Knowra Leaves of Grass Leaves of Grass Leaves of Grass is Walt Whitman’s book of poems, first published in 1855 and repeatedly expanded and revised during his lifetime. Its shifting editions form an evolving work rather than a fixed collection.
Walt Whitman : Walt Whitman was an American poet whose work helped shape modern poetry. He wrote and repeatedly revised the book across his lifetime.
Free verse : Free verse is poetry without a regular meter or rhyme scheme, though it may use other patterns of sound and rhythm. Whitman’s long, flexible lines depart from conventional metrical forms.
Song of Myself : “Song of Myself” is a long poem by Walt Whitman, first published in the 1855 Leaves of Grass. It is the book’s defining exploration of selfhood, nature, and shared human life.
American poetry : American poetry is poetry written in the United States or shaped by its languages, cultures, and history. Whitman’s forms and national subject matter helped redefine its possibilities.
Authorial revision : Authorial revision is an author’s alteration of a work after or during its initial composition or publication. Whitman’s successive editions complicate the idea of one definitive text.
Leaves of Grass (1855 edition) : The first edition of Leaves of Grass, a slim volume of twelve untitled poems published in 1855. Its distinctive format and poems established the book’s first form.
Catalog poem : A catalog poem builds meaning through an accumulating list of people, objects, actions, or images. Whitman’s lists turn individual details into visions of social and natural abundance.
I Sing the Body Electric : “I Sing the Body Electric” is a poem by Walt Whitman celebrating the human body and its spiritual significance. Its celebration of physical life exemplifies the book’s refusal to separate body from spirit.
Modernist poetry : Modernist poetry is poetry associated with experiments in form, language, and perspective during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Whitman’s flexible lines and expansive voice influenced later formal experimentation.
Textual criticism : Textual criticism studies how written works change across manuscripts, editions, and transmission. Its methods help distinguish the book’s many versions and editorial decisions.
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