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Rating:  - Walt Whitma's "Leaves of Grass"
If you care for literature at all, even if your interest in it exceeds no further than reading the morning paper, Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass," is a must read. He is truly one of the greatest poets, revolutionaries, historians, and Americans to ever live. As a poet, Whitman lures his reader in with work exploding with passion and inexhaustable energy. As a revolutionist, he baisically tore up any rule book to writing, stripping away any limitations, and paving the path for further free, independent thinkers. He was unaffraid to rebel against the narrow-mindedness of his time, making himself a leader as one of the very first poets to ever use "free verse," a technique rellious on its own. In doing so, this great leader was criticized and looked on disapprovingly for his work during much of his life time, and like many other artists who dare to be unique, his true genius was never fully recognized until after his death. As a historian and as an American, Whitman has taken these works of his and has combined them into the nations most patriotic yet brutally honest text book.It is in writing of himself and his own personal experiences that Whitman imbeds the history of this country, both dark and nationalistic. Through his time working as a volunteer nurse to the wounded and dying soldiers during the Civil War, Whitman writes often of the terror of war, making it one of his most recognizable themes throughout much of his work. He also brings us back to a time in history in which those who believed in equal rights for all, including persons of every race a gender, was considered rebellious; for in such beliefs, Whitman took religions that placed severe restrictions over such things as sexuality, and attacked them. The reason I am so confident in recommending this book to any reader, is that you are given a selection of editions to choose from; the edition you choose for yourself, fitted to your familiarity with the poet. I cannot promise that will fall absolutely in love with this book, every person has their own tastes, however, I can promise that if nothing else, you will walk away from this book with appreciation and understanding the value in reading it.
Rating: - Walt Whitman, A Cosmos
Walt Whitman is the father of free verse and his main work, Leaves of Grass, is perhaps one of the greatest works by an American poet ever written.He was born on Long Island and grew up in Brooklyn. Being a native of Brooklyn myself I feel a deep connection to him. When I read his work I am instantly transported into his universe, a universe which is the domain of every man. For Walt Whitman was possibly the greatest democrat who ever lived. In his great poem, Song of Myself, his opening lines are: "I celebrate myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." This is not only good old American horse sense, it's good science. For everything comes forth from that great source of life the sun, and none can be better for it, only different. Walt was a born visionary. And I surmise that he must have had quite a few mystical experiences before he set out to write his great poems. You can really get a sense of his mystical connection when you read poems like When I Heard The Learned Astronomer or even in Song of Myself when he proclaims: "There was never any more inception than there is now, nor any more youth or age than there is now; and will never be any more perfection than there is now, nor any more heaven or hell than there is now." Notice the emphasis on the word now. Mystics through the ages have said that God is beyond time, that God is the eternal presence, and that he exists in a timeless eternity sometimes referred to as the eternal now. I believe that's what Walt Whitman is telling us. I could go on and on singing the praises of Walt Whitman. His work is inexhaustable and profound and wise beyond measure. But there are innumerable books written about him. However, I believe to catch the essence of the man you have to read his poems. And if you let him in he will lead you to yourself and you will see the world through fresh eyes .... and you will see how the perennial grass covers only the outer layer of this our miraculous universe.
Rating: - America's great religious book
I carry a copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass with me where ever I go. I think that it is America's great religious book; it contains just about everything one would need to know to live a good life.Whitman published many different editions of this book. The one I carry is the 1892 "death-bed" eddition, which contains virtually all the poetry he ever published. However I also own the "first" edition, published in 1855. In this version the poems are published without titles, so that each poem stands on its own, without any images guiding the reader before hand. I recommend either edition - or both!
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