book_busy 's review for:

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

4.25

adventurous challenging funny lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Whitman is a very particular kind of man. Pantheistic, sexually hedonistic, patriotic yet humanist. His poetry is meant to be read aloud, I feel (as someone whose experience of leaves of grass was boostes tenfold when I acquired the audiobook 2/3 of the way in....)

 While I prefer the more short form and conceptual works of Whitman:

- I sing the body electric (my favourite of his poems, possibly) 
-To You 
-As Adam Early in the Morning 
-Years of Meteors 

Whitman's longform poetry and songs are still spectacular, though perhaps a bit repetitive and explicit in meaning for me as someone who prefers mystery in my lyric. However, I am still very glad I have read some Whitman (some being ....800 pages , yowza). 
 One of my favourite longform poems of his was A Song of the Rolling Earth , another which I found charming was the Sleepers. I find Whitman's unabashed embrace of the existential really refreshing, he approaches the question of death with a bear hug, quite the difference from the baleful moans of some poets regarding the terror of the unknown, haha.