Walt Whitman Poems

Essential poetry from America's most visionary and democratic voice—Walt Whitman's revolutionary verses celebrating the self, the body, nature, democracy, and the boundless possibilities of the human spirit in language that broke every convention and changed poetry forever.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is the father of American poetry, a prophet of democracy, and one of the most influential poets in world literature. His masterwork Leaves of Grass, which he revised and expanded throughout his life, revolutionized poetry by abandoning traditional meter and rhyme for free verse, celebrating the body as well as the soul, and proclaiming the divinity of the ordinary person. Whitman's poetry is expansive, ecstatic, and deeply spiritual—a celebration of life in all its forms.

What you'll discover:

• "Song of Myself"—his epic celebration of the individual and the cosmos
• "I Sing the Body Electric"—revolutionary affirmation of physical existence
• "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"—meditation on connection across time and space
• "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"—profound elegy for Abraham Lincoln
• "O Captain! My Captain!"—beloved tribute to Lincoln and the nation
• "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"—mystical poem on death and poetic awakening
• Poems celebrating democracy, nature, the open road, and American identity
• Verses that embrace contradiction, diversity, and the multitudes within each person

Whitman's poetry is unlike anything that came before it. He writes in long, rolling lines that echo the rhythms of speech and breath, creating a voice that is simultaneously intimate and cosmic. He celebrates the body with the same reverence as the soul, finds the sacred in the ordinary, and proclaims that every person contains multitudes. His famous declaration "I am large, I contain multitudes" captures his vision of the self as expansive, contradictory, and divine.

What makes Whitman essential is his radical democracy of spirit—he sees divinity in every person, beauty in every body, and poetry in every experience. He was a mystic who found God not in churches but in grass, in the faces of strangers, in his own body and soul. His influence extends far beyond poetry into American culture, spirituality, and the ongoing struggle to create a truly democratic and inclusive society.

Perfect for: Lovers of American poetry and transcendentalist thought, readers drawn to mystical and visionary poetry, students of American literature and culture, those interested in poetry that celebrates the body and nature, readers of Emerson, Thoreau, and American Romanticism, anyone seeking poetry that affirms life in all its diversity and contradiction, and those who believe in the divinity of the ordinary and the democracy of the soul.

This paperback edition presents essential poems by Walt Whitman—visionary verses from the poet who gave America its voice and changed poetry forever.