- Mass Market Paperback: 896 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Reprint edition (28 July 1977)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140422226
- ISBN-13: 978-0140422221
- Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.9 x 3.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 764,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Complete Poems: Walt Whitman (Penguin Classics)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In 1855 Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass, the work which defined him as one of America's most influential voices, and which he added to throughout his life. A collection of astonishing originality and intensity, it spoke of politics, sexual emancipation and what it meant to be an American. From the joyful 'Song of Myself' and 'I Sing the Body Electric' to the elegiac 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd', Whitman's art fuses oratory, journalism and song in a vivid celebration of humanity.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) is one of the greatest American poets. Leaves of Grass was published in 1855, which he added to and reshuffled throughout his life.
Francis Murphy is Professor of English at Smith College, Northampton USA
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
One's-Self I Sing One's-Self I sing, a simple separate person,Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
One's-Self I Sing One's-Self I sing, a simple separate person,Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you are a poetry fan you will not be disappointed with The Complete Poems of Walt Whitman. Take time out to enjoy this wonderful collection. A recommended purchase.
5 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
it's Walt Whitman! if you're new to Walt...why? redeem yourself NOW!
if you're not then you already know where i'm at.
i'm done.
if you're not then you already know where i'm at.
i'm done.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
55 of 56 people found the following review helpful
A beautiful intoduction to Whitman
19 Dec 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This collection of Whitman's poetry has the ulitimate selection for any reader, whether one is experienced in the composition and analyzation of Whitman or simply reading for pleasure. The book contains every known work by the author, as well as numerous editions of poems such as "Song of Myself" which was revised and reprinted by the author several times. If one is a fan of Walt Whitman, this is an excellent source of all his poetry compact into one book. If a person is just begining to experience the poet, everyting someone would want to read is at his or her fingertips.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
One of the Greats
12 Feb 2008
Format:Paperback
Walt Whitman is, indisputably, America's poet. He is vast, large, contradictory (Do I contradict myself?/Very well then I contradict myself/(I am large, I contain multitudes)), beautiful and loose and American to the core!
His greatest poem is, in my opinion, "Song of Myself." This is far from a controversial opinion, and for good reason; the eighty-odd page long poem is an astounding epic--albeit, an unusual one, but a monumental achievement of literature. It is Whitman as Everyman, Whitman as you, as me, as all other mortals from China to Peru. I quote his beautiful closing stanzas:
"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I
Love,
If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop some where waiting for you"
Such beauty in verse, especially free verse, is scarcely found, and, when found, must be cherished. There is a reason almost all poets after him--and not just poets in the English language, either (Borges, for example, aspired to be the "Whitman of Argentina")--have been influenced by him more so than any other poet besides perhaps Shakespeare and Milton.
Nor is "Song of Myself" his only great poem, though it surely be his greatest. His elegy for Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is monumental (the great critic Harold Bloom declares it Whitman's finest poem, and thus the greatest of all American poems--I dissent, but uphold its marvel nonetheless), as is almost all of his wonderful corpus of poetry. Whitman is remarkable; he is inescapable; he is beautiful. Read him, and thou shalt be infinitely rewarded.
His greatest poem is, in my opinion, "Song of Myself." This is far from a controversial opinion, and for good reason; the eighty-odd page long poem is an astounding epic--albeit, an unusual one, but a monumental achievement of literature. It is Whitman as Everyman, Whitman as you, as me, as all other mortals from China to Peru. I quote his beautiful closing stanzas:
"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I
Love,
If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop some where waiting for you"
Such beauty in verse, especially free verse, is scarcely found, and, when found, must be cherished. There is a reason almost all poets after him--and not just poets in the English language, either (Borges, for example, aspired to be the "Whitman of Argentina")--have been influenced by him more so than any other poet besides perhaps Shakespeare and Milton.
Nor is "Song of Myself" his only great poem, though it surely be his greatest. His elegy for Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is monumental (the great critic Harold Bloom declares it Whitman's finest poem, and thus the greatest of all American poems--I dissent, but uphold its marvel nonetheless), as is almost all of his wonderful corpus of poetry. Whitman is remarkable; he is inescapable; he is beautiful. Read him, and thou shalt be infinitely rewarded.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
awesome collection; however...
28 Dec 2010
Format:Paperback
I love Whitman unspeakably, and the reason why I bought this volume was so I could have all of his poems together, as the book advertises. I actually bought this book from Borders several years ago, but I wanted to leave a review here because there was something I noticed which bears mentioning. During my previous semester in college I was writing a paper on Whitman's "Live Oak, with Moss", and found out that there are two versions of it. There is the first version, the unedited one, and there is the second one, which Whitman himself changed (minimal changes to the actual wording of the poems), and he also scattered the different sections throughout Calamus so the meaning couldn't be derived, as it was very controversial for the time. However, in recent years one scholar (whose name I can't remember at the moment) discovered the original version, unedited and in its uninterrupted entirety. Curious about what version was in this Complete Poems volume I checked it against the copy I had from a text book. To my (admitted) horror, the edited version is the only one included in this volume. Not only that, but it is still scattered all over, not all contained even in the Calamus section. Considering that this was put together by Penguin, and it's advertised as being "complete", I'm very disappointed in this presentation- not only that, but part of me is fairly horrified, as the discovery of the real edition of "Live Oak, with Moss" was made only recently, and this edition has also been recently updated. I'm still giving this book four stars because I do love Whitman, and besides this discrepancy it really is an impressive volume. I do hope the people at Penguin will realize and put out another addition, this time actually a complete one.
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