Leaves of Grass. Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass is a seminal work by Walt Whitman, one of the most important poets of the 19th century. The first edition of the collection was published in 1855 and contained only twelve poems. Whitman, however, wrote and rewrote Leaves of Grass throughout his life, so the final, twelfth edition of the collection already contained almost four hundred poems.

Whitman's work is innovative in every sense. The "good gray-haired poet" was one of the first to turn to the verlibre in search of a new poetic language. He also believed that any manifestations of human life could be celebrated, so life and death, love and war, science and God coexist on the pages of Leaves of Grass. Whitman extols the unity of body and spirit, emphasizes the deep interconnectedness of each person with society and nature, and admires democracy and America.

During his lifetime, Whitman's poetry was considered obscene, immoral; they tried to censor it or even ban it altogether. But he has always inspired and continues to inspire — Pound, Eliot, Ginsberg, Borges, Cunningham, and even Bram Stoker... And the brilliant translation and foreword by Maksym Strikha confirm: Walt Whitman remains a relevant figure not only for world, but also for Ukrainian literature.

The collection contains selected poems from "Leaves of Grass", which constitute about half of Walt Whitman's poetic legacy.