Started on the expanded 530 page edition (1891-92) of "Leaves of Grass," the so called deathbed version. Reading as a periodic alternative to prose, this should keep me busy for a month or more. I had finished 1855 edition a few years ago, which is exquisite. His main device is the catalog. He inventories America, good and bad. He loves the totality. It's fascinating how this poetry of exhortation, seemingly addressed to a multitude, can also be intimate. What a paean to masculinity, to the body...

Walt Whitman In The Library Of AmericaThis 1982 volume, "Walt Whitman: Poetry and Prose" edited by Justin Kaplan was among the first four books published by the Library of America as it began its mission of presenting the best works of American literature in a uniform format both scholarly and accessible to non-specialist readers. Walt Whitman (1819 -- 1892) was an excellent choice for early inclusion in the LOA, and this volume has generally stood the test of time.I had read portions of Whitman...

I cherish this book. If I had to choose only one book to read for the rest of life, this might be the one I would choose.

This time I reread only Leaves of Grass. For me it's a touchstone. I've read it many times, returning to it because I find it comforting and reassuring. Whitman himself explains it very well, in this edition on p512: "Not till the waters refuse to glisten for you and the leaves to rustle for you, do my words refuse to glisten and rustle for you." With muscular language like that combined with his demonstrated largeness of heart and care of everything in the world, his poetry is infectious. Readi...

I've gotten more pleasure over the years from Walt Whitman's luscious, astonishing, fresh, earthy-yet-visionary, life-affirming poetry than from any other book, I think. I just keep coming back to this lover of all the world.

There's a Whitman program on KCTS right now, and I'm reminded of how much I love this book. My girlfriend gave me this book back in high school, then part of the new Library of America series. At that time it was an attempt to express the spiralling ecstasies and wonders of a very romantic first love. Over the years, this same volume has resurfaced every so often, each time showing a different aspect, a new refraction. There are favorite, cherished books that feel like friends and family; for me...

Whitman's poetry cannot be denied. Yet it's diminished by his acceptance of slavery and genocide of native Americans as necessary evils.

It is the only edition you will ever need. Keep it near at all times.O me! O life . . . of the questions of these recurring; Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish; Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d; Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;Of the empty and useless years of the rest—wi...

What makes this edition of Library of America Editions valuable is that they have reprinted the original versions in the front and the reworked and expanded versions which is about 2/3 of the anthology. I hadn't realised that Whitman had revised as much as he did.A must own.

Walt Whitman is a complete original in the history of Western literature. His poetry of nature, transcendence and sexuality does not really have any antecedents. "Song of Myself" and "Children of Adam" and many others are truly great, original poetry, sprung from the beautiful and powerful spirit of Whitman, with his profound experience of nature and of life. "Song of Myself" is his masterpiece, I read it a few times, once out loud, and found it to be a spiritual experience as much as a literary...

This work has a lot more of Whitman than one is traditionally exposed to in high school. There are poems about masturbation, about homosexuality, about sexuality. There are also early works celebrating New York, the everyman, and of course Lincoln. Informative essays in the back of the work flesh out the historical background.

A great American voice, from the complexities of Song of Myself to the simplicity of The Last Invocation.

Upon first reading Walt Whitman, I detested his style. No rhyming? Are you kidding me? Well, a few months later I heard a very moving recital of his poem "Song of Myself". I re-read the poem with an invigorated energy and was rewarded immensely. Whitman is a genius, one of the best poets, if not the best America has produced. His poems are hymns to America, to the self, to humanity, to democracy; his poetry is web of energetic, profound, free-flowing verses that will captivate you. If you don't

There are absolutely not enough words with enough quantitative meaning between humans to express how much I ADORE WALT WHITMAN!I was so lucky to be able to take a graduate level English course dedicated exclusively to his poetry.To sing ourselves and celebrate ourselves, my ultimate goal in life would be to live as cosmosexually as he could write.Not a perfect man, nor a perfect poet, but an admirable artist whose poems are a comfort and a revelation every time I turn to him.If only the American...

Walt Whitman: Let there be commerce between us. At turns bombastic, ridiculous, beautiful, melodramatic, sublime and enlightening, you leave little unsaid and undone. What’s a reader to think? Could you be more modest? Do you blush?But that’s the beauty, isn’t it? You are indeed multitudes and contradictions. Well, friend, we are agreed. You’ll give all, and I’ll take what I want. Then we’ll walk the ebbing tide and talk about the world. Leaves of Grass (1855) – See my separate review of this: h...

Although, Whitman is not a classical children's poet - I use him a lot when I teach US History. I think that his verse, more than most others, gives a clear, beautiful, truthful insight into the ideals of America. In a poem such as, "I Hear America Singing" the reader envisions a country of people working for the greater good of mankind. These people come together as part of the whole society developing industry and production. More than reading a passage from the textbook, Whitman provides a fi...

What do I dare say about Whitman? Like any good English major, I'd read many of these poems or parts of these poems before. But I decided to take this collection on a few months ago because I hadn't revisited Uncle Walt in at least a decade. To be honest, it might have been seeing Leaves of Grass in Breaking Bad that reminded me how much that book, as it does in the show, heads to TRUTH. I don't say that lightly. I don't even believe in TRUTH. I believe in truths. Maybe Truths. But if any artist...

Ironically, although I had known of Whitman for a long time, my first real taste of him came through HBO's Season II, Episode 3, when his poem was read at a funeral (portions in square brackets below were not used in the show): I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun, [ I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags. ] I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. You will hardly know who I am or...

All that I can say as-to my own feelings regarding his work:I deeply believe that most modern poetry, in fact, as suggested by many scholars, is (at-least-in-part) in the 'Whitman voice,' with a few notable exceptions(Plath being one).I think Leaves of grass was a breakthrough in poetry. I believe that it was such a breakthrough that in terms of structure and formula that it's hard to get away from. I come back to this book for study, and quite a bit. It's on my 'forever reading' list, and for g...

For some reason, I've never gotten around to reading Whitman. All I can say is, What a Discovery! I had the impression that Whitman was an egomaniac in extremis. On the surface, he comes close to that in "Song of Myself." But on many re-readings, I think the "energy" you see in that particular poem is more a sense of urgency in his poetic voice. I can't go into detail about the rest of his oeuvre, but I'll be returning time and again to many of his poems.