Leaves of Grass
49 pages • 1-hour read
Walt WhitmanLeaves of Grass
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Summary
Background
Poem Summaries & Analyses
“I Celebrate Myself” [“Song of Myself”]
“Come Closer to Me” [“A Song for Occupations”]
“To Think of Time . . . . To Think Through” [“To Think of Time”] Summary
“I Wander All Night in My Vision” [“The Sleepers”]
“The Bodies of Men and Women Engirth” [“I Sing the Body Electric”]
“Sauntering the Pavement or Riding the Country Byroads” [“Faces”]
“A Young Man Came to Me With” [“Song of the Answerer”]
“Suddenly Out of Its Stale and Drowsy” [“Europe: The 72d and 73d Years of These States”]
“Clear the Way There Jonathan!” [“A Boston Ballad”]
“There Was a Child Went Forth”
“Who Learns My Lesson Complete?”
“Great Are the Myths . . . . I Too Delight” [“Great Are the Myths”]
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Literary Devices
Further Reading & Resources
Tools
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Song of the Open Road” (1856) by Walt Whitman
This is one of Whitman’s best-known poems, published in the second edition of Leaves of Grass. The speaker walks along the “open road,” a metaphor for the journey of the individual through life. He invites others to join him. The road is safe, he says, because he has already tried it—now he wants to impart his knowledge to everyone else.
“To You” (1856) by Walt Whitman
In this poem from the second edition of Leaves of Grass, the speaker directly addresses an ordinary person who has not lived up to their full potential. While such people create masks that turn their lives into illusory dreams, the speaker urges them to see who they really are and to grab hold of it: “Whoever you are! claim your own at any hazard!” He assures them that they will succeed, no matter the obstacles.
“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman (1856, 1881)
This is one of Whitman's major poems. As the speaker rides the East River ferry between Brooklyn and Manhattan, he describes the sights that greet him and then thinks how people many hundred years in the future will enjoy the same sights. What he feels now, others will feel; he is one with them. Who knows, he asks, "for all the distance, but I am as good as looking at you now, for all you cannot see me?"
Further Literary Resources
“Leaves of Grass, 1855 Edition” by Ivan Marki (1998)
Marki offers a detailed description of the production of the first edition, which is important because Whitman himself designed the book with dark green covers, the words “Leaves of Grass” embossed in gold, and images of vines and tendrils of grass spread around the words. Printed on a handset press, the first edition could never be reprinted.
“Walt Whitman: A National Poet” (American Experience, PBS, n.d.)
In this collection of short interview excerpts, Whitman scholars discuss Whitman’s calling as a poet, his vision of the US, the idea of a national poet, and poetry and national unity.
“Song of Myself (1855)” by James E. Miller, Jr. (n.d.)
This is a concise exposition of the major techniques and themes of Whitman’s most important poem. Miller argues that the poem “portrays (and mythologizes) Whitman’s poetic birth and the journey into knowing.” At the same time, his speaker does not privilege himself; rather, “the reader [is] placed on shared ground with the poet.” Miller acknowledges that a definitive interpretation of the poem is not possible; instead, readers must enter into it themselves until they begin to feel its power.
Listen to Poem
Eric Forsyth reads “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman
The 1891-92 edition of “Song of Myself” is read by Eric Forsythe for the Walt Whitman Archive.
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