Walt Whitman

A collection of quintessentially American poems, the seminal work of one of the most influential writers of the nineteenth century.
Leaves of Grass is a collection of poems, the most famous of which is "Song of Myself"; however there are many others in the collection that display his poetic ability equally well, such as "I Sing the Body Electric", "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking", and his homage to the assassinated Abraham...

The poetry of Walt Whitman is the cornerstone of modern American verse. He was America's first truly great poet and his influence is still evident today. The first edition of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, published in 1855, was a revolutionary manifesto declaring America's independence from European cultural domination. His rhapsodic free verse broke radically with poetic, tradition: it was poetry about America, its democracy, its people, and its hopes....

The Civil War, the most dramatic moment in this nation's history, also produced some of our greatest literature. From tragic charges to prison escapes to the desolation wrought on those who stayed behind, "Blood" is an extraordinary collection of reminiscences, fiction, and excerpts from diaries and letters by an array of soldiers, writers and observers that includes Abraham Lincoln, General George Pickett, Walt Whitman, Ulysses S. Grant and Stephen...