Synopses & Reviews
The poet in Whitman developed late and slowly while his early writings came only from the surface of his mind. But when he was scarcely in his teens he was publishing bits in Brooklyn papers and presently in George P. Morris's New York Mirror. At twelve he became an apprentice printer, the first occupation of a dozen writers who were more or less of Whitman's time. Whitman retained the interest in printing that he had acquired as a little boy standing on type-cases to reach the boxes. In old age he always knew the easiest way out of printers' puzzles, as his disciple Horace Traubel said, and he watched his proofs with anxious eye, ready to add or omit a line in cases where a page struck him as too loose or crowded. He did not love his line enough to let them spoil the page he said, and once sacrificed nine for a blank space. He would send silver dollars with thanks to the proof takers for giving him clean dark proofs on paper that he liked. But while, in his boyhood, Whitman was a printer who was also beginning to write, his real occupation was absorbing impressions, historical impressions, among the rest, that attached him deeply from the first to the past and evolution of the country.
Synopsis
This vintage book contains Walt Whitman's seminal collection of poetry, "Leaves of Grass". Including various readings, together with first drafts of certain poems, rejected passages, and poems that were excluded from later editions, this book is highly recommended for fans of Whitman's work. It would make for a worthy addition to any poetic collection. The verses include: "Sail out for Good, Eid lon Yacht ", "Lingering Last Drops", "Good-Bye My Fancy", "On, On the Same, Ye Jocund Twain ", "My 71st Year", "Apparitions", "The Pallid Wreath", "An Ended Day", "Old Age's Ship and Crafty's Death", "To the Pending Year", etcetera. Walter "Walt" Whitman (1819 - 1892), was a celebrated American poet, essayist and journalist. He is one of the most influential poets in American literature, and is often referred to as the father of free verse. His writings were extremely controversial in his time, a statement that is especially true for "Leaves of Grass"; considered to be obscenely sexual when first published. Many texts such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.