This is a classic poetry collection, of course, and this edition reproduces it just as it was published in 1855, with the author's own meandering preface, in which he concludes:
"The poems distilled from other poems will probably pass away. The coward will surely pass away. The expectation of the vital and great can only be satisfied by the demeanor of the vital and great... The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it."

And the poetry that follows is emphatically American, individualistic and transcendentalist and humanist and sensual.

"I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,
Stuffed with the stuff that is coarse, and stuffed with the stuff that is fine,
One of the great nation, the nation of many nations—
the smallest the same and the largest the same,..."

Dover editions are usually quite affordable, so I was surprised that this (public domain) book has a list price of $12.95, which seems a little high since it is just the text and no additional commentary or notes. But it's a collection worth having, however you choose to read it.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Although this is obviously a classic, it was a bit difficult for me to appreciate. I’m sure I read it either in high school or college but wanted to revisit. I appreciate that Walt Whitman was unique and ahead of his time in many ways. I’m sure he paved the way for other poets. Just not for me.

Reproduction of the original 1855 edition of Whitman's magnum opus. It doesn't contain academic annotations or any other kind of extra material, and as far as I can see it doesn't follow the original fonts either.

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.



Dover publications rewards the reader with the works of one of America's greatest poets. Before the poetry, this edition provides a detailed introduction to Whitman's writing and thinking. Walt Whitman's view is all-encompassing from the joining of body and soul to religion. His poetry drifts into philosophy. His views of American society are compared and contrasted with Thoreau, and his Whitman's vision of America is compared with Tocqueville's writing of American democracy. Whitman writes of the America that is, which is not always the America America thinks it is.

He writes with a rhythm that captures the reader and makes him or her part of the poem. The reader is caught in the drift of words and phrases and pulled into another world. He or she is standing next to Whitman and observing what he sees. It is about as close to magical as one can get reading literature. The Leaves of Grass is everything Whitman saw and believed recorded as a poem to be passed on. He knew that he would die, and he calls on the reader to discuss and criticize the poem and to become a co-creator to add to what he was written, much like he has edited and revised the poem throughout his life. The goal is to keep the poem alive as one would believe a soul lives on after death.

Like all Dover Publications, this is a quality product at a value price. Another very well done book by Dover.