Editing Leaves of Grass

{{Short description|Expansive Walt Whitman poetry collection}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox book
| name              = Leaves of Grass
| title_orig        = 
| translator        = 
| image             = Walt Whitman, steel engraving, July 1854.jpg
| caption           = This [[steel engraving]] of Whitman served as the [[Book frontispiece|frontispiece]] to the first edition of ''Leaves of Grass'', published on July 4, 1855
| author            = [[Walt Whitman]]
| illustrator       = 
| country           = United States
| language          = English
| series            = 
| subject           = 
| genre             = Poetry
| publisher         = Self
| release_date      = July 4, 1855
| english_release_date = 
| media_type        = 
| pages             = 
| isbn              = 
| preceded_by       = 
| followed_by       = 
| wikisource        = Leaves of Grass
}}
'''''Leaves of Grass''''' is a poetry collection by [[American poetry|American poet]] [[Walt Whitman]]. After self-publishing it in 1855, he spent most of his professional life writing, revising, and expanding the collection until his death in 1892.{{sfn|Miller|1962|p=57}} Either six or nine separate editions of the book were produced, depending on how one defines a new edition.<ref>{{cite journal |last=White |first=William |journal=Walt Whitman Review |location=Detroit |volume=19 |issue=3 |date=1 September 1973 |page=111 |id={{ProQuest|<!-- insert ProQuest data here --> }}|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/18317a6e015cfd89356206111c1c3003/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1818449 |title=Editions of ''Leaves of Grass'': How Many?}}</ref> The continual modifications to ''Leaves of Grass'' resulted in vastly different copies of it circulating in Whitman's lifetime. The first edition was a slim tract of twelve poems, and the last was a compilation of over 400 poems.

The book represents a celebration of Whitman's philosophy of life and humanity in which he praises nature and the individual's role in it. He catalogues the expansiveness of American democracy.<ref name=Catalogues>{{cite web |title=Catalogues |last=Mason |first=John B. |editor-last1=Cohen |editor-first1=Matt |editor-last2=Folsom |editor-first2=Ed |editor-last3=Price |editor-first3=Kenneth M. |url=https://whitmanarchive.org/item/encyclopedia_entry399 |publisher=The Walt Whitman Archive |date=1998}}</ref> Rather than dwell on religious or spiritual themes, he focuses primarily on the body and the material world. With very few exceptions, Whitman's poems do not rhyme or follow conventional rules for [[Metre (poetry)|meter]] and [[line length]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Walt Whitman: Poet of American Democracy |editor-last=Sillen |editor-first=Samuel |publisher=International Publishers |location=New York |pages=25–27 |year=1944}}</ref>

''Leaves of Grass'' was notable for its discussion of delight in sensual pleasures at a time when such candid displays were considered immoral. The book was highly controversial for its explicit sexual imagery, and Whitman was subject to derision by many contemporary critics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sex and Sexuality |last=Miller Jr. |first=James E. |editor-last1=Cohen |editor-first1=Matt |editor-last2=Folsom |editor-first2=Ed |editor-last3=Price |editor-first3=Kenneth M. |url=https://whitmanarchive.org/item/encyclopedia_entry49 |publisher=The Walt Whitman Archive |date=1998}}</ref> Over the decades, however, the collection has infiltrated popular culture and become recognized as one of the central works of American poetry.

Among the poems in the early ''Leaves of Grass'' editions (albeit sometimes under different titles) were "[[Song of Myself]]", "[[Song of the Open Road (poem)|Song of the Open Road]]", "[[I Sing the Body Electric]]", "[[Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking]]", and "[[Crossing Brooklyn Ferry]]". Later editions would contain Whitman's [[elegy]] to the [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|assassinated]] President [[Abraham Lincoln]], "[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]".

==Publication history and origin==
=== {{Anchor|Initial publication}}Initial publication, 1855 ===
The first edition of ''Leaves of Grass'' was self-published on July 4, 1855. This collection of twelve poems had its beginnings in an [[essay]] by [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] entitled "[[The Poet (essay)|The Poet]]" (1844), which called for the United States to develop its own new, unique poet who could write about the young country's virtues and vices.<ref name="Reynolds, 82">{{harvnb|Reynolds|1995|p=82}}</ref> This call, along with a challenge to abandon strict rhyme and [[Metre (poetry)|meter]], were partly embodied in the early 19th century works of [[John Neal]]: in his poems as well as his novels ''Randolph'' (1823) and ''[[Rachel Dyer]]'' (1828). Whitman, likely having read Neal, consciously set out to answer Emerson's call in the first edition of ''Leaves of Grass''.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|pp=41–42, 82}}<ref>{{cite journal | last = Rubin | first = Joseph Jay | year = 1941 | title = John Neal's Poetics as an influence on Whitman and Poe|journal=[[The New England Quarterly]]| volume = 14 | number = 2 | pages = 359–362| doi = 10.2307/360926 | jstor = 360926}}</ref> Whitman later commented on Emerson's influence: "I was simmering, simmering, simmering; Emerson brought me to a boil."<ref name="Reynolds, 82"/>

On May 15, 1855, Whitman registered the title ''Leaves of Grass'' with the clerk of the [[United States district court|United States District Court]], Southern District of New Jersey, and received its copyright.<ref name="Kaplan198">{{harvnb|Kaplan|1979|p=198}}</ref> The title is a [[pun]], as ''grass'' was a term given by publishers to works of minor value, and ''leaves'' is another name for the pages on which they were printed.<ref name="Loving179" /> The first edition was published in [[Brooklyn]] at the printing shop of two Scottish immigrants, James and Andrew Rome, whom Whitman had known since the 1840s.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=310}} The shop was located at [[Fulton Street (Brooklyn)|Fulton Street]] (now [[Cadman Plaza]] West) and Cranberry Street, now the site of apartment buildings that bear Whitman's name.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Gesture in Cranberry Street|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/58261816/?terms=%22Brooklyn%2BBridge%2Bplaza%22%2Bsubway%2BBrooklyn|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|work=[[Brooklyn Daily Eagle]]|access-date=October 27, 2015|page=18|date=June 1, 1931}}</ref><ref name="MTA-DwntwnBklynMap-2015">{{cite NYCS map|neighborhood|Downtown Brooklyn}}</ref> Whitman paid for and did much of the [[typesetting]] for the first edition himself.

A calculated feature of the first edition was that it included neither the author's nor the publisher's name (both the author and publisher being Whitman). Instead, the cover included an engraving by Samuel Hollyer depicting Whitman himself—in work clothes and a jaunty hat, arms at his side.<ref name="Callow227">{{harvnb|Callow|1992|p=227}}</ref> This figure was meant to represent the devil-may-care American working man of the time, one who might be taken as an almost idealized figure in any crowd. The engraver, later commenting on his depiction, described the character with "a rakish kind of slant, like the mast of a schooner".<ref>{{cite book |last=Allen |first=Gay Wilson |title=The Solitary Singer |year=1955 |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan |page=150 |oclc=709913}}</ref>

The 1855 edition contained no table of contents, and none of the poems had a title. Early advertisements appealed to "lovers of literary curiosities", quoting an excerpt from [[Charles Anderson Dana|Charles A. Dana]]'s review in the ''[[New-York Tribune|New York Tribune]]''.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=305}} Sales of Whitman's book were few, but the poet was not discouraged. This was the edition that introduced his poems "[[Song of Myself]]", "[[I Sing the Body Electric]]", and "[[There Was a Child Went Forth]]".

Whitman sent one paper-bound copy of the 1855 ''Leaves of Grass'' to Emerson, who had inspired its creation. He responded with a letter of heartfelt thanks, writing, "I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America has yet contributed." He went on, "I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy."<ref name="Miller27">{{harvnb|Miller|1962|p=27}}</ref> The letter was printed in the ''New York Tribune''—without the writer's permission—and caused an uproar among prominent New England men of letters, including [[Henry David Thoreau]] and [[Amos Bronson Alcott]], who were some of the few [[Transcendentalism|Transcendentalists]] who agreed with Emerson's letter and his statements regarding ''Leaves of Grass''.

{{Quote box
| quote = Dear Sir,

I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of ''Leaves of Grass''. I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit & wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy. It meets the demand I am always making of what seemed the sterile & stingy Nature, as if too much handiwork or too much lymph in the temperament were making our western wits fat & mean. I give you joy of your free & brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment, which so delights us, & which large perception only can inspire. I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It had the best merits, namely, of fortifying & encouraging.

I did not know until I, last night, saw the book advertised in a newspaper, that I could trust the name as real & available for a post-office. I wish to see my benefactor, & have felt much like striking my tasks, & visiting New York to pay you my respects.

R. W. Emerson

Letter to Walter Whitman
July 21, 1855
}}
The first edition was a slim volume, consisting of only 95 pages.<ref name="Loving179">{{harvnb|Loving|1999|p=179}}</ref> Whitman once said he intended the book to be small enough to be carried in a pocket: "That would tend to induce people to take me along with them and read me in the open air: I am nearly always successful with the reader in the open air", he explained.<ref name="Reynolds352">{{harvnb|Reynolds|1995|p=352}}</ref> About 800 copies were printed,{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=311}} though only 200 were bound in its trademark green cloth cover.<ref name="Kaplan198" /> The only American library known to have purchased a copy of the first edition was in [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{cite book|author= Nelson, Randy F.|title= The Almanac of American Letters|location= Los Altos, California|publisher= William Kaufmann, Inc.|date= 1981|page= [https://archive.org/details/almanacofamerica00nels/page/144 144]|isbn= 0-86576-008-X|url= https://archive.org/details/almanacofamerica00nels/page/144}}</ref> The twelve first edition poems, given titles in later editions, included:
* "[[Song of Myself]]"
* "A Song for Occupations"
* "To Think of Time"
* "[[The Sleepers (poem)|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?"
* "Great Are the Myths"

=== {{Anchor|&nbsp;Republications|}}Republications, 1856–1889 ===
''Leaves of Grass'' went through six or nine editions, depending on how new editions are distinguished. Scholars who hold that a separate edition is characterized by an entirely new set of type will only count the 1855, 1856, 1860, 1867, 1871–72, and 1881 printings; whereas others who do not mandate that criterion will also count the reprintings in 1876, 1888–1889, and 1891–1892 (the so-called "deathbed edition").<ref name="WDL">{{cite web|date=1855|title=Leaves of Grass|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/03023679/|access-date=August 3, 2013|website=[[World Digital Library]]}}</ref> The editions were of varying length, each one larger and augmented from the previous version—the final edition reached over 400 poems.

==== 1856–1860 ====
Emerson's positive response to the 1855 edition inspired Whitman to quickly produce a much-expanded second edition in 1856.<ref name="Miller27" /> This new ''Leaves of Grass'' contained 384 pages and had a cover price of one dollar.<ref name="Reynolds352" /> It also included a phrase from Emerson's letter, printed in [[Metal leaf#Gold Leaf|gold leaf]]: "I Greet You at the Beginning of a Great Career."<ref name="Reynolds352" /> Recognized as a "first" for U.S. book publishing and marketing techniques, Whitman has been cited as "inventing" the use of the book [[blurb]]. Professor [[Laura Dassow Walls]] noted, "In one stroke, Whitman had given birth to the modern cover blurb, quite without Emerson's permission."<ref>[[Laura Dassow Walls|Walls, Laura Dassow]]. ''Henry David Thoreau – A Life'', 394. Chicago and London: [[The University of Chicago Press]], 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-226-59937-3}}</ref> Emerson later took offense that his letter was made public{{sfn|Callow|1992|p=236}} and became more critical of Whitman's work.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=343}} The 1856 edition added "Sun-Down Poem" (retitled "[[Crossing Brooklyn Ferry]]" in the 1860 edition) and "Poem of Procreation" (retitled "A Woman Waits for Me" in the 1867 edition).<ref>{{cite book |title=Leaves of Grass |editor-last1=Bradley |editor-first1=Sculley |editor-last2=Blodgett |editor-first2=Harold W. |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Co. |series=A Norton Critical Edition |year=1973 |pages=100–101, 158–159}}</ref>

[[File:1860 LeavesOfGrass Thayer Eldridge NYPL.jpeg|thumb|Cover of 1860 edition]]
[[Thayer & Eldridge]], publishers of the 1860 edition, declared [[bankruptcy]] shortly after the book's publication, and were almost unable to pay Whitman. "In regard to money matters", they wrote, "we are very short ourselves and it is quite impossible to send the sum". Whitman received only $250, and the original plates made their way to Boston publisher Horace Wentworth.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=405}} When the 456-page book was finally issued, Whitman said, "It is quite 'odd', of course", referring to its appearance: it was bound in orange cloth with symbols like a rising sun with nine spokes of light and a butterfly perched on a hand.{{sfn|Kaplan|1979|p=250}} Whitman claimed that the butterfly was real in order to foster his image as being "one with nature". In fact, the butterfly was made of cloth and was attached to his finger with wire.<ref>{{cite web|title=Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass|website= The Library of Congress Exhibitions: American Treasures|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/whitman-goodgraypoet.html}}</ref> The major poems added to this edition were "A Word Out of the Sea" (later retitled "[[Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking]]"), "Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand", "I Hear America Singing", and "As I Ebb'd With the Ocean of Life".<ref>{{cite web |title=Leaves of Grass, 1860 edition |last=Eiselein |first=Gregory |editor-last1=Cohen |editor-first1=Matt |editor-last2=Folsom |editor-first2=Ed |editor-last3=Price |editor-first3=Kenneth M. |publisher=The Walt Whitman Archive |date=1998 |url=https://whitmanarchive.org/item/encyclopedia_entry23}}</ref>

==== 1867–1889 ====
The 1867 edition was intended to be, according to Whitman, "a new & much better edition of ''Leaves of Grass'' complete — that ''unkillable'' work!"{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=474}} He assumed it would be the final edition.{{sfn|Loving|1999|p=314}} It included the ''[[Drum-Taps]]'' section, its ''[[Sequel to Drum-Taps|Sequel]]'', and the new ''Songs before Parting''. The book was delayed when the binder went bankrupt and its distributing firm failed. When it was finally printed, it was a simple edition and the first to omit a picture of the poet.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=475}}

In 1879, Richard Worthington purchased the [[electrotyping|electrotype plates]] and began printing and marketing unauthorized copies of ''Leaves of Grass''.

Whitman scholar Dennis Renner has written that the 1881 edition gave the poet "a chance to consolidate and unify his work late in his career. He could achieve 'the consecutiveness and ''ensemble''{{'}} he had always wanted".<ref name=1881_edition>{{cite web |title=Leaves of Grass, 1881–82 edition |last=Renner |first=Dennis K. |editor-last1=Cohen |editor-first1=Matt |editor-last2=Folsom |editor-first2=Ed |editor-last3=Price |editor-first3=Kenneth M. |publisher=The Walt Whitman Archive |url=https://whitmanarchive.org/item/encyclopedia_entry26 |date=1998}}</ref> He spent the summer of 1881 revising the book and oversaw its October publication in Boston by [[James R. Osgood]] and Co. Most modern reissues of ''Leaves of Grass'' treat the 1881 edition as the definitive collection.<ref name=1881_edition/> This edition incorporated poems from his prior collections, ''[[Passage to India (Whitman)|Passage to India]]'' (1871) and ''Two Rivulets'' (1876).{{sfn|Bradley|Blodgett|1973|p=410}} 

The 1889 (eighth) edition was little changed from the 1881 version, but it was more embellished and featured several portraits of Whitman. The biggest change was the addition of an "Annex" of miscellaneous extra poems.{{sfn|Miller|1962|p=55}}

====Sections====
By its later editions, ''Leaves of Grass'' had grown to 14 sections:{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
* Inscriptions&nbsp;
* Children of Adam
* [[Calamus (poems)|Calamus]]
* Birds of Passage
* [[Sea-Drift]]
* By the Roadside&nbsp;
* [[Drum-Taps]]
{{col-break}}
* [[Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln#Whitman's poetry on Abraham Lincoln|Memories of President Lincoln]]
* Autumn Rivulets
* Whispers of Heavenly Death
* From Noon to Starry Night
* Songs of Parting
* First Annex: Sands at Seventy&nbsp;
* Second Annex: Good-bye My Fancy<ref>{{cite web |url=https://poets.org/text/guide-walt-whitmans-leaves-grass |title=A Guide to Walt Whitman's ''Leaves of Grass'' |website=Poets.org |date=3 November 2021}}</ref>
{{col-end}}
Earlier editions contained a section called "Chants Democratic"; later editions omitted some of the poems from this section, publishing others in "Calamus" and other sections.

=== {{Anchor|"Deathbed edition"|Deathbed edition}}Deathbed edition, 1892 ===
[[File:Whitman, Walt (1819-1892) - 1883 - Engraving.jpg|thumb|[[Book frontispiece|Frontispiece]] engraving created in 1883]]
As 1891 came to a close, Whitman prepared a final edition of ''Leaves of Grass''. By this time, he was wheelchair-bound, having suffered a series of [[strokes]] that left him partially paralyzed.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Whitman and Disability: An Introduction |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Don James |last2=Mullaney |first2=Clare |journal=Commonplace: The Journal of Early American Life |url=https://commonplace.online/article/whitman-disability-introduction/ |volume=19 |issue=1 |date=Spring 2019 |access-date=4 March 2025}}</ref> He wrote to a friend after finishing the final edition: "L. of G. ''at last complete'' — after 33 y'rs of hackling at it, all times & moods of my life, fair weather & foul, all parts of the land, and peace & war, young & old."{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=586}} This last version of ''Leaves of Grass'' was published in 1892 and is referred to as the 'deathbed edition'.<ref name="Miller36">{{harvnb|Miller|1962|p=36}}</ref> In January 1892, two months before Whitman's death, an announcement was published in the ''[[New York Herald]]'':

<blockquote>Walt Whitman wishes respectfully to notify the public that the book ''Leaves of Grass'', which he has been working on at great intervals and partially issued for the past thirty-five or forty years, is now completed, so to call it, and he would like this new 1892 edition to absolutely supersede all previous ones. Faulty as it is, he decides it as by far his special and entire self-chosen poetic utterance.{{sfn|Kaplan|1979|p=51}}</blockquote>

By 1892, ''Leaves of Grass'' had expanded from a small book of twelve poems to a hefty tome of almost 400 poems.<ref name="WDL" /> As the volume changed, so did the pictures that Whitman used to illustrate himself—the last edition depicts an older Whitman with a full beard and wearing a jacket.

===Translations===
{{section-expand|date=December 2023}}
In 1995, ''[[Dail Glaswellt]]'', the [[Welsh language]] translation was published.<ref>''Dail Glaswellt'' (''Leaves of Grass'', 1855) gan Walt Whitman. Cyfieithwyd gan M Wyn Thomas. Cyfres Barddoniaeth Pwyllgor Cyfieithiadau'r Academi Gymreig – Cyfrol X [Welsh Academy Translations Committee Poetry Series – Volume X] [[Cardiff]], 1995. {{ISBN|978-0906906163}}</ref>

==Analysis==
Analysis of ''Leaves of Grass'' is complicated by Whitman's continual revisions to the book. Most scholarly discussions have concentrated on the major early editions of 1856 and 1860, along with the collections published in 1881 and 1892.<ref>{{cite web |title=Leaves of Grass, 1891–92 edition |url=https://whitmanarchive.org/item/encyclopedia_entry27 |last=French |first=R. W. |editor-last1=Cohen |editor-first1=Matt |editor-last2=Folsom |editor-first2=Ed |editor-last3=Price |editor-first3=Kenneth M. |publisher=The Walt Whitman Archive |date=1998}}</ref> The later editions of ''Leaves of Grass'' would include such well-known poems as "[[Pioneers! O Pioneers!]]", "[[A Noiseless Patient Spider]]", and the poet's [[elegy|elegies]] to Abraham Lincoln, "[[O Captain! My Captain!]]" and "[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]".

While Whitman famously proclaimed (in "[[Song of Myself]]") that his poetry was "Nature without check with original energy", literary scholars have discovered that Whitman borrowed from a number of sources for ''Leaves of Grass''. For instance, in his war poems collected in ''[[Drum-Taps]]'', he lifted phrases from popular newspapers dealing with Civil War battles.<ref>[[Ted Genoways|Genoways, Ted]]. "Civil War Poems in 'Drum-Taps' and 'Memories of President Lincoln{{' "}}, ''A Companion to Walt Whitman'', ed. [[Donald Kummings|Donald D. Kummings]]. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2006: 522–538.</ref> He also condensed a chapter from a popular science book into his poem "The World Below the Brine".<ref name="WWQR30">{{Cite web|title="The Ever-Changing Nature of the Sea": Whitman's Absorption of Maximilian Schele de Vere|url=http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2055&context=wwqr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125044749/http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2055&context=wwqr|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 25, 2015|access-date=September 1, 2016|website=Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 30 (2013), 57–77.}}</ref>

In a constantly changing culture, Whitman's literature has an element of timelessness that appeals to the American notion of democracy and equality, producing the same experience and feelings within people living centuries apart.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fisher|first=Philip|title=Still the New World: American Literature in a Culture of Creative Destruction|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1999|pages=66 |isbn=0-674-00409-4 }}</ref> Originally written at a time of significant [[urbanization]] in America, ''Leaves of Grass'' also responds to the impact such has on the masses.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=332}} The title metaphor of grass, however, indicates a [[Pastoral society|pastoral]] vision of rural idealism.

Particularly in "Song of Myself", Whitman emphasizes an all-powerful "I" who serves as narrator. The "I" attempts to relieve both social and private problems by using powerful affirmative cultural images;{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=324}} the emphasis on American culture in particular helped reach Whitman's intention of creating a distinctly American [[epic poetry|epic poem]] comparable to the works of [[Homer]].{{sfn|Miller|1962|p=155}}

As a believer in [[phrenology]], Whitman lists in his 1855 ''Leaves of Grass'' preface the phrenologist among those described as "the lawgivers of poets". Borrowing from phrenology, Whitman uses the concept of ''adhesiveness'' in reference to the human propensity for friendship and camaraderie.<ref>Mackey, Nathaniel. 1997. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160202004555/http://www.conjunctions.com/archives/c29-nm.htm "Phrenological Whitman"]. ''[[Conjunctions (journal)|Conjunctions]]'' 29(Fall). Archived from the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160202004555/http://www.conjunctions.com/archives/c29-nm.htm original] on February 2, 2016.</ref>

=== Thematic changes ===
Whitman edited, revised, and republished ''Leaves of Grass'' many times before his death, and over the years his focus and ideas were not static. One critic has identified three major "thematic drifts" in ''Leaves of Grass'': the period from 1855 to 1859, from 1859 to 1865, and from 1866 to his death.

In the first period, 1855 to 1859, his major work is "Song of Myself", which exemplifies his love for freedom: "Freedom in nature, nature which is perfect in time and place and freedom in expression, leading to the expression of love in its sensuous form."<ref name="academia.edu">{{Cite journal|title = A study of thematic drift in Whitman's Leaves of Grass|url = https://www.academia.edu/15363343|website = www.academia.edu|access-date = November 13, 2015|last1 = Bora|first1 = Indu}}</ref> The second period, from 1859 to 1865, paints the picture of a more melancholic, sober poet who has been scarred by the [[American Civil War]]. In poems like "[[Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking]]" and "[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]", the prevailing theme is death and dying.

Whitman experienced further evolution in the post-1865 period when his poems were often meditations on immortality. He grew more conservative in his old age, and had come to value the importance of law above the importance of freedom. His view of the world was less materialistic and more spiritual, and he believed that life had no meaning outside the context of [[God's plan]].<ref name="academia.edu" />

==Critical response and controversy==
When ''Leaves of Grass'' was first published, Whitman was fired from his job at the [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of the Interior]] after [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] [[James Harlan (senator)|James Harlan]] read it and said he found it offensive.<ref name="Miller36" /> An early review of the 1855 edition focused on the persona of the anonymous poet, calling him a loafer "with a certain air of mild defiance, and an expression of pensive insolence on his face".<ref name="Callow227" /> Another reviewer labeled the work an odd attempt at reviving old [[Transcendentalism|Transcendental]] thoughts, "the speculations of that school of thought which culminated at Boston fifteen or eighteen years ago".<ref name="Loving185" /> Emerson approved of the collection in part because he considered it a means of reviving Transcendentalism,{{sfn|Loving|1999|p=186}} though even he urged Whitman to tone down the sexual imagery.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=194}}

Poet [[John Greenleaf Whittier]] was said to have thrown his 1855 edition into the fire.<ref name="Miller27" /> [[Thomas Wentworth Higginson]] wrote, "It is no discredit to Walt Whitman that he wrote ''Leaves of Grass'', only that he did not burn it afterwards."<ref>{{cite book|author=Broaddus, Dorothy C.|title=Genteel Rhetoric: Writing High Culture in Nineteenth-Century Boston|location=Columbia, SC|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|date=1999|page=[https://archive.org/details/genteelrhetoricw00broa/page/76 76]|isbn=1-57003-244-0|url=https://archive.org/details/genteelrhetoricw00broa/page/76}}</ref> ''[[The Saturday Press (literary newspaper)|The Saturday Press]]'' printed a thrashing review that advised its author to commit suicide.<ref>{{cite news |title=Walt Whitman |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/l/loving-whitman.html |date=1999}} From Chapter One of Jerome Loving's 1999 Whitman biography, reprinted in the "Books" section of ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>

Critic [[Rufus Wilmot Griswold]] reviewed ''Leaves of Grass'' in the November 10, 1855 issue of ''[[The Criterion (American magazine)|The Criterion]]'', calling it "a mass of stupid filth",<ref name="Loving184">{{harvnb|Loving|1999|p=184}}</ref> and categorized its author as a filthy [[free love]]r.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=347}} Griswold also suggested, in Latin, that Whitman was guilty of "that horrible sin not to be mentioned among Christians", one of the earliest public accusations of Whitman's homosexuality.<ref name="Loving185">{{harvnb|Loving|1999|p=185}}</ref> Griswold's intensely negative review almost caused the publication of the second edition to be suspended.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=348}} Whitman incorporated the full review, including the innuendo, in a later edition of ''Leaves of Grass''.<ref name="Loving184" />

Not all responses were negative. Critic [[William Michael Rossetti]] considered ''Leaves of Grass'' a classic along the lines of the works of [[William Shakespeare]] and [[Dante Alighieri]].{{sfn|Loving|1999|p=317}} A Connecticut woman named Susan Garnet Smith wrote to Whitman to profess her love for him after reading ''Leaves of Grass'' and even offered him her womb should he want a child.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=404}} Although he found much of the language "reckless and indecent", critic and editor [[George Ripley (transcendentalist)|George Ripley]] believed "isolated portions" of ''Leaves of Grass'' radiated "vigor and quaint beauty".<ref>{{cite book |author=Crowe, Charles |title=George Ripley: Transcendentalist and Utopian Socialist |date=1967 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |location=Athens, Georgia |page=246 |lccn=67026605}}</ref>

Whitman firmly believed he would be accepted and embraced by the populace, especially the working class. Years later, he regretted not having toured the country to deliver his poetry directly by lecturing:{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=339}}<blockquote>If I had gone directly to the people, read my poems, faced the crowds, got into immediate touch with Tom, Dick, and Harry instead of waiting to be interpreted, I'd have had my audience at once.</blockquote>

=== Censorship in the United States ===
On March 1, 1882, [[Boston]] district attorney [[Oliver Stevens]] wrote to Whitman's publisher, [[James R. Osgood]], that ''Leaves of Grass'' constituted "obscene literature". Urged by the [[Watch and Ward Society|New England Society for the Suppression of Vice]], his letter said: <blockquote>We are of the opinion that this book is such a book as brings it within the provisions of the Public Statutes respecting obscene literature and suggest the propriety of withdrawing the same from circulation and suppressing the editions thereof.</blockquote>Stevens demanded the removal of the poems "A Woman Waits for Me" and "To a Common Prostitute", as well as changes to "[[Song of Myself]]", "From Pent-Up Aching Rivers", "[[I Sing the Body Electric]]", "Spontaneous Me", "Native Moments", "The Dalliance of the Eagles", "By Blue Ontario's Shore", "Unfolded Out of the Folds", "The Sleepers", and "Faces".{{sfn|Loving|1999|p=414}}

Whitman rejected the censorship, writing to Osgood, "The list whole & several is rejected by me, & will not be thought of under any circumstances." Osgood refused to republish the book and returned the plates to Whitman when his suggested changes and deletions were ignored.<ref name="Miller36" /> The poet found a different publisher, Rees Welsh & Company, that released a new edition of the book in 1882.<ref>{{cite web |via=Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library |access-date=4 March 2025 |url=https://pascal-usc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Leaves%20of%20Grass%201882&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01PASCAL_USCCOL:USC&offset=0 |publisher=University of South Carolina |title=Search Results – "Leaves of Grass 1882"}}</ref> Whitman believed the controversy would increase sales, which proved true. Its [[Banned in Boston|banning in Boston]], for example, became a major scandal and it generated much publicity for Whitman and his work.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vqronline.org/vqr-symposium/walt-whitman-controversy-lost-document|title=The Walt Whitman Controversy: A Lost Document |website= VQR Online|access-date=July 5, 2016}}</ref> Though it was also banned by retailers like [[Wanamaker's]] in [[Philadelphia]], this version went through five editions of 1,000 copies each.{{sfn|Loving|1999|p=416}} Its first printing, released on July 18, sold out in a day.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=543}}

==Legacy==
[[File:Leavesofgrass margaretcook.jpg.webp|thumb|upright=1|A 1913 illustrated edition of ''Leaves of Grass'']]
Its status as one of the more important collections of American poetry has meant that over time various groups and movements have used ''Leaves of Grass'', and Whitman's work in general, to advance their own political and social purposes. For example:

* In the first half of the 20th century, the popular [[Little Blue Book]] series introduced Whitman's work to a wider audience than ever before. A series that backed socialist and progressive viewpoints, the publication connected the poet's focus on the common man to the empowerment of the working class.
* During [[World War II]], the U.S. government distributed for free much of Whitman's poetry to their soldiers, in the belief that his celebrations of the American Way would inspire the people tasked with protecting it.<ref>{{cite web |title=To Walt Whitman, America |last=Price |first=Kenneth M. |editor-last1=Cohen |editor-first1=Matt |editor-last2=Folsom |editor-first2=Ed |publisher=The Walt Whitman Archive |url=https://whitmanarchive.org/item/anc.00151 |date=2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Walt Whitman was a pioneer of self-promotion |last=Quito |first=Anna |url=https://qz.com/quartzy/1658863/walt-whitman-was-a-pioneer-of-self-promotion |date=4 July 2019 |newspaper=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]]}}</ref>
* Whitman's work has been claimed in the name of racial equality. In a preface to the 1946 anthology ''I Hear the People Singing: Selected Poems of Walt Whitman'', [[Langston Hughes]] wrote that Whitman's "all-embracing words lock arms with workers and farmers, Negroes and whites, Asiatics and Europeans, serfs, and free men, beaming democracy to all."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = Whitman in Selected Anthologies: The Politics of His Afterlife |website= VQR Online|url = http://www.vqronline.org/essay/whitman-selected-anthologies-politics-his-afterlife|access-date = November 30, 2015}}</ref>
* Similarly, a 1970 volume of Whitman's poetry published by the [[United States Information Agency]] describes Whitman as a man who will "mix indiscriminately" with the people. The volume, which was presented for an international audience, attempted to present Whitman as representative of an America that accepts people of all groups.<ref name=":0" />

Nevertheless, Whitman has been criticized for the [[nationalism]] expressed in ''Leaves of Grass'' and other works. In a 2009 essay regarding Whitman's nationalism in the first edition, Nathanael O'Reilly claims that "Whitman's imagined America is arrogant, [[Expansionism|expansionist]], hierarchical, racist and exclusive; such an America is unacceptable to Native Americans, African-Americans, immigrants, the disabled, the infertile, and all those who value equal rights."<ref>O'Reilly, Nathanael. [http://ijas.iaas.ie/index.php/imagined-america-walt-whitmans-nationalism-in-the-first-edition-of-leaves-of-grass/ "Imagined America: Walt Whitman's Nationalism in the First Edition of ''Leaves of Grass''"]. ''Irish Journal of American Studies''</ref>
{{Listen|type=speech
|filename=Walt Whitman - America.ogg
|title="America"
|description=An 1890 recording, thought to be of Walt Whitman, reading the opening four lines of his poem "America", which is included in ''Leaves of Grass''.}}

==In popular culture==

=== Film and television ===
* "The Untold Want" features prominently in the Academy Award-winning 1942 film ''[[Now, Voyager]]'', starring [[Claude Rains]], [[Bette Davis]], and [[Paul Henreid]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ZRzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 |page=120 |title=To Walt Whitman, America |last=Price |first=Kenneth M. |location=[[Chapel Hill, North Carolina|Chapel Hill, NC]] |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0807876114 }}</ref>
* ''[[Dead Poets Society]]'' (1989) makes repeated references to the poem "[[O Captain! My Captain!]]", along with other references to Whitman.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=Michael C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9a6tCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 |title=The Social Lives of Poems in Nineteenth-Century America |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2015 |page=163 |isbn = 9780812291315}}</ref>
* ''Leaves of Grass'' plays a prominent role in the American television series ''[[Breaking Bad]]''. Episode eight of season five ("[[Gliding Over All]]", after poem 271 of ''Leaves of Grass'') pulls together many of the series' references to ''Leaves of Grass'', such as the fact that protagonist [[Walter White (Breaking Bad)|Walter White]] has the same initials (and almost the same name) as Walt Whitman (as noted in episode four of season four, "[[Bullet Points (Breaking Bad)|Bullet Points]]", and made more salient in "Gliding Over All"), that leads [[Drug Enforcement Administration|DEA]] agent [[Hank Schrader]] to gradually realize Walter is the notorious drug dealer Heisenberg. Numerous reviewers have analyzed and discussed the various connections among Walt Whitman/''Leaves of Grass''/"Gliding Over All", Walter White, and the show.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ryan, Maureen|date=September 3, 2012|title='Breaking Bad' Finale: Poetic Justice|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-ryan/breaking-bad-finale_b_1851214.html|access-date=May 25, 2017|work=[[The Huffington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Caldwell|first=Stephanie|title='Breaking Bad' Takes Mid-Season Break|url=http://www.starpulse.com/news/Stephanie_Caldwell/2012/09/06/breaking_bad_takes_midseason_break|access-date=July 5, 2016|website=StarPulse}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Thier, Dave|date=September 12, 2012|title=''Breaking Bad'' "Gliding Over All:" There's No Redemption for Walter White|website=[[Forbes]]|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/09/02/breaking-bad-gliding-over-theres-no-redemption-for-walter-white/|access-date=September 10, 2012}}</ref>
* In ''[[Peace, Love & Misunderstanding]]'' (2011), ''Leaves of Grass'' is read by [[Jane Fonda]] and [[Elizabeth Olsen]]'s characters.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/06/07/154167146/back-to-woodstock-and-to-the-spirit-of-the-60s |work=[[NPR]] |title=Movie Review: Back To Woodstock, And To The Spirit Of The '60s |author=Lapin, Andrew |date=June 7, 2012 |access-date=July 2, 2020}}</ref>
* In season 3, episode 8 of the [[BYU TV]] series ''[[Granite Flats]]'', Timothy gives Madeline a first-edition copy of ''Leaves of Grass'' as a Christmas gift.<ref>{{cite web|date=April 4, 2015|title=All Truths Wait in All Things|url=http://www.byutv.org/watch/8c8041b9-d671-4fa3-a831-3357a4f8b7a9/granite-flats-all-truths-wait-in-all-things|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716073407/http://www.byutv.org/watch/8c8041b9-d671-4fa3-a831-3357a4f8b7a9/granite-flats-all-truths-wait-in-all-things|archive-date=July 16, 2016|access-date=July 5, 2016|publisher=BYU TV}}</ref>
* American singer [[Lana Del Rey]] quotes some verses from Whitman's "[[I Sing the Body Electric]]" in her short film ''[[Tropico (2013 film)|Tropico]]'' (2013).<ref>{{cite news |work=[[The Fader]] |url=http://www.thefader.com/2013/12/06/why-did-lana-del-rey-make-a-30-minute-video-about-god-and-what-does-it-mean-for-me |date=December 6, 2013 |author=Cooper, Duncan |title=Why Did Lana Del Rey Make a 30-Minute Video About God, and What Does It Mean for Me?}}</ref>
* In season 1, episode 3 of ''[[Ratched (TV series)|Ratched]]'' (2020) Lily Cartwright is seen reading ''Leaves of Grass'' while on psychiatric admission for "sodomy".
* In ''[[Bull Durham]]'' (1988), [[Susan Sarandon]]'s character Annie Savoy reads [[Tim Robbins]]'s character, Ebby Calvin "Nuke" Laloosh, excerpts from Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric". When Nuke asks Annie who Walt Whitman plays for, she responds "He sort of pitches for the Cosmic All-Stars".
* In season 3, episode 5 of ''[[Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman]]'', [[Joe Lando]]'s character, Byron Sully, reads an excerpt from section 22 of "Song of Myself" to Dr. Mike. She becomes uneasy at the innuendos suggested in the poem.
* In season 4, episode 1 of ''[[BoJack Horseman]]'' (2014), the character of Mr. Peanutbutter is given a copy of ''Leaves of Grass'' by his ski instructor Professor Thistlethorpe, however it is attributed to "Walt Whitmantis" instead of Walt Whitman.

=== Literature ===
* "[[I Sing the Body Electric]]" was used by author [[Ray Bradbury]] as the title of both a 1969 short story and the book it appeared in (''[[I Sing the Body Electric (short story collection)|I Sing the Body Electric!]]''), after first appearing as the title of an episode Bradbury wrote in 1962 for ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'' (''[[I Sing the Body Electric (The Twilight Zone)|I Sing the Body Electric]]'').<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2uTCiN347lMC&pg=PA349 |page=349 |title=A Companion to Walt Whitman |author=Kummings, Donald D. |author-link=Donald Kummings |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2009|isbn=9781405195515 }}</ref>
* ''Leaves of Grass'' features prominently in [[Lauren Gunderson]]'s [[American Theatre Critics Association]] award-winning play ''I and You'' (2013).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/theater/lauren-gunderson-on-i-and-you-a-play-with-an-explosive-twist.html|title=Lauren Gunderson on 'I and You,' a Play With an Explosive Twist|last=Weinert-Kendt|first=Rob|date=January 6, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref>
* [[Roger Zelazny]]'s 1979 time-travel novel ''[[Roadmarks]]'' features a cybernetically-enhanced edition of ''Leaves of Grass'', one of two such in the story, that acts as a side character giving the protagonist advice and quoting the original. The other "book" is Baudelaire's ''[[Les Fleurs du Mal]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Roger Zelazny |author=Lindskold, Jane M. |publisher=Twayne Publishers |year=1993 |isbn=978-0805739534}}</ref>
* ''Leaves of Grass'' appears in [[John Green]]'s 2008 novel ''[[Paper Towns (novel)|Paper Towns]]'', in which the poem "[[Song of Myself]]" plays a particularly noteworthy role in the plot.<ref>{{cite news |title=How 'Paper Towns' Walt Whitman Book Plays A Major Part In Solving The Mystery of Margo |work=[[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]] |date=July 24, 2015 |author=Funk, Allie}}</ref>

=== Music ===
* "[[A Sea Symphony]]" (Symphony No. 1) by [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] contains text from ''Leaves of Grass'', written between 1903 and 1909.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 1, 'A Sea Symphony' |url=https://www.classicfm.com/composers/vaughan-williams/music/symphony-1-sea/ |work=[[Classic FM (UK)|Classic FM]]}}</ref>
*''[[I Sing the Body Electric (album)|I Sing the Body Electric]]'' (1972) is the second album released by [[Weather Report]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The World of Classics & Progressives |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 |page=21 |volume=84 |number=32 |date=5 Aug 1972}}</ref>
*''Leaves of Grass: A Choral Symphony'' was composed by [[Robert Strassburg]] in 1992.<ref>Folsom, Ed. "In Memorium: Robert Strasburg 1915–2003". ''Walt Whitman Quarterly Review''. University of Iowa Press, Volume #21, November 3, 2004: 189–191</ref>
* American singer [[Lana Del Rey]] references Walt Whitman and ''Leaves of Grass'' in her song "[[Body Electric (song)|Body Electric]]", from her EP ''[[Paradise (Lana Del Rey EP)|Paradise]]'' (2012).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/shades-of-cool-12-of-lana-del-reys-biggest-influences-15572/eminem-25-223448/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=July 16, 2014 |title=Shades of Cool: 12 of Lana Del Rey's Biggest Influences}}</ref>
*"Drei Hymnen von Walt Whitman" (1919) by [[Paul Hindemith]] uses translated German text from "Ages and ages, returning at intervals"; "[[When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd]]"; "Beat! Beat! Drums!"<ref>{{IMSLP|work=3 Hymnen, Op.14 (Hindemith, Paul)|cname=Drei Hymnen, Op. 14 (Hindemith)}}</ref>
*"Weave in, my hardy life" is a composition by Aaron Travers for choir, [[bandoneon]] and [[piano]], and is a setting of the poem of that name from the "From Noon to Starry Night" section of ''Leaves of Grass''.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Prologue |url=https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Your-Prologue-for-October-5--2021.html?soid=1109673758507&aid=kTMSDfGuhEA |publisher=Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, Indiana |access-date=14 September 2024 |date=5 October 2021 |quote=...&nbsp;we will highlight a musical composition entitled "Weave In, My Hardy Life" by composer Aaron Travers&nbsp;...}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book|last=Callow|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Callow|title=From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt Whitman|location= Chicago|publisher=Ivan R. Dee|date=1992|isbn=0-929-58795-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Kaplan|first=Justin|author-link=Justin Kaplan|title=Walt Whitman: A Life|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=1979|isbn=0-671-22542-1|url=https://archive.org/details/waltwhitmanlife00kapl}}
* {{cite book|last=Loving|first=Jerome|author-link=Jerome Loving|title=Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself|url=https://archive.org/details/waltwhitmansongo00lovi|url-access=registration|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|date=1999|isbn=0-520-21427-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Miller|first=James E. Jr.|author-link=James E. Miller|title=Walt Whitman|url=https://archive.org/details/waltwhitman0000mill_w3f3|url-access=registration|via=[[Internet Archive]]|location= New York|publisher=[[Twayne Publishers]]|date= 1962|lccn=62013674}}
* {{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=David S.|author-link=David S. Reynolds|title=Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography|location=New York|publisher=Vintage Books|date=1995|isbn=0-679-76709-6}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=Q132042|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|wikt=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/walt-whitman/leaves-of-grass}}
* {{gutenberg|1322}}
* {{librivox book | title=Leaves of Grass | author=Walt Whitman}}
* {{librivox book | title=Birds of Passage from Leaves of Grass | author=Walt Whitman}}
* {{librivox book | title=Sea Drift from Leaves of Grass | author=Walt Whitman}}
* {{cite web |url= https://www.poets.org/sites/default/files/images/8_WhitmanReadingGuide.pdf |title= A Guide to Walt Whitman's ''Leaves of Grass''|publisher=[[Academy of American Poets]]|date= January 1, 2000}}

{{Walt Whitman}}
{{Portal bar|Poetry}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaves Of Grass}}
[[Category:1855 books]]
[[Category:1855 poems]]
[[Category:American poetry collections]]
[[Category:Works published anonymously]]
[[Category:Poetry by Walt Whitman]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in literature]]
[[Category:Self-published books]]
[[Category:LGBTQ poetry]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related controversies in literature]]
[[Category:LGBTQ literature in the United States]]