#leaves of grass

Marilyn Monroe reading “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman in Los Angeles, 1951. Photo by David Cicero.

Whitman at 200

‘I will sleep no more but arise, You oceans that have been calm within me! how I feel you, fathomless, stirring, preparing unprecedented waves and storms’

31 May 2019 marks the birthday bicentennial of one of America’s greatest and most influential poets, Walt Whitman (1819-1892).

Thanks to our founder, Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull (1868-1918), the Turnbull Library is able to honour the occasion by highlighting some key Whitman works  in the collection. Shown here are:

~ Whitman’s first published novel Franklin Evans; or the Inebriate (1842)

~ First editions of Whitman’s groundbreaking (and at the time highly controversial) Leaves of Grass (1855) and Drum-Taps(1865), a collection of poetry about his experiences in and the tragedy of the American Civil War

~ The first edition in original wrappers of his political prose publication Democratic Vistas (1871) in which Whitman condemned America’s ‘Gilded Age’

~ And the first edition of November Boughs (1888), a mixture of poetry and prose published in his 70th year

For more on Whitman and his poetry, visit poets.org/walt-whitman-200.

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Walt Whitman, Franklin Evans’ or the Inebriate: a Tale of the Times. New York: J. Winchester, 1842, Alexander Turnbull Library, qREng WALT Fran 1842.

—–Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York, 1855, Alexander Turnbull Library, qREng WALT Leav 1855.

—–Drum-Taps. New York, 1865, Alexander Turnbull Library, G 811 WHI 1865.

—–Democratic Vistas. New-York: J.S. Redfield; Washington, D.C.: Sold by the author, 1871, Alexander Turnbull Library, G 811 WHI 1871.

—–November Boughs. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1888, Alexander Turnbull Library, G 811 WHI 1888.  

Margaret Cook, Illustration for 1913 edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, 1913

-source: https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/04/11/leaves-of-grass-margaret-cook/

Margaret Cook, Illustration for 1913 edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass

-source: https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/04/11/leaves-of-grass-margaret-cook/

thecinamonroe:

Marilyn Monroe reading “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman in Los Angeles, 1951. Photo by David Cicero.

soracities:

Walt Whitman, “Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances”, Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman, “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”, Leaves of Grass

[Text ID: “But soft! sink low!
Soft! let me just murmur,
And do you wait a moment you husky-nois’d sea,
For somewhere I believe I heard my mate responding to me,”]

This spring
needs to bring us
renewal.