Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Introduction

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself." Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855, expanded throughout his life) is the most radical act of poetic reinvention in American literature. It abandoned meter and rhyme for long, breathing lines that captured the sprawl and diversity of a young nation. Emerson called it "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed."

The Democratic Self

Whitman's "I" is not the private self of Romantic poetry but a universal self that contains multitudes. He celebrates the body as sacred, embraces laborers and prostitutes with equal tenderness, and insists that every individual is infinite. The Civil War transformed his poetry—his later editions include the magnificent elegies for Lincoln, particularly "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd."

Key Takeaways

• The self contains multitudes
• Democracy is a poetic vision
• The body is sacred