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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This book is not for those who are only mildly interested in poetry. It’s a great read, if challenging at times, but sometimes it drags on and on. But man, when Whitman gets into it, he gets into it. The way he describes love is insane.
This fucking guy. I'll come back to him in smaller chunks. Not easy reading. It's just so old timey
Some of Whitman's poems were beautiful and touching while others seemed to carry on and on for ages. Overall, it was a challenging, but pleasant read.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I'm not sure if I took what I should have from Leaves of Grass, I think I would have had to done quite a bit of reading about what to expect and how to interpret what Whitman was saying from the perspective of 1855. They would definitely some very poignant sentences and it was gorgeously written, I think just because it was written so long ago so much of it went over my head and where they might have been meaning was just words for me.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
I could say a lot about this book. I could talk about Whitman's scope, or his process, or the way he strings words together like pearls.
But all I really want to say is this: a year and a half ago, I told one of my best friends that I would read this whole thing. And I've done it. Thank you.
But all I really want to say is this: a year and a half ago, I told one of my best friends that I would read this whole thing. And I've done it. Thank you.
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.
He's not wrong. Such a masterful mess of a thing--a new transcendental-realist mode of poetry that helped shape the Anglo-American literary tradition. Wildly inclusive and provincially imperialist all at the same time.
I get why some Goodreads members recommend focusing your choice on the original edition--Whitman's endless tinkering with this piece from 1855-1892 does make the final/official ("deathbed") edition something of a bloated and repetitive slog. And yet: to read the 1855 edition would keep you from seeing the ways that Whitman's experiences as a Civil War nurse immensely deepened the work, both in poems that explicitly reflected on the war, and thematically throughout.
He's not wrong. Such a masterful mess of a thing--a new transcendental-realist mode of poetry that helped shape the Anglo-American literary tradition. Wildly inclusive and provincially imperialist all at the same time.
I get why some Goodreads members recommend focusing your choice on the original edition--Whitman's endless tinkering with this piece from 1855-1892 does make the final/official ("deathbed") edition something of a bloated and repetitive slog. And yet: to read the 1855 edition would keep you from seeing the ways that Whitman's experiences as a Civil War nurse immensely deepened the work, both in poems that explicitly reflected on the war, and thematically throughout.