I could talk about it forever, after reading this poem, I don’t think anyone can forget the feeling that arises from it. You were hooked into his sentences greenery, rivers, the smell of the outdoors, every aspect played before your eyes, you would become absorbed by his writing, and it would come as a shock, a stumble, to see his poem finish and another begin. The way he wrote about nature, and humanity’s role in it, and the way his words flowed, seemed to follow the rules of another universe. Although I did not care for all of the poems, which is only to be expected, of course, the majority of this collection stole my heart, and I was high on the beauty of the language for the rest of the day. I don’t think there was a single moment when I regretted it. 1892.Ī tiny book that has been sitting beautifully on my shelf since summer, on a whim, and with total disregard of the books that I planned to read this month, I picked it up. A good friend of Robert Ingersoll, Whitman was at most a Deist who scorned religion. In 1881, the book had the compliment of being banned by the commonwealth of Massachusetts on charges of immorality. Leaves of Grass was published in nine editions, with Whitman elaborating on it in each successive edition. After a stroke in 1873, which left him partially paralyzed, Whitman lived his next 20 years with his brother, writing mainly prose, such as Democratic Vistas (1870). His health compromised by the experience, he was given work at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C.

Emerson, whom Whitman revered, said of Leaves of Grass that it held 'incomparable things incomparably said.' During the Civil War, Whitman worked as an army nurse, later writing Drum Taps (1865) and Memoranda During the War (1867).

Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842).Īfter working as clerk, teacher, journalist and laborer, Whitman wrote his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass, pioneering free verse poetry in a humanistic celebration of humanity, in 1855. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse.īorn on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War in addition to publishing his poetry. He was a part of the transition between Transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works.

Walter Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist.

Leaves of grass poem text