (most prominently, Christianity).Whitman sings of democratic America, of the common people, of sexuality, and of unconditional love of everything about life. He finds voice, poetry, specificall...

How I adore these anthems to the emerging American spirit, the panoramic observations of the sentient being celebrating himself, the body, the miracle of creation, and the Oneness of all that is—singing above the din of everyday life even amidst the hellacious barbarity and nihilistic insanity of the Civil War years. Leaves of Grass (1855) is a must-read for all aspiring poets.

Uncle Walt! You are my god.