Leaves of Grass, Whitman’s magnum opus, went through a number of significant changes over his lifetime. Adding to, subtracting from, revising, and reorganizing the original 1855 edition until his death in 1892 when the “Deathbed Edition” was published, Whitman created a work of art that was (and is still) defined by its fundamentally kinetic, dialogic, and collectively engaging nature. Variously structured around the flux and tension of political, cultural, social, and personal change and development, the volumes indeed “contains multitudes” in their seemingly disjunct but ultimately unified form, and in this way serve as a structuring principle both for Whitman’s poetic career and his poetic voice.
I want to look more deeply into the evolution of Leaves of Grass in its historical context as well as in the biographical context of Whitman himself. Similar to many of Whitman’s individual poem’s, the shape of Leaves of Grass seems to move, in its 33-year long development, from ecstasy to crisis to resolution following historical, political, and biographical developments. Many scholars have analyzed the book in “clusters” of poems, divided up according to the date and context in which they were written and published and according to notes in the original manuscripts. I plan to look closely at this research and at the instances of addition, subtraction, revision, and reorganization of some of Whitman’s most important poems during three stages of its publication (1855-1860, 1860-1865, 1866-1892) in order to trace the book’s overall statement move from ecstasy to crisis to resolution. By tracing these developments, I hope to better understand the work as something that exists at once within its historical moment and across the “time and distance” of its publication.
With respect to form, I plan to make a website through wordpress that will include an introductory page, sections on each of the three stages of the book’s development with critical commentary, analyses of 6-10 major poems in the context of their publication history, and an annotated list of resources. With the website I hope to present a comprehensive image of Leaves of Grass that will help not only to contextualize the work in all its iterations but also to engage with the work as an inherently ever-evolving piece of literature
Bibliography:
Gailey, Amanda. “The Publishing History Of Leaves Of Grass.” A Companion to Walt Whitman. 409-438. Oxford, England: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
Henry, Barbara. “The Design And Typography Of Leaves Of Grass (1860).” Huntington Library Quarterly 73.4 (2010): 601-612. Professional Development Collection. Web. 2016.
Leaves Of Grass. [Electronic Resource] : The Sesquicentennial Essays. n.p.: Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, c2007., 2007. Library Catalog. Web. 2016.
McGill, Meredith L. “Walt Whitman And The Poetics Of Reprinting.” Walt Whitman, Where the Future becomes Present. 37-58. Iowa City, IA: U of Iowa P, 2008. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 2016.
Miller, Matt. Collage Of Myself : Walt Whitman And The Making Of Leaves Of Grass. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2016.
Mulcaire, Terry. “Publishing Intimacy In Leaves Of Grass.” Elh 60.2 (1993): 471-501. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 2016.
Schramm, Geoffrey Saunders. “Whitman’s Lifelong Endeavor: Leaves Of Grass At 150.” Humanities 26.4 (2005): 24. MAS Ultra – School Edition. Web. 2016.
Smith, Ernest. “Restless Explorations”: Whitman’s Evolving Spiritual Vision In “Leaves Of Grass.” Papers On Language & Literature 43.3 (2007): 227-263. Literary Reference Center. Web. 2016.
Szczesiul, Anthony. “Walt Whitman And The Development Of Leaves Of Grass.” (1999): MLA International Bibliography. Web. 2016.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Ed. David S. Reynolds. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.
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