Leaves of Grass (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Walt Whitman
- First Published: 1855
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Traveling or travelers, Sex or sexuality, Nineteenth century, Civil War, Human behavior, Work or workers, Democracy
- Locales: United States
When Whitman published his first edition, readers were astounded: It had no rhyme or meter, it used the language of contemporary America, and it presented a specific human being speaking of himself in physical as well as spiritual and mental terms. It appalled some readers but refreshed and delighted many others.
The book grew as Whitman grew, through six editions and several annexes that eventually added hundreds of poems to the original twelve. It became, as individual poems such as “Song of Myself” suggest, identified with the poet himself.
Besides depicting an...
[The entire page is 582 words long]
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