Goodreads | Mitchell's review

Mitchell's review

Leaves of Grass (Enriched Classics)
by Walt Whitman

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog.

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27494.Leaves_of_Grass?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Leaves of Grass (Enriched Classics)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167881477m/27494.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27494.Leaves_of_Grass?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Leaves of Grass</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1438.Walt_Whitman">Walt Whitman</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6064493?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>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:
<br/>"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, argue not concerning god, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body..........."
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/369360?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Mitchell's review
rating:

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, argue not concerning god, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluen...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it) flag

comments (showing 1-1 of 1)

newest »

date

message 1: by deleted member

09/11/2007 05:38PM

Mitchell: what little I've read of Whitman didn't impress me much. Obviously I didn't read enough. This excerpt is making me reconsider his work and I'll be seeking it out in the future. Thanks for sharing!