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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
challenging
slow-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
Finally finished this colossal book.
I wanted to like this. Every time I pick up Walt Whitman, I WANT to like it. But every time I pick this up, I find it boring, repetitive and just... not good.
I had to give this up as a DNF for me. Maybe one day I will pick it up for the millionth time and try again.
I had to give this up as a DNF for me. Maybe one day I will pick it up for the millionth time and try again.
[Read the 1855 edition:]
Whitman's poetry is declamatory, a fact which drives readers to applaud or to throw his book from them in disgust. He lists people, employments, sounds & smells with an intensity that is sometimes compelling, sometimes irritating. Bliss Percy states that 'the enumerated objects in his catalogue or inventory poems often remain inert objects only. Like many mystics, he was hypnotized by external phenomena, and he often fails to communicate to his reader the trancelike emotion which he himself experienced.' But to see America's greatness & promise through his eyes; to witness the joy he takes in the interconnectedness of every person, occupation & object, however humble; and to read his unabashed statments of self is well worth any difficulty Whitman's style poses to one's sensibilities.
Whitman's poetry is declamatory, a fact which drives readers to applaud or to throw his book from them in disgust. He lists people, employments, sounds & smells with an intensity that is sometimes compelling, sometimes irritating. Bliss Percy states that 'the enumerated objects in his catalogue or inventory poems often remain inert objects only. Like many mystics, he was hypnotized by external phenomena, and he often fails to communicate to his reader the trancelike emotion which he himself experienced.' But to see America's greatness & promise through his eyes; to witness the joy he takes in the interconnectedness of every person, occupation & object, however humble; and to read his unabashed statments of self is well worth any difficulty Whitman's style poses to one's sensibilities.
dark
reflective
fast-paced
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I do not even know what to say about this. I picked up "Leaves of Grass" after Brian Selznick convinced me to read "Live Oak, with Moss" by illustrating it. There was something in those poems that stuck with me and touched me, but I could not say what it was.
I then started "Leaves of Grass" and it didn't click, but I knew that I was missing something, so I watched Benjamin McEvoy's Appreciation Video for "Song of Myself" and that broke the dam: Ever since I understood what death was at the age of 8, I have been on a quest to better live with death and maybe elliviate the fear of dying a little bit. I tell you, nothing, apart from long-distance hiking, managed to do that quite like "Leaves of Grass", especially "Song of Myself".
I then started "Leaves of Grass" and it didn't click, but I knew that I was missing something, so I watched Benjamin McEvoy's Appreciation Video for "Song of Myself" and that broke the dam: Ever since I understood what death was at the age of 8, I have been on a quest to better live with death and maybe elliviate the fear of dying a little bit. I tell you, nothing, apart from long-distance hiking, managed to do that quite like "Leaves of Grass", especially "Song of Myself".
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
inspiring
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
some of Whitman's viewpoints were outdated by today's standards , but I think he was ahead of his time. I liked this book