Walt Whitman

Rating:
Summary: the original, un-self-censored Whitman
Review: There was a time I didn't much care for Whitman's poetry -- what seemed to me its self-conscious pretentiousness was a turn-off. (Whitman himself acknowledged that his style was all-too readily parodied.) It was only when, 30 years ago, I heard Rip Torn read it, I began to acknowledge its power and originality. Nevertheless, I was still bothered by an overly self-aware, "straining for effect" quality -- until I found this collection.

Gary Schmidgall has done what should have been done a century ago. His collection, comprising half of Whitman's poems (about 80% of the total number of lines he wrote), restores them to their first versions in the correct chronological sequence.

We now hear Whitman speaking to us with his original animal vigor. Whitman himself admitted this: "...there was an immediateness to the 1855 edition, an incisive directness, that was perhaps not repeated in any section of poems subsequently added to the book: a hot, unqualifying temper, an insulting arrogance (to use a few strong words) that would not have been as natural to the periods that followed. We miss the ecstasy of statement in some of the after-work..."

More significantly, Whitman's subsequent emasculation and de-sexualizing -- to confuse and obscure the issue of his sexuality -- is removed. Whitman's originals are often more graphic, more-bluntly sexual. It's easier to see why most critics were offended. It's unfortunate Whitman's changes to "Leaves of Grass" made it less controversial. Perhaps the Schmidgall edition will encourage libraries that ban "Huckleberry Finn" to also ban "Leaves of Grass."

If you haven't read the original, 1855 edition of "Leaves of Grass" -- as well as Whitman's unsigned (and bluntly meretricious) reviews, and the contemporary reviews of academic critics -- you haven't read Whitman. I was especially moved by the last few pages of "Song of Myself," which I had never read.

Schmidgall includes a copious quantity of notes, excerpts, and reviews. The material from Whitman's notebooks make it clear he knew exactly what he was doing -- creating a new, original, wholly American poetry not modeled on Classic, European, or British forms -- and why. If America is the land of self-definition, Whitman was the first American poet to make that self-centeredness the focus of his works.

This edition is a must-own for anyone with the least interest in Whitman. Or dis-interest, for that matter. You might change your mind.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Whitman collections I have ever seen...
Review: Why buy this when you can just go off and buy something like the "norton" edition or some other "complete works" ? Well, people who know a little about Whitman know that there were many versions of Leaves of Grass (as many as 8 or so) and that with each edition, Whitman was constantly revising and in many ways, neutering his own poetry. By his last "deathbed" edition, nearly all of the earlier controversial material had been obscured or even removed. These "authorized versions" fall short of displaying the true mastery of poetry that Whitman possessed

This is where this book stands above all other Whitman collections. This book fully restores many of his most creative and groundbreaking poetry *in their original forms.* It is like night and day. I was shocked all over again when I read the Calamus section as Whitman originally wrote it. With the veil of Whitman's later "moralization" removed, I saw for the first time the true soul of a genuine American poetic genius. This book gives us back what was once lost.

I might suggest that this book, not being a totally complete collection of his poetry, be the perfect companion to whatever edition you currently own. For other poets especially, this book will give you an incredible insight into one of the greatest (if not *the* greatest) American poets.