''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.'' So begins
Leaves of Grass, the first great American poem and
indeed, to this day, the greatest and most essentially
American poem in all our national literature. The
publication of Leaves of Grass in July 1855 was a
landmark event in literary history. Ralph Waldo Emerson
judged the book ''the most extraordinary piece of wit
and wisdom America has yet contributed.'' Nothing like
the volume had ever appeared before. Everything about
it--the unusual jacket and title page, the exuberant
preface, the twelve free-flowing, untitled poems
embracing every realm of experience--was new. The 1855
edition broke new ground in its relaxed style, which
prefigured free verse; in its sexual candor; in its
images of racial bonding and democratic togetherness;
and in the intensity of its affirmation of the sanctity
of the physical world. This Anniversary Edition captures
the typeface, design and layout of the original edition
supervised by Whitman himself.Today's readers get a
sense of the ''ur-text'' of Leaves of Grass, the first
version of this historic volume, before Whitman made
many revisions of both format and style. The volume also
boasts an afterword by Whitman authority David Reynolds,
in which he discusses the 1855 edition in its social and
cultural contexts: its background, its reception, and
its contributions to literary history. There is also an
appendix containing the early responses to the volume,
including Emerson's letter, Whitman's three
self-reviews, and the twenty other known reviews
published in various newspapers and magazines. This
special volume will be a must-have keepsake for fans of
Whitman and lovers of American poetry. |
|