Leaves of Grass

Lore & Background

The first edition was a slim tract of twelve poems, and the last was a compilation of over 400 poems. Either six or nine separate editions were produced, depending on how one defines a new edition. The continual modifications resulted in vastly different copies circulating in Whitman's lifetime. The title is a pun, as 'grass' was a term given by publishers to works of minor value, and 'leaves' is another name for pages. The first edition included an engraving of Whitman in work clothes, meant to represent the devil-may-care American working man. Whitman paid for and did much of the typesetting himself. The only American library known to have purchased a copy of the first edition was in Philadelphia.

Reader's Guide

Leaves of Grass was notable for its discussion of delight in sensual pleasures at a time when such candid displays were considered immoral. The book was highly controversial for its explicit sexual imagery, and Whitman was subject to derision by many contemporary critics. Over the decades, however, the collection has infiltrated popular culture and become recognized as one of the central works of American poetry. The book focuses primarily on the body and the material world rather than religious or spiritual themes. With very few exceptions, Whitman's poems do not rhyme or follow conventional rules for meter and line length. Among the poems in the early editions were 'Song of Myself', 'Song of the Open Road', 'I Sing the Body Electric', 'Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking', and 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry'. Later editions contained Whitman's elegy to the assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd'.

Did You Know?

• The only American library known to have purchased a copy of the first edition was in Philadelphia.
• The title is a pun: 'grass' was a term for works of minor value, and 'leaves' is another name for pages.