Walt Whitman Leaves Of Grass. There are a bunch of Paperback edition versions. Which one do you all suggest? This book seems to pop up in odd stuff I watch. Maybe it's a sign.

No one here read it?

I would suggest that perhaps this isn't the best place to get an answer for a question like that. I mean...who here will have read it, at all - to say nothing of reading several different editions for comparison.

Why not just read the reviews wherever you plan to buy it?

Wouldn't any of the books contain the same collection of poems?

Which reminds me - I am going to start reading poetry in the near future. Starting with stuff from Jim Carroll, since I think he led an interesting life and was very cool. I also have Louis L'Amour's collection Western poetry but left it in New Mexico for summer reading.

We'll see where it goes after Jim Carroll.

I read to get the original 1855 version. He revamped it various times to alot of peoples dismay. I'm getting this one:

RodeoSchro said:

Which reminds me - I am going to start reading poetry in the near future. Starting with stuff from Jim Carroll, since I think he led an interesting life and was very cool. I also have Louis L'Amour's collection Western poetry but left it in New Mexico for summer reading.

We'll see where it goes after Jim Carroll.

>

Just try not to tackle Emily Dickinson too soon.

She drives me batty!

CynicKill said:

RodeoSchro said:

Which reminds me - I am going to start reading poetry in the near future. Starting with stuff from Jim Carroll, since I think he led an interesting life and was very cool. I also have Louis L'Amour's collection Western poetry but left it in New Mexico for summer reading.

We'll see where it goes after Jim Carroll.

>

Just try not to tackle Emily Dickinson too soon.

She drives me batty!

LOL, don't worry. I am NOT reading any sad poetry and I understand she's not the most uplifting poet there was. I do wonder, though - by eliminating sad poetry, how much poetry is there going to be left for me to read?

And JoeBala, thanks for clarifying that "Leaves of Grass" had been revamped by Whitman several times. I had no idea!

If you ever get to compare versions, let me know. Thanks!

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[Edited 2/4/16 10:44am]

RodeoSchro said:

CynicKill said:

>

Just try not to tackle Emily Dickinson too soon.

She drives me batty!

LOL, don't worry. I am NOT reading any sad poetry and I understand she's not the most uplifting poet there was. I do wonder, though - by eliminating sad poetry, how much poetry is there going to be left for me to read?

And JoeBala, thanks for clarifying that "Leaves of Grass" had been revamped by Whitman several times. I had no idea!

If you ever get to compare versions, let me know. Thanks!

.

[Edited 2/4/16 10:44am]

>

I think it's more difficult then sad.

Unless it is sad, in which case you're genius enough to figure it out. That might be fun.

I've read it two or three times. I got the complete version, which basically includes all his poems up till the time of his death. You'll be missing some great stuff if you buy the first edition, though it will be a much quicker read since he was only in his 30s when that came out.

Two choices here--either the 1855 original edition, which will give you the meat of what he did, and the general force of his voice, but will obviously leave out most of the major work.

Or the "deathbed edition," which has everything as he left it after constantly expanding with all of his subsequent poems as well as his constant revising of everything. It will give you all the civil war poems from the "Drum-Taps" collection, as well as later things like "When Lilacs Last." It will also wear you out if you should choose to read the whole thing. And if you don't already like him, you might seriously regret starting, because while there are wondrous lines and passages all through it, there's also a lot of sameness and clunkers. So while 1855 is maybe uniform, and doesn't have as much dross, you also miss a lot of the real highs.

This is based on over twenty years since I last really did much with Whitman, but if you've read a few poems and like them, you might as well do the whole thing. It's not like you have to pay hyper attention to every line, just let it wash over you.