Leaves of Grass Study Guide
Leaves of Grass is a poetry book of Walt Whitman that is considered the golden classic of modern poetry. It is the most important work of all the life of the author. Whitman revised it for all his life, adding, replacing and switching different poems, until their quantity exceeded four hundred.
Whitman is considered the father of the truly American spirit. While most of the poetry at his time praised spiritual values and moderation, diminishing the meaning of body and mind, Whitman exalts human body and material pleasures, giving them the meaning and symbolism of something transcendent. It was highly criticized for the explicit sexual imagery and self-obsession, but Whitman didn’t mean it to be a narcissistic pray to himself. Leaves of Grass shows how a person can love themselves, find themselves worthy of their love, do anything to achieve perfection in what they want and enjoy life to its fullest.
Each poem can be read as a single piece, they are very vaguely related. But still the author divides them by the topics, creating chapters of his book, each of which describes some aspects of life. We can even track the changes in his own worldview, reading the poems chronologically and seeing how Whitman’s upbeat, jovial and materialistic ideas gradually turn into more melancholic and spiritual ones while he meditates on the question of death, dying and heritage that a person leaves behind themselves.
At first, the poems were heavily criticized, because the prudish morals of that age considered them outright scandalous. But later they became the real spirit of America, the spirit of the man who loves himself and the world, is ready to accept whatever life gives him and enjoy it. Nowadays the Leaves of Grass is one of the most popular books of all American poetry. It’s eloquent tongue, vivid imagery and generally optimistic ideas make this book a beautiful reading for anyone who loves life.
Author: Loretta Bowman
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