Leaves of Grass; 1855 Edition : Volume 10, The Reader's Library

By Whitman, Walt

Book Id: WPLBN0003468563
Format Type: PDF (eBook)
File Size: 596.65 KB.
Reproduction Date: 2/6/2015

Title:	Leaves of Grass; 1855 Edition : Volume 10, The Reader's Library
Author:	Whitman, Walt
Volume:	Volume 10, The Reader's Library
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, General Works (Periodicals, Series, idexes, Almanacs, etc.), American Poetry
Collections:	Poetry, Analytical Chemistry, Authors Community, Astronomy, Music, Literature, Language, Medicine, Naval Science, Most Popular Books in China, Political Science, Education
Historic Publication Date:	2015
Publisher:	William Ralph Press

Member Page:	Neil Azevedo
Citation APA MLA Chicago Whitman, W. (2015). Leaves of Grass; 1855 Edition : Volume 10, The Reader's Library. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.us/

Description
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is widely considered to be the greatest and most influential of all American poets. The first edition of LEAVES OF GRASS, his sole book which he would continue to revise over the course of his life expanding and rewriting it until the year of his death, appeared in 1855. This volume endeavors to recreate that debut edition as much as an e-book’s virtual typesetting will allow.

Summary
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is widely considered to be the greatest and most influential of all American poets. The first edition of LEAVES OF GRASS, his sole book which he would continue to revise over the course of his life expanding and rewriting it until the year of his death, appeared in 1855. This volume endeavors to recreate that debut edition as much as an e-book’s virtual typesetting will allow.

Excerpt
I celebrate myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease . . . . observing a spear of summer grass. Houses and rooms are full of perfumes . . . . the shelves are crowded with perfumes, I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it, The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it. The atmosphere is not a perfume . . . . it has no taste of the distillation . . . . it is odorless, It is for my mouth forever . . . . I am in love with it, I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked, I am mad for it to be in contact with me. The smoke of my own breath, Echos, ripples, and buzzed whispers . . . . loveroot, silkthread, crotch and vine, My respiration and inspiration . . . . the beating of my heart . . . . the passing of blood and air through my lungs, “The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and darkcolored sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn, The sound of the belched words of my voice . . . . words loosed to the eddies of the wind, A few light kisses . . . . a few embraces . . . . a reaching around of arms, The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag, The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hillsides, The feeling of health . . . . the full-noon trill . . . . the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun. Have you reckoned a thousand acres much? Have you reckoned the earth much? Have you practiced so long to learn to read? Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

Table of Contents
Contents Introduction "Frontispiece" "Letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson" "Original Title Page" "Entered according to Act of Congress..." "Preface" "Song of Myself" "A Song for Occupations" "To Think of Time" "The Sleepers" "I Sing the Body Electric" "Faces" "Song of the Answerer" "Europe the 72d and 73d Years of These States" "A Boston Ballad" "There Was a Child Went Forth" "Who Learns My Lesson Complete" "Great Are the Myths" About the Editor Also by William Ralph Press