Description
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
Read More
The poems of Walt Whitman meant little to me when I read them in high school and college. Lucidly, when I was teaching at the University of Grenoble in my late twenties, I was required to give a course on Whitman. My experience of Leaves of Grass then was intense.... Soon I understood that poetry could be transcendent, hymn-like, a cosmic song, and yet remain idolatrously attached to the creatures and things of our world .... Once again, as when I first began writing, it seemed it might be possible to say everything in poetry.
Read Less