This revised Norton Critical Edition contains the most complete and authoritative collection of Whitman's work available in a paperback student edition. The text of Leaves of Grass is again that of the indispensable "Reader's Comprehensive Edition," edited by Sculley Bradley and Harold W. Blodgett, which is accompanied by revised and expanded explanatory annotations. New to this edition is the full text of the celebrated 1855 first edition of Leaves of Grass, as well as generous excerpts from Whitman's two prose masterpieces, Democratic Vistas and Specimen Days.
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.

Reader Reviews

Mel Bossa

(5/5)

Apr 26, 2024

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 perso...

Rebecca

(4/5)

Amy

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.

Cheryl has hopes her life will calm down soonish

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

Angel Grubbs

(3/5)

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.

BOOK BOOKS

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.

solee

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

Dan Gorman

Genius. The verse cannot be parsed in a single reading, but as you study the text Whitman's optimistic, sprawling, solipsistic vision of America sucks you in.

Doug

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, Langst...

Mishal

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...

Kari

I <3 WW

John Hively

Excellent book on poetry

Chloe

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.

Alice

(1/5)

This is a Walt Whitman hate account

ZaRi

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, t...

Karl H.

America is big. The land is big, the ideals are big, the ego is big, the dreams are big, even the people are big. Our suburbs sprawl out over acres and acres of territory, our massive houses given massive plots of land where other nations might fit two houses, our states the size of nations, our nation the size of a continent. Walt Whitman is the poet of this American bigness. He tries to contain it all, to pack all of these people, all of these dreams, and all this territory into his poetry. Is...

Julie

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.

☮ mary

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!

Lisa

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.

mary

wow , such sensitivity and lovely prose , so earthy and romantic

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Popular Genres

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Leaves of Grass and Other Writings

Leaves of Grass and Other Writings

Leaves of Grass and Other Writings

More books from Michael Moon

Reader Reviews