Leaves Of Grass

LEAVES OF GRASS WALT WHITMAN LEAVES OF GRASS is a controversial poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman. Among the poems of the collection are “Song of Myself”, “I Sing the Body Electric”, “out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”, and in later editions, Whitman’s elegy to the assassinated President Abraham Lincoln- “When Lilacs Last in The Dooryard Bloom’d”. Whitman spent his entire life writing “Leaves of Grass” revising it in several editions until his death. This book is notable for its delight in and praise of the senses during a time when such candid displays were considered immoral. Where much previous poetry relied on the religious, spiritual ; “Leaves of Grass” exalted the body an the material world. Influenced by the transcendentalist movement, itself an offshoot of Romanticism, Whitman’s poetry praises nature and the individual human’s role in it. Moreover, Whitman does not diminish the role of the mind or the spirit, rather, he elevates the human form and the human mind. Particularly in “Song of Myself”, Whitman emphasized in all-powerfull “I” who serves as narrator. The “I” tries to relieve both social an private problems by using powerful affirmative cultural images. The emphasis of American culture helped reach Witman’s intention of creating a distinctly American epic poem comparable to the works of Homer. Originally written at a time of significant urbanization in America, Leaves of Grass responds to the impact urbanization has on the masses. By the time his last edition called “Deathbed edition “ was completed, Leaves of Grass had grown from a small book of 12 poems to almost 400 poems. The last edition depicts (describes) an older Whitman more sophisticated and wise. Themes approached : The complete self, The body and the soul; nature; time; cosmic; consciousness; mysticism; death; transcendentalism; democracy. For Whitman, spiritual communion depends on physical contact. The body is the vessel that enables the soul to experience the world. Therefore the body is something to be worshiped and given a certain primacy. Eroticism figures significantly in Whitman’s poetry. This is something that got him in no small amount of trouble during his lifetime. Whitman shows an affection for the bodies of others, both men and women. Whitman’s style remains consistent throughout; the poetic structures he employs are unconventional but reflects his democratic ideals. Anecdotes are another favorite devise. He often uses obscure, foreign, or invented words. The difficulty of his language also mirrors the necessary imperfection of connections between individuals: no matter how hard we try, we can never completely understand eachother.