book data
5490 ratings, 4.21 average rating, 365 reviews
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published
1996
(first published 1855)
by Blackstone Audiobooks
binding
Audio Cassette
isbn
078610919X
(isbn13: 9780786109197)
description
Whitman's masterpiece. According to Wikipedia: "Walter Whitman (May 31, 1819 â€" March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, jour...more
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avg 4.21
Whitman used to right fake reviews under false names for Leaves of Grass and send them to publishers, newspapers, and periodicals. I love that about him. So over the top. He had love for everything. Especially himself. As for the quality of the work the words speak for themselves:
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, a...more
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, a...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommended to Ben by:
President Clinton gave this as a present to Monica Lewinsky recommends it for: democrats, republicans, flag-shitters
Leaves of Grass is like reading every single instant message that I and a friend of mine ever wrote to one another over the course of the last ten years. Likely way too long, too self-serving and would have shocked the general public if they cared to read it when it was written. But nestled in there are some real, true brilliant moments.
This is after all Whitman's life work, laid bare and un-edited for the most part. What else are we to expect? He is literally singing a song of himself, ...more
This is after all Whitman's life work, laid bare and un-edited for the most part. What else are we to expect? He is literally singing a song of himself, ...more
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Read in September, 2003
recommends it for:
Everyone
Literary rapture. I don't know how else I could describe my first experience reading Leaves of Grass. It was pure literary rapture.
I highly recommend Leaves of Grass to everyone - especially those who still believe, or want to believe, in the basic goodness of the American Experiment.
Pick up the slim first edition (Whitman revised and expanded Leaves of Grass throughout his life. The final product, which is what is most often seen on bookshelves, is a bloated, redu...more
I highly recommend Leaves of Grass to everyone - especially those who still believe, or want to believe, in the basic goodness of the American Experiment.
Pick up the slim first edition (Whitman revised and expanded Leaves of Grass throughout his life. The final product, which is what is most often seen on bookshelves, is a bloated, redu...more
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Whitman so constantly deals with the body. Here we
are in the presence of one of those contradic-
tions, or rather, unifications, which make him in
a certain sense a Hegelian poet. He sings of the
body when he means to sing of the soul simply
because the body, like everything else, is funda-
mentally a manifestation of the soul:
I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
And I have said that the body is not more than the soul.
And he asks:
If the body were no...more
are in the presence of one of those contradic-
tions, or rather, unifications, which make him in
a certain sense a Hegelian poet. He sings of the
body when he means to sing of the soul simply
because the body, like everything else, is funda-
mentally a manifestation of the soul:
I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
And I have said that the body is not more than the soul.
And he asks:
If the body were no...more
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2 comments
Another title I'm forever dipping into.
There are many editions of LEAVES; the 1892 'deathbed' edition (Whitman was knocking on Heaven's door when he was editing it) is one I've never been able to finish, mainly because it's just so. . .voluminous. Many poems for the ages there, but just as much dead wood, too, which always bogs me down.
This first, 1855 edition---this is my favorite. I call it the rock n' roll edition. Here, you'll find the poems---in their unadulterated, original ve...more
There are many editions of LEAVES; the 1892 'deathbed' edition (Whitman was knocking on Heaven's door when he was editing it) is one I've never been able to finish, mainly because it's just so. . .voluminous. Many poems for the ages there, but just as much dead wood, too, which always bogs me down.
This first, 1855 edition---this is my favorite. I call it the rock n' roll edition. Here, you'll find the poems---in their unadulterated, original ve...more
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Read in January, 1996
my southern baptist american lit professor told me his work was vulgar and humanist, citing whitman's line – "Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am/touch'd from,/The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer,/This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds." these words were the seed to my introspection and doubts of much of the dogma i later rejected.
Song of Myself (quoted above) eventually helped shake me out of quite a few delusions ...more
Song of Myself (quoted above) eventually helped shake me out of quite a few delusions ...more
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52. To a Stranger
PASSING stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me, as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me, or a girl with me, 5
I ate with you, and slept with you—your body has become not yours only, nor left my body mine only,
Yo...more
PASSING stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me, as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me, or a girl with me, 5
I ate with you, and slept with you—your body has become not yours only, nor left my body mine only,
Yo...more
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"Song of Myself" is a work of pure genius comparable to Shakespeare's greatest. I love these last three stanzas especially. When my wife and I were dating long distance and when I was deployed, I would end alot of my letters with "I stop somewhere waiting for you."
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love.
If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you neverthe...more
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love.
If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you neverthe...more
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Almost impossible to imagine how this pansexual poem made its way into the hearths and hearts of American critics and readers. The 1855 original version is more impressionistic than later versions. All feature Whitman's aeronautical lists of places and people from all over America. The poem's first word is "I." Its last is "you." The quest is to bridge that gap. A quintessential transcendental poem of the sort that Emerson imagined and was lucky enough to witness if not...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Claudia by:
indirectly Susan and Jenniferrecommends it for: poetry readers
I read this for several reasons: my American literature background is pathetic; I bought this book (the 1855, self-published edition) in DC at a Whitman exhibit, and a book I recently finished, "Self Storage," had the main character quoting Whitman. Come to find out, her pivotal decision is greatly informed by knowing and loving Whitman! So glad I did finally read it. I was drawn to two contradictory thougths as I read: the amazing strength and passion of the poetry, and the secret des...more
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Have you ever posted a review that embarrassed you later? I sure have. I have been shallow, intemperate and missed the mark of a book by light years. But I have never left myself hanging out to dry in public as this anonymous (no fooling!) reviewer did when he savaged Leaves of Grass in The Atlantic Monthly of January 1882. One of my abiding delights with The Atlantic online is its treasure trove of archival articles that prove to be simplicity itself to explore and read.
&q...more
&q...more
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Read in December, 2008
recommended to Antonio by:
I found it decades ago.recommends it for: Anyone woth a love for life and words.
The best poetry I've ever read. Difficult to describe or analyze, but Walt was a mystic best understood intuitively. The sheer power of the words alone might be enough to just read and forget trying to understand. Walt's command of the English language and the way he blends words together is inexplicable. Going to the index and reading the first lines of the poems is an experience in and of itself. I imagine that if Beethoven expressed himself verbally, this would be how it would sound.
...more
...more
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If you haven't read the 1855 edition of LoG, or if you found Whitman long-winded and stodgy, this book from Dover (one of few American publishers whose cost to content ratio is above the water line) is a must. It's the version Whitman cranked off illegally at work, and stashed, anonymously, in bookstores across New York, and sent via mail to President Lincoln, who actually read it. Impromptu, rough, and inimitably sweet, just like Walt.
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
"gayz and not gayz; for the woman the same as the man."
Famously forgotten lines from Whitman's "Song of Myself":
"I'm a joker
I'm smoker
I'm a midnight toker."
"But I am also for the one the joker plays jokes on,
And I am for the srekoms as much as the smokers,
And I am for toking at noon, as well as midnight."
***
(These lines were edited from the deathbed edition, which is yet another proof of the decline of Whitman's talent in his later years.)
"I'm a joker
I'm smoker
I'm a midnight toker."
"But I am also for the one the joker plays jokes on,
And I am for the srekoms as much as the smokers,
And I am for toking at noon, as well as midnight."
***
(These lines were edited from the deathbed edition, which is yet another proof of the decline of Whitman's talent in his later years.)
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Holy shit this is self-important and tedious.
--update: This has sat untouched on my desk all year. I can think of a hundred books I'd rather start than finish this, so I doubt I'll pick it back up unless I run out of books to read, I'm too poor to buy any more books, all my friends turn on me and refuse to loan me anything else, and all the nearby libraries are set on fire simultaneously.
--update: This has sat untouched on my desk all year. I can think of a hundred books I'd rather start than finish this, so I doubt I'll pick it back up unless I run out of books to read, I'm too poor to buy any more books, all my friends turn on me and refuse to loan me anything else, and all the nearby libraries are set on fire simultaneously.
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Read in July, 2008
I always thought it was too spacey for me... His language is so wide open and goes everywhere. But to sit and read it from cover to cover in one sitting was enlightening. Not that I didn't see Whitman in other authors before, but I see so many layers of him now. So well worth the time. I almost wish I had read it aloud.
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Read in January, 2003
My honest admission: I didn't read every poem. But after years of not having read Whitman, I enjoyed his poetry greatly. I think I'm so drawn to the narrative thread that I often have trouble reading books of poetry. Just me, I guess.
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Four years after Mark Halliday tried to convince our workshop why we should all love Whitman, I finally get it. And I'm so glad I gave it another shot. Thank you, Professor Halliday.
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One of the few poets that I truly enjoy. His poems, not to sound cliche, really do have something for everyone if you are willing to give them a chance.
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Read in August, 2006
This edition includes an introduction and notes by my fantastic husband, Charles Brower:-)
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poetry (on 590 people's shelves)
currently-reading (on 224 people's shelves)
classics (on 130 people's shelves)
own (on 34 people's shelves)
favorites (on 33 people's shelves)
classic (on 19 people's shelves)
literature (on 17 people's shelves)
fiction (on 15 people's shelves)
american (on 12 people's shelves)
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quotes from this book
"Are you the new person drawn toward me?
To begin with take warning, for I am surely far different from what you suppose.
Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?
Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy'd satisfaction?
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
Do you see no further than this facade, this smooth and tolerant manner of me?
Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real heroic man?
Have you no thought O dreamer that it may be all maya, illusion?"
More quotes...
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