Leaves of Grass, First Edition by Walt Whitman

I put Leaves of Grass on my list after reading Hello Beautiful. I'm not normally a poetry gal, but when my reading notes say "must read X," I guess I gotta read it. For those of you who missed the lesson about Whitman in your American Lit class, Whitman originally published Leaves of Grass anonymously (although his name is in one of the poems) in 1855 and he kept tinkering with it and revising poems and adding stuff and there's a "Death-Bed" edition that also exists. I did not read the later version mostly because it's much longer. 

I had a copy from the library with both editions and an introduction and notes by Karen Karbiener. This might be a bit sacrilegious to say, but I enjoyed reading the introduction and notes more than I enjoyed the actually poetry, but you must consider the audience. I'm not generally a lady who reads poetry and with the exception of a handful of Langston Hughes poems, I've never really understood what people are talking about when they talk about how beautiful it is to HEAR poetry.  

Whitman. What a guy, right? He grew up in a working-class home, but became one of America's first and finest poets. He was a true patriot, but also was a politically aware, most likely gay, artist.  He has a really interesting history and I really enjoyed reading all the notes about Whitman.

4/5 stars

Lines of note:

[Preface, page 7] The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem. 

What a lovely sentiment. Occasionally I'll get these moments of patriotism and wonder what it must have been like to be around when Donald Trump wasn't alive. 

[Preface, page 26] There will soon be no more priests. Their work is done....A superior breed shall take their place...The churches built under their umbrage shall be the churches of men and women. 

Alas, Whitman was not as prophetic as he thought he was.

[Song of Myself, page 44] 

I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,
Stuffed with the stuff that is coarse, and stuffed with the stuff that is fine,
One of the great nations, the nation of many nations - the smallest the same and the largest the same

I love this. We're all complicated beings. 

[Song of Myself, page 58]

I merely stir, press, feel with my fingers, and am happy,
To touch my person to some one else's is about as much as I can stand.

The ambiguity of this stuck with me. "I can stand" as in it makes me so happy or "I can stand" as in if another child touches me in the next six minutes, I'll lose my mind? Who knows?

Things I looked up:

A Race of Singers: Whitman's Working-class Hero from Guthrie to Springsteen by Bryan K. Garman (xvii) - It looks like our public library doesn't have this book in its collection, but the university does, so I'll have my husband take it out for me. 

Astor Place Opera House riots (xxxii) - Leaving between 22 and 31 rioters dead (that's a big range, isn't it?), this May 1849 riot was part of the tension between immigrants and nativists.

tenoned (48) - boring carpentry term

frisket (99) - On a sheet-fed letterpress printing machine, a frisket is a sheet of oiled paper that covers the space between the type or cuts (illustrations) and the edge of the paper that is to be printed. Look, I still don't really understand, but I get that it's a term used in printing.

tympan (99) - Another boring printing term.

guttapercha (99) - this is a type of tree

Hat mentions:

[Preface, page 8]  - the President's taking off his hat to them not they to him - 

[Preface, page 13] Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and the crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men...

[Preface, page 19]...when it is better to be a bound booby and rogue in office at a high salary than the poorest free mechanic or farmer with his hat unmoved from his head and firm eyes and a candid and generous heart...

[Song of Myself , page 47] 

Whimpering and truckling fold with powders for invalids....
    conformity goes to the fourth-removed,
I cock my hat as I please indoors or out.