Rating: 
Summary: Love, Bubba
Review: Well, buy this book and see why I gave a copy of it to Monica. Huh, huh!. Well, she stabbed me in the back in the end, but we'll always have Whitman......Love,Bubba
Rating:
Summary: Give the 1855 version a try
Review: What more can be said about Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"? This 19th century work is more than just a poetic masterpiece; it is a pivotal landmark in the history of world literature. Read "Leaves" and you will understand why Whitman is hailed as a poetic ancestor by poets, both male and female, of many different ethnic and national backgrounds. His is truly a universal voice. Whitman published the first edition of "Leaves" in 1855, and continued to revise and expand the book until it had grown into the monumental final version. While the "deathbed" edition is an essential text, I'd like to put in a plug for the much smaller 1855 edition, which has been reprinted with an introduction by Malcolm Cowley. The "deathbed" edition may be too large and intimidating a literary tapestry for Whitman "virgins"; the reprinted 1855 edition may thus be a good way to begin exploring the bounteous poetic talent and vision of this giant. The Cowley-introduced edition also includes Whitman's original prose introduction, which is itself a remarkable piece of literature. While the 1855 "Leaves" is missing vast sections of the deathbed version, it is still a stunning work of art that succeeds as a self-sufficient piece of literature and philosophy. In this "embryonic" version of the soon-to-evolve masterpiece, we already discover Whitman's pungent eroticism, his embrace of paradox, and his playful theological exploration. His language is sensuous, outrageous, tender, and amazing, and is full of compassion for all living beings. Whitman is more than just a great poet; his work is a sort of prophecy for both the secular and multifaith worlds. So read "Leaves" in either the embryonic version or the ultimate version, and embark on an unforgettable poetic journey.
Rating:
Summary: Tempered Thoughts
Review: While I agree with most of the reviews written here, I must take issue with them somewhat. First, I also believe that Walt Whitman is one of the finest poets that ever lived and certainly the finest when it comes to being a proud American. Although, he comes from a time in America that was like that of Socrates and Plato in the past, a time when the most important thing in life was not work, or success or career, but the exploration of one's inner thoughts. Were we living in a time when such a thing was permitable rather than the constant search for the almighty dollar, we might see more such poets. But he and his era are long gone. The art of the word is certainly Walt's. I ask you to also purchase a dictionary when you purchase this or any of his volumes, not because it is difficult to read, but because Whitman doesn't always use a word for it's main meaning, often burying a meaning of a word or line in the third or fourth meaning, completely changing the meaning of the poem. It is such fun and exactly what I believe Walt Whitman is meant to be, a journey and a trip to the celebration of life. A celebration that also includes a look at the worst that is us and the best that is us. When the reviewer wrote that his work is a study of a narcissist, I have to disagree. Yes, it begins his work with Song of Myself and it is an epic poem. But while he celebrates Walt, he is truly celebrating all of us as amazing creatures in nature. He celebrates every molecule of us, the amazing capabilities, perfumes and evilness of us. He studies us as though someone would study the amazing ability of a tree to grow or a flower to bloom. We are nature and he recognizes that and it is amazing to him. Clearly, he had bravado and self-love, but in the most non-imposing way. We wishes all of us to realize the miracle that is us. To believe that he is only about himself is to miss the point of Walt. Also, it is important to read the various editions of this volume. He wrote and rewrote Leaves of Grass continuously throughout his life adding and deleting poems as he saw them. The best way to see his journey is to read the first edition (complete with his swaggering picture), where he was not listed as the author to the final "deathbed edition" that is truly a masterpiece and you can see what he learns, what he tries to teach you and how deeply you will be moved by him. One last hint - read "Song of Myself" outloud. It becomes truly a song about life and read outloud can certainly stir your soul.
Rating: 
Summary: Whitman Glorified?
Review: Whitman Glorified? Whitman's descriptions of nature are inspired and his style exudes with the same passion as his subject. Yet, his self-absorption overshadows his talent. Whitman's poem, "Song of Myself" takes up a significant portion of the book, Leaves of Grass. Here, Whitman keeps no points in reserve, but spends 52 sections "celebrating" himself. He feels he, as man, is the great panacea. He suckles at its mercy until it fills not only his subject matter, but influences his technique and his structure as well. His intriguing mind leads the reader along, until disappointment is found in another laborious passage expounding god status and the call to ascend to his level of distorted thinking. Whitman's momentary descriptive nuggets are lost in a sea of narcissism.
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Summary: The great poet of America and the great American poet
Review: Whitman is the great poet of America and the great American poet. His song is not only of himself but of the American realities he meets and catalogues in his long cadenced lines. Whitman sings the song of America as yes in a way no one had before and no one will since. He is the American poet who captured the most of American reality in his lines . And he is the one who too speaks of it at the moment of its great outward expansion and hope, as a historical progress of ever rising ever more sweepingly inclusive cosmic concentrical circles. He is a writer who touches the stars, and above all reaches the sense of the light within us (When I heard the learned Astronomer) He touches upon American tragedy ( O Captain my Captain) and most deeply expresses it ( Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking) He is the one who takes all America as an adventure and feast for his eyes and lines. And his poem however ironically his own life and end comments on it symbolizes for America its great new dawn always opening toward new light and greater worlds westward and within.
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Summary: A Lover of all Forms
Review: Whitman is, no doubt, the truest. Many other popular poets are regarded too highly for their reflections on reality. Whitman is beyond mere relection, he has seen and deciphered the underlying objects of so much other work. Masterful.
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Summary: will certainly outlast Bill & Monica
Review: Whitman set out, like James Joyce, to define and recreate his nation's literature, and perhaps the nation itself, and to express his wildest ideas, glorying in their contradictions. The amazing thing is that he succeeded. There's so much in this book, I wouldn't know where to begin to say any more, except to suggest that opening pages at random over a long period of time is my preferred method of reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential American poetry
Review: Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" is a collection of some of the finest American free-verse poetry ever written. Outward from his home on Brooklyn, Whitman soars out over our great nation, painting a sweeping portrait of mid-nineteenth century America and its diverse inhabitants. Whitman covers a panorama of ideas and themes, from lofty, aloof musings on the nature of man, to piercing depictions of the horrors of war. Gems of wisdom hang from Whitman's web of of verse like dew drops - easy to see but hard to grasp. This is a powerful work, and a never-ending source of beauty. Unfortunately for me, I am not a big fan of free verse, making this work harder for me to enjoy than I had hoped. Which edition do I recommend? That really depends on what you are looking for. If you are just interested in getting a taste of Whitman, I would recommend some of the abridged versions. I don't feel that reading all 700+ pages of Whitman's poetry is necessary for anyone but his biggest fans and students. For a complete version, I found the Modern Library edition acceptable, but nothing spectacular. This work has a multitude of editions, and I would recommend actually holding them in your hand before making a decision on which best suits your needs.
Rating:
Summary: Complete and Satisfying
Review: Wonderful. I'm not sure how many times I have read this, or how many backpacking trips I have carried it on. It simply cannot be compared to any other piece of English Literature. Stimulating, erotic, challenging, hopeful yet complex in its understanding and interpretation of not only the world but our place in it. It's a classic, which means it is just as valid today as it was a million years before Whitman put pen to paper. I have several copies: one in my office at home and at work, one on my bedstand, and one I'm converting to Palm format.
Rating:
Summary: An Incomparable Masterpiece
Review: Words cannot describe the complexity of Leaves of Grass. I am constantly amazed at how well Walt Whitman holds it all together, keeping is hand on one object while amorously praising another. Everything works in perfect cohesion...An unabashed love of self, of nature, of all that is divine and not divine. Leaves of Grass is a truly inspired work...its words are boundless and fluent, rising in an intoxicating crescendo of naked emotion. "I am the poet of the Body; and I am the poet of the Soul." Throughout Leaves of Grass there is an overwhelming theme of unity...unity of man and nature, of man and man, of man and God. Excitable sputterings of ageless wisdom become scattered, but somehow stay anchored to the intricate framework of the book. This sounds contradicting, and it is reminiscent of a line from the book --"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; (I am large-I contain multitudes.) After reading this book, you will delight in how large Walt Whitman is.
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