Leaves of Grass: The First (1855) Edition (Penguin Classics)

by Malcolm Cowley (Editor), Malcolm Cowley (Editor), Walt Whitman (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  1981

  $10.03

  As Malcolm Cowley says in his introduction, the first edition of Leaves of Grass 'might be called the buried masterpiece of American writing', for it exhibits 'Whitman at his best, Whitman at his freshest in vision and boldest in language, Whitman transformed by a new experience.' Mr Cowley has taken the first edition from its narrow circulation among scholars, faithfully edited it, added his own introduction and Whitman's original introduction (which never appeared in any other edition during Whitman's life), and returned it to the common readership to whom the great poet really speaks.

• Used

  Paperback
  1990

  $3.27

  The first edition of Leaves of Grass had received little attention until a positive review appeared, in fact written by Walt Whitman himself. Described by Emily Dickinson as disgraceful and by Emerson as the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America had yet contributed to world literature , the book went on to provoke strong reactions from its readers. It is not only the allusions to sex and physiology that disturbed Whitman's critics but also his departure from the rules of conventional poetry. He broke down the standard metered line, discarded the obligatory rhyming scheme and freely expressed himself in the living vernacular of American speech. Today Whitman is regarded as America's Homer or Dante, and his work as the touchstone for literary originality in the New World. Whitman saw his verses as more than a literary performance , they were an expression of his own emotional and other personal nature . In this sense Leaves of Grass is autobiography, but the poet's vision embraces the vigorous spirit of the whole American nation. This edition reproduces the 1891-2 text and includes Whitman's Preface to the 1855 edition as well as Emerson's famous letter of 1855 greeting Whitman at the beginning of a great career .

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $7.01

• New

  Hardcover
  2005

  $30.15

  I celebrate myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease...observing a spear of summer grass. So begins Leaves of Grass, the first great American poem and indeed, to this day, the greatest and most essentially American poem in all our national literature. The publication of Leaves of Grass in July 1855 was a landmark event in literary history. Ralph Waldo Emerson judged the book the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America has yet contributed. Nothing like the volume had ever appeared before. Everything about it-the unusual jacket and title page, the exuberant preface, the twelve free-flowing, untitled poems embracing every realm of experience-was new. The 1855 edition broke new ground in its relaxed style, which prefigured free verse; in its sexual candor; in its images of racial bonding and democratic togetherness; and in the intensity of its affirmation of the sanctity of the physical world. This Anniversary Edition captures the typeface, design and layout of the original edition supervised by Whitman himself. Today's readers get a sense of the ur-text of Leaves of Grass, the first version of this historic volume, before Whitman made many revisions of both format and style. The volume also boasts an afterword by Whitman authority David Reynolds, in which he discusses the 1855 edition in its social and cultural contexts: its background, its reception, and its contributions to literary history. There is also an appendix containing the early responses to the volume, including Emerson's letter, Whitman's three self-reviews, and the twenty other known reviews published in various newspapers and magazines. This special volume will be a must-have keepsake for fans of Whitman and lovers of American poetry.