Leaves of Grass

expansive Walt Whitman poetry collection

Leaves of Grass is a collection of poetry by American writer Walt Whitman (1819–1892). The collection was first printed on July 4, 1855 in Brooklyn at a Fulton Street printing shop. About 800 copies were printed. The book was 95 pages long and had 12 poems. Whitman paid for this first printing. The book did not sell well.

Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman, age 37, frontispiece to Leaves of Grass
AuthorWalt Whitman
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenrePoetry
PublisherSelf
Publication date
July 4, 1855
Media typePrint

Whitman added material to Leaves of Grass and revised the book many times during his life.[1] The most famous poems in the book are "Song of Myself", "I Sing the Body Electric", "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking", and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". The collection praised the human body, the material world, nature, and the experience of the senses at a time when poetry focused on religious experience and the life of the spirit.

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Reading list

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  • Callow, Philip. From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt Whitman. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1992. ISBN 0-929587-95-2
  • Kaplan, Justin. Walt Whitman: A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. ISBN 0-671-22542-1
  • Loving, Jerome. Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself. University of California Press, 1999. ISBN 0-520-22687-9.
  • Miller, James E., Jr. Walt Whitman. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1962.
  • Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. ISBN 0-679-76709-6

References

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  1. "Leaves of Grass". World Digital Library. 1855. Retrieved 2013-08-03.

Other websites

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