Leaves of Grass

Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. After self-publishing it in 1855, he spent most of his professional life writing, revising, and expanding the collection until his death in 1892. Either six or nine separate editions of the book were produced, depending on how one defines a new edition. The continual modifications to Leaves of Grass resulted in vastly different copies of it circulating in Whitman's lifetime. The first edition was a slim tract of twelve poems, and the last was a compilation of over 400 poems.

The book represents a celebration of Whitman's philosophy of life and humanity in which he praises nature and the individual's role in it. He catalogues the expansiveness of American democracy. Rather than dwell on religious or spiritual themes, he focuses primarily on the body and the material world. With very few exceptions, Whitman's poems do not rhyme or follow conventional rules for meter and line length.

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 first edition of Leaves of Grass was self-published on July 4, 1855. This collection of twelve poems had its beginnings in an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson entitled "The Poet" (1844), which called for the United States to develop its own new, unique poet who could write about the young country's virtues and vices. This call, along with a challenge to abandon strict rhyme and meter, were partly embodied in the early 19th century works of John Neal: in his poems as well as his novels Randolph (1823) and Rachel Dyer (1828). Whitman, likely having read Neal, consciously set out to answer Emerson's call in the first edition of Leaves of Grass. Whitman later commented on Emerson's influence: "I was simmering, simmering, simmering; Emerson brought me to a boil."