Leaves of Grass (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
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
Critical Evaluation:
“America” is the first word of Walt Whitman’s 1855 preface to Leaves of Grass, but this most American of poetic achievements is also the most universal. “The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem,” Whitman says, a belief that informs Leaves of Grass and led Whitman to redefine “poem” in such a way as to change forever the face of poetry.
Whitman paid for the publication of the first version of Leaves of Grass and even set some of the type himself. It was a slim volume, containing a preface and...
[The entire page is 2224 words long]
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