Rating: 
Summary: Leaves of Grass
Review: In American Lit, probably matched only by "Moby-Dick." In poetry proper, Dickinson is a poetic equal, only on a "micro" road. Pound and Eliot, especialy the former, are brilliant: but the "Cantos" and "The Wasteland" cannot do the bump-shoulder thing with "Grass." "Song of Myself" goes a long way toward eliminating shrinks that haunt us. And "Children of Adam" finally liberates our sexier selves. Emerson conceived it; Whitman fulfilled it! Emerson was never really comfortable with sex--Whitman was. Only, It was who you knew.
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Summary: Celebrating the passion of life!!
Review: In the three days I have had The Modern Library's edition of Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass', it has become my favorite book. It is a beautiful celebration of the passions in life, awakening and tantilizing the reader as no other book of poetry has ever done (for me). I look forward to passing this beautiful book and its passion for life on to my children.
Rating: 
Summary: It got Monica Lewinsky into the sack
Review: It's sad that the way in which I happened upon this group of poems is by reading an article in today's New York Post that lists this a one of Clinton's gifts to his lovely Monica- An American Treasure given to an American Tramp.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe try the little train that could.....
Review: Mr Boston everyone has their own opinions but to call this work boring is saying that you have no idea about what you are reading. No author has ever come close to understanding what it means to be a living organism in this universe then Whitman. He truly felt he was one with all if more people thought like him maybe we could get rid of things that I fail to understand like racism and war.
Rating:
Summary: a classic of American poetry
Review: No doubt influenced by the free verse of ancient Greek poetry, Walt Whitman wrote about 19th c. America in the same way that the ancient Greek and Roman poets wrote about their own time and world. Much praised and criticized when it was first published, "Leaves of Grass" remains a wonderfully innovative, original, observant, wise, sensually unashamed, and heroic portrait of American identity, and a eulogy in praise of American people, places, ideas and things. David Rehak
author of "Poems From My Bleeding Heart"
Rating:
Summary: America's National Poet.
Review: No other poet has described his country all the more so vibrantly optimistic as this great man.His unique descriptions in all it's naked simplicity give life to all the subjects it touches more than most of the flowery & metaphor addled verses one could find.It's so remarkable to the point that at times it's like watching the silver screen on these printed words.His innovations in the world of poetry extending to universal factors celebrating the human heart & mind together with nature's undeniable course while accepting & loving it nonetheless may be a bit awkward & trying to the cynically modern mind,but eventually seeps into the reader heading towards its comforting acceptance.Although some of the poems here may not hold up to the best,one of the remarkable things about this book is that even when I was tempted to bring it down many times,i couldnt.Whitman is the last person of his nationality to ever talk about his country without any negativity & blemish;he is the last American to hold up to his nation's true ideal.
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Summary: America's First Great Poet
Review: Please forgive the presumptuous title of my review. But Walt Whitman was and still is one of the most influential poets I have ever read. He began life on a farm on Long Island, but times got bad and his family uprooted itself and moved to Brooklyn. Brooklyn at that time was a growing city unto itself and trades were needed. Thus Whitman learned the trade of printer. But his soul led him to a higher calling. He became a jounrnalist and wrote poetry. His early efforts did not amount to anything major. Yet sometimes the unimaginable happens in a man's life. A sudden thrust of inspiration strikes one like a bolt of lightning. Then something new and unique is born out of this inception - a new form of poetry - what is today referred to as free verse. Yes, Whitman is the father of the form, and perhaps one of its greatest practitioners. The beat poets who were to follow in his footsteps never really rose to his great height of mystic revelation. I think that's what the other reviewers are talking about when they refer to Whitman's religiosity. For Whitman was the poet of a new world, a new nation, a growing entity that would go on to fulfill an old dream of mankind. That is, the dream of a thoroughly new man, a man who was free from the past, a man who could find his soul was one with the fathomless cosmos. Hence, "Walt Whitman, a cosmos" is a very telling way Whitman has of describing himself to his reader. My favorite poem by Walt Whitman is his "Song of Myself." It contains the seed of everything he had lived as a human being and every vision he would realize as a mystic of epic proportions. After that, I believe his next great poem was "I Sing The Body Electric." "Drum Taps" was also quite an interesting addition to "Leaves of Grass." Also, "When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloomed" is Whitman at his poetic best. So it is without any reservation that I am highly recommending "Leaves Of Grass" to all and sundry as a must read. Especially now, in the wake of 9/11 we need to reaffirm what it means to be American, and I know of no better American Visionary to help in this cause then Walt Whitman.
Rating:
Summary: There is NO equal...
Review: Please, please... remember the way you felt about love and life at eighteen or so. Recall the idealism, the unfathomable passion. Then, READ...and be enraptured... and ask yourself, what has happened to me to make me so cynical and dumb to the voices of the universe?This book, these poems, ARE LIFE ITSELF...
Rating: 
Summary: the American's American
Review: Several reviewers state that Whitman is a "real American." Fair enough. But when his "bravado and self-love" are defended in the name of some sort of humility then someone is projecting their own romantic reading onto a person who was a self-proclaimed imperialist. He was hardly someone who wanted everyone to find their own truth. Of course, in today's post-9/11 America, being an imperialist certainly makes Whitman seem like a contemporary American.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, expressive, innovative writing.
Review: Superb, the conversational technique is quite endearing. But, I disagree with a number of reviews (particularly American reviewers)who proclaim Whitman one of THE greatest poets: no he isn't. I wouldn't forget Shakespeare, Donne, Arnold, Keats, Blake, Shelley, Pushkin, Goethe, Rilke, Yeats and Eliot.
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