Walt Whitman (1819-1892) From Leaves of Grass Part 2: Song of Myself (continued)

(Biography continued from Part 1)

Concord, Massachusetts, 21 July, 1855

DEAR SIR—I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of "Leaves of Grass." I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit & wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy... I give you joy of your free & brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment, which so delights us, & which large perception only can inspire. I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying & encouraging....

-R. W. Emerson

Walt Whitman began writing Leaves of Grass when he was 37 in 1850. The first edition was published July 11, 1855. Whitman paid for the 795 copies of the first edition to be printed himself. His portrait, but not his name appeared in this edition. Ralph Waldo Emerson highly praised the book and wrote Whitman. Because of Emerson's commendation, Leaves of Grass was received with interest.

But after Secretary of the Interior John Harlan read Leaves of Grass, Whitman was fired from his position at the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs. Harlan judged the work offensive. (1) John Greenleaf Whittier, the poet, tossed his copy of Leaves of Grass in the fire after reading it, and Rufus Wilmont Griswold in his November 10, 1855 review of Leaves of Grass in The Criterion said "it was a mass of stupid filth," and is the first to publicly denounce Whitman's homosexuality by saying Whitman was guilty of "that horrible sin not to be mentioned among Christians." (2)

Printed and bound, the second edition, which included 32 new poems,(3) was almost withheld from release by the publisher because of controversy stirred by the book's content. It was called profane and obscene by some and was regarded as offensive because of its direct and honest portrayal of sexuality. Finally it was released. Whitman included Emerson's comments in the second addition, to which Emerson took offense. Whitman continued revising and adding new work to Leaves of Grass. In 1860
he published a further revised edition which included at total of 146 additional poems. (4)

Continued on next video, "Walt Whitman From Leaves of Grass Part 3" (to be posted August 8, 2010)

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Text of selections:
Song of Myself # 31, 32, 50, 51, and 52
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Webliography
Wikipedia: Walt Whitman
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Wikepedia: Free Soil Party
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Wikipedia: Leaves of Grass
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Academy of American Poets: Walt Whitman
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The Whitman Archive
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Notes
(1 and 2) Wikipedia Leaves of Grass
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(3 and 4) The Whitman Archive, 1860 edition Leaves Of Grass
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