Work
Leaves of Grass
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About this work
Leaves of Grass is Walt Whitman's lifelong poetry collection, first self-published in 1855 and revised and expanded until his death. In sprawling free verse it sings the self, the body, democracy, and the vast common life of America, breaking from rhyme and decorum to invent a wholly new American voice. Few books of poems have been so loved and so influential.
About the author — Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman (1819 to 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist, often called the father of free verse. He spent his life writing and rewriting a single book that aimed to contain a whole democratic nation.
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People also ask
What is Leaves of Grass about?
The self, the body, nature, and American democracy, celebrated in expansive free verse. Whitman set out to sing the individual and the whole common life of the nation at once.
What is the famous line from Leaves of Grass?
From Song of Myself: that he is large and contains multitudes, his joyful embrace of contradiction and the vastness of a single human life.
Why was Leaves of Grass controversial?
Its frank treatment of the body and sexuality, and its break from traditional poetic form, shocked many readers in 1855, even as it opened a new path for poetry.