The Essential Whitman

by Walt Whitman

Briefly discusses the history of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and gathers a selection of poems about identity, childhood, growth, war, grief, and the wonder of life

Genres: Poetry, Fiction

138 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Walter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality.
Whitman was born in Huntington on Long Island, and lived in Brooklyn as a child and through much of his career. At the age of 11, he left formal schooling to go to work. He worked as a journalist, a teacher, and a government clerk. Whitman's major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, was financed with his own money and became well known. The work was an attempt to reach out to the common person with an American epic. Whitman continued expanding and revising Leaves of Grass until his death in 1892.
During the American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C., and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded. His poetry often focused on both loss and healing. On the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman greatly admired, he authored two poems, "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and gave a series of lectures on Lincoln. After suffering a stroke towards the end of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. When he died at the age of 72, his funeral was a public event.
Whitman's influence on poetry remains strong. Art historian Mary Berenson wrote, "You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him." Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet... He is America."

Reviews

[Chrystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked Whitman when I first read his poems about 25 yrs ago. Either I have changed much since then, or Galway Kinnell has chosen the absolutely worst poems that Whitman had to offer. This compendium was SO boring and annoying! My goodness, how many poems do we need to read about being naked in the water, or being naked in the grass? Wait a minute, now that I think about it, that is pretty much all Whitman wrote about, and it seems like every line starts with "O...!" as in:

O comrade lustrous...
O mortal soul...
O liquid, and free...
O wild and loose...
O how shall I warble...
O sun!
O grass of graves!
O stars of heaven!
O night!
O perpetual transfers...
O I will yet sing...
O madly the sea...

And every line ends with an exclamation! This doesn't bother me as much as the O's! But still!

Sing on!
Loud! Loud!
O land!
Here I am! Here!
O darkness!
O in vain!
How the flukes splash!
O wondrous singer!

O please stop! (this from me, not Walt).

[Elan Garfias · Rating 5 out of 5]

The American poet par excellence, every American should at least be familiar with some of his work to appreciate his impact on the course of American letters. Whether you estimate this impact for the better or the worse (I'm personally inclined to say for the worse), it's absolutely essential reading. While most of the smaller works in this volume are pretty skippable, Song of Myself certainly stands out as one of the more interesting literary products of the time. Even in this one, large swathes of text could still be omitted, and yet the poem as a whole positively demands to be read. It radiate with life and rhythm, the strapping birthing of the new poetics of the new country. It's basically a narrator walking around and taking in the quite ordinary sights of town and country, but on the page they become anything but ordinary. Whitman marvels at the clanging of workshops, the bustle of a downtown street, and simple nobility of normal people, and the quiet enlightenment of animals. There are neither great deeds nor any remarkable personages, as this poem wants for neither. Through the author's eyes everything becomes great and remarkable, and as the title suggests, so does he. He marvels at his body and mind, at once arrogant and humble. He casts about everywhere with sympathy and perception, invoking the epic in everything and everyone. How amazing it must be to exist on this level for just a few minutes, perfectly present and conscious. There is life in everything always willing to more life and more beauty and more motion, and Whitman celebrates the rampant sexuality latent in the world. Though it scandalized publishers at the time, the more sexual passages were surprisingly rare, and hardly lewd. Rather, they form merely another voice in the chorus of celebration. Song of Myself, while prolix at times, drips with quotable lines, visceral and sonorous and explosive; reading many of them I had the distinct sense of them refusing to stay on the page and insisting on existing in the world. For those familiar with Transcendentalism, the poem makes for a beautiful and joyous transliteration of an Emerson essay infused with rabid testosterone and a sense of humor. His audience is everyone, and the setting of this work is everywhere. While the volume is slim, Song of Myself bears rereading and reinterpreting, and is sure to yield new fruits each time.

[Lucas Sipe · Rating 2 out of 5]

A totally uninteresting compilation of romantic sentiments and hope. Whitman has his virtues, to be sure, but this collection was uninspiring. Most of it was taken up by "Song of Myself" which should be read as the connection of the individual to the universal and the common humanity common to rich, poor, blessed, suffering, and all others. Unfortunately, it's truly little more than trite sentimentalism packaged as the hopeful end of history. Whitman couldn't have known about what would come but looking back the naive "we're all one" is grating. Elements of the poem were fine and interesting enough, but it lacked depth and an unveiling account. Whitman was content to speak of our connection and nothing more. Worst of all, it was boring and I often found myself hoping it would end.

His other poems weren't much better. At only 175 pages, 95 of them were taken up by "Song of Myself." The compiler of the collection didn't do a great job with distilling Whitman like I hoped he would. Being given "Song of Myself" could be "essential" to Whitman but the remaining poems touched upon similar themes. Perhaps my disdain for the romantics and those touched by them are coming out here but there's something pathetic about the movement. Yes they reject industrialization, the appeal to science above all else, and the love of tradition but everything they call for is a construct, is banal, is lacking in gravitas. Whitman characterizes these flaws all too well.

[Jennifer Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first experience with Walt Whitman other than a few referenced excerpts through classes I have taken in the past. I felt this was a good introduction to his work. It reveals Whitman as a master observer of life and the world around him as well as someone capable of deep self-reflection. He reinvented poetry with his style of free verse, making it more tangible with everyday language and holistic connection to other humans and nature. He was eloquent and thorough with description and imagination, bringing together people of all classes and corners. The poems almost create stories at times, especially when telling of real world events such as war and the working class. I enjoyed this and would recommend his work as a great starting point in American poetry.

[Liberty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walt is the loml

[Tracie Sampson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan of Whitman I must admit.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't wait to see what ole Galway picked!