BOOKS: Leaves of Grass

"Leaves of Grass," was a pun, a term used by publishers for works of minor value.

“I sing my body electric,” is a strange thing for a man to write in 1867. It was a time in America when delight in the senses and the body were considered immoral at best. Yet American poet Walt Whitman, in “Leaves of Grass,” his poetic anthology and especially in the poem, “I Sing My Body Electric," explores at length the delights of the human body. Here he celebrates the primacy of the human body and its importance in forming relationships between people. In, “I Sing My Body Electric,” the body becomes scared through linkage with the soul. In the “Song of Myself’ he proclaims: “I am the poet of the Body; and I am the poet of the Soul." Shocking for something written in 1867. “Leaves of Grass.“ is like that, shocking in spots, sensual in others, but always beautiful and always celebrating the joy of life. Whitman spent his entire life writing this poem and it went through many revisions. When “Leaves of Grass,” was first published Whitman was fired from his job at the U.S. Department of Interior because the Secretary of the Interior thought the work was scandalous. Others burned the book. One literary critic called it a “mass of stupid filth.” and called Whitman a “filthy free lover.” To his credit Whitman included the review in the second printing of the book. And kept revising and kept adding to his poem expanding his ideas. Finally in Massachusetts it was declared obscene literature. Quite a change from the Massachusetts of today! But not all criticism was negative and some recognized it as a classic. Indeed it was, Whitman had invoked the tradition of Homer and Virgil by making it a grand sweeping epic that included both history and politics. Whitman had the idea that American’s were poems in and of them selves and he celebrated America’s individualism and democratic ideal. But beyond all its praise of life and celebration of the human being, “Leaves of Grass,” is just plain beautiful poetry. Whitman was a master of free verse poetic language and his ability to use language to arouse the senses is second to none. The best edition of “Leaves of Grass,” for those reading it for the first time, is the Norton Critical Edition. (2^nd ed.) This edition was prepared in honor of the poems 150^th anniversary. It has the latest textual scholarship and it comes as close as possible to reproducing Whitman’s original text. Give yourself a treat, take some quiet time and read it. It’s powerful and a never-ending source of beauty. [Related to post below, Specimen Days]