This is a book that has been neglected on my bookshelves for WAY too long. I have been circling ever closer to it since starting the Less Stupid Civil War Reading Group years ago, and all the reading on the war and the Reconstruction period after, including a collection of some of Whitman’s poems and some of his Civil War writings.

I will not lie, there were sections I had to drag myself through here with a brain full of mush. But like I could give up on Walt “I contain multitudes” Whitman? Walt “This is What You Shall Do” Whitman? Clearly, no. Because when this poetry caught wind — the heights that it soared to!

This edition contained some reflections by Whitman at the end, on what he had attempted to do with this verse, on how it had been received, trying to place it in context of the poetry before. This is poetry that celebrates America, from Coast to Coast, from destitution to riches, man and woman, Black, white, and Native, and every kind of labor. From this point in history, parts of that celebration leave a bitter taste, but the celebration of humanity itself, and especially the humble, is remarkable.

What it captures of its time and place — the years of war, the explosion into the West, in so few pages is something only poetry can do.

I am glad to have finally gotten to this one! ( )

4 1/2 stars, really, but we can't do that. This is the original 1855 version. Whitman added to the collection throughout his life, ending up with an overstuffed and very uneven "deathbed" version, which is better known. There are some good poems in it which aren’t in the original, such as When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d, but there’s a lot of pretty weak stuff, too. The 1855 has a small number of pretty consistently excellent poems which are highly original and loosely but definitely connected. Reading it is a very different experience from wading through the bloated, inconsistent final version – there’s something Whitmanesque (i.e., at it’s best) about the original collection as a unit. I also recall Malcolm Cowley’s introduction being a bit wild and wooly (written in the late 60s or early 70s), but being interesting and enlightening. ( )

Rambling Charter towards inner freedoms and a diary of sorts in prose. There is much that Whitman explores about sexuality and as a radical, his enduring take on the world, as much an outsider as an insider, it was a shame it took so long for his work to be recognised. "Song of the Open Road", a particular favourite section, and "By the Roadside", some incredibly rich sexually explicit desires thrust forward as I imagine Walt like D.H.Lawrence exuding all that natural naked strength in spirit and in mind. ( )

Perfection. I can't think of much more to say... It a book you get lost in the best possible way. ( )

Leaves of grass my ass? More like leaves of ass my grass! What? ( )

If you haven't read it yet, read it! It is composed of many assortments of poems, all from the life of Whitman and pertaining to nature. Very beautiful and an eye-opener. ( )

Ruminative verse in thought... Whitman is always a pleasure to read ( )

This book is an inspiration to all writers. Whitman's subject matter is based on nature, work, spirituality, war, and the experience of reading a writing. And the style is free-verse. Powerful, for high school.

This slim book was assigned to me in college and was my introduction to Walt William. This is the first 1855 edition of only 12 poems, later given titles: "Song of Myself," "A Song For Occupations," "To Think of Time," "The Sleepers," "I Sing the Body Electric," "Faces," "Song of the Answerer," "Europe: The 72d and 73d Years of These States," "A Boston Ballad," "There Was a Child Went Forth," "Who Learns My Lesson Complete?", and "Great Are the Myths." It would go through several editions until his death in 1892 where it reached 400 poems. But this is Whitman at his freshest, and most revolutionary. Especially coming from reading Romantic poets, such as Percy Bysse Shelley and John Keats, it's startling how sensual, personal and earthy these are, how modern they read. Unlike early works of romanticism, there are no elaborate allegories or classical or mythological allusions, this is the poetry of a democratic man, not an aristocrat: “I am large, I contain multitudes.” ( )

Best read on a sunny September or October day when you're ripe for peak experience, dilation of the soul. Full of promise, power, gusts of the sublime; home.

If there was a single book I could have on a deserted island it would be "Leaves of Grass". It is beautiful, inspired writing. It's been analyzed by many so I'll spare you any grand statements or a lot of detail, but for a taste of the themes Whitman puts across:

- All men are brothers. The book celebrates the common man, and embraces the man that society has cast out or looked down upon.

- Delight and oneness with nature. Delight in the small things in nature.

- Spirituality achieved not by subjugating the senses or pleasures but by embracing them, and living life to the fullest.

- The belief in the innate power, spirituality, and goodness of man.

All of this is done in a very natural, unpretentious way ... I believe Whitman was truly inspired when he initially wrote this book, and was not regurgitating someone else's philosophy or metaphysics.

There are so many wonderful passages and quotes, maybe someday I'll include some here but for now I'll just say I highly, highly recommend this book.

Read it outside, under a tree. ( )

I read this book after reading Paper towns by John Green. The main character is reading Leaves of grass in Green's novel, and i found his interpretations helpful. I was making my struggling way through Song of myself when the time came for me to leave for Europe. I took the book with me, and I am exceedingly glad that I did. I read it frequently, and the picturesque scenery combined with Whitman's poetry had a large effect on me. It's a good read, and there are many passages i loved deeply. My copy is a bit battered, I'm afraid, but only in the way of a well loved book, with underlinings and marks throughout. I would recomend this book to anyone, especially if they're planning to travel. ( )

Long time since I looked at this, and then I was not ready for serious stuff, so I thought it was probably time to have another go.
Well, the intervening years did not make it any easier to read. I don't really enjoy Whitman's poetry that much, but I can understand why it is valued as important. Over the years Whitman added poems and changed some of the poems included here. This early edition shows Whitman at his freshest and I think he second-guessed himself too much with some of the revisions. This is a pretty thin edition so if you've never read Whitman then this could be a good starter. Don't get me wrong, people interested in poetry should read Whitman. But don't worry if you feel you must put it away afterwards. ( )

http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2006/03/song-of-my-reading-list.html ( )

very nice Penguin reissue of the 1855 edition, with an introduction by Harold Bloom ( )

The text of this facsimile of the first edition of Leaves of Grass, published by Whitman in Brooklyn in 1855, is reproduced from a copy in the Library of Yale University. The eight pages of first comments and reviews, added to later copies of the first edition by Whitman and containing a review in The American Phrenological Journal specifically attributed to the poet himself, are from a copy in the collection of The Pierpont Morgan Library. The printed text of the letter Emerson sent to Whitman, a facsimile of one the poet had printed and pasted in the front of a few copies, is from the Library of Brown University. The lettering and ornamentation on the binding have been copied from first editions in the New York Public Library and the Houghton Library of Harvard University.