Leaves of Grass

Leaves of Grass is Walt Whitman’s best known collection of poetry and encapsulates his whole life’s work. Walt Whitman has been described as the father of free verse, and his approach to poetry as demonstrated in Leaves of Grass has been an inspiration to poets ever since its first publication in 1855. The frank sexuality of Whitman’s poetry in Leaves of Grass was controversial at the time and was condemned as obscene. Whitman does talk about sex in an honest way, but he sees it as part of nature, to be celebrated. Whitman in poems such as “Song of Myself” and “I Sing the Body Electric” exulted nature and the material world, and cast aside the old poetic tropes of symbolism and allegory. Walt Whitman remains one of the most influential poets in the American canon.