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Whitman: Poems
Kindle Edition
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About the author
Walt Whitman
1,791 books5,412 followersWalter 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."
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."
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 18, 2020
This book doesn't even need a review!!!
Walt Whitman is my favorite poet on the face of the earth...that's it! That's my review! 📖🌿
Walt Whitman is my favorite poet on the face of the earth...that's it! That's my review! 📖🌿
August 13, 2020
Beautiful and weird and wonderful.
Read
September 10, 2015Are you the new person drawn toward me?
To begin with, take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;
Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?
Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy’d satisfaction?
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
Do you see no further than this façade, this smooth and tolerant manner of me?
Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real heroic man?
Have you no thought, O dreamer, that it may be all maya, illusion?
To begin with, take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;
Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?
Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy’d satisfaction?
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
Do you see no further than this façade, this smooth and tolerant manner of me?
Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real heroic man?
Have you no thought, O dreamer, that it may be all maya, illusion?
September 4, 2021
I feel like this isn't the best selection of his works.
Walt Whitman got me into poetry, but I didn't enjoy this. I think I liked two or three poems in the whole book, hated one, and thought the rest were okay. I'd like to read more of his poetry to see what I think, as well as the full Leaves of Grass.
Walt Whitman got me into poetry, but I didn't enjoy this. I think I liked two or three poems in the whole book, hated one, and thought the rest were okay. I'd like to read more of his poetry to see what I think, as well as the full Leaves of Grass.
May 14, 2018
I found that this book of poetry was much more enjoyable when my Kindle read it to me, rather than me just reading it to myself. The poetry works better when spoken to my ears. Having only read "O Captain, My Captain!" and no other poetry from Whitman previous to reading this collection, I found it very much an ode to the United States of America.
O Captain, My Captain is paying homage to Lincoln, and there are a few more addressed to the late president. There is an entire section praising democracy too. Having not been very political myself, I found these poems quite different, as my sense of poetry is flowery words about nature and love.
While I didn't make too much of Whitman's style, it did open up another side of poetry I had never thought of, and made me want to read more poetry to have a better experience of poetry itself.
O Captain, My Captain is paying homage to Lincoln, and there are a few more addressed to the late president. There is an entire section praising democracy too. Having not been very political myself, I found these poems quite different, as my sense of poetry is flowery words about nature and love.
While I didn't make too much of Whitman's style, it did open up another side of poetry I had never thought of, and made me want to read more poetry to have a better experience of poetry itself.
March 4, 2018
This is an awesome edition and an amazing collection. Whitman, the earthy optimist, lover of life and nature and people. It feels transgressive in an era of humorlessness and puritanism and authoritarianism. He wants to be the poet of the "lawless, rude, [and] illiterate." Doesn't he know that those things aren't safe?
October 2, 2018
I love Walt Whitman's love of life - of all that is beautiful in this world. I loved his acceptance of death. He is sometime's difficult to read. I took a little bit at a time to read and think thru. It was a great experience.!
December 9, 2015
I liked this book but sometimes his poems got really long and drawn out. I really love his shorter poems though.
May 22, 2018
A solid collection, this one and Galway Kinnell's edited from penguin I'd suggest reading.
December 29, 2019
“Only themselves understand themselves and the like of themselves, as souls only understand souls.”
1860.
1860.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews