Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
Before you go...
Check Out
The Bestselling Books of All Time
See the List

Leaves of Grass

The First (1855) Edition

The First (1855) Edition

By Walt Whitman
Introduction by Malcolm Cowley
Edited by Malcolm Cowley

By Walt Whitman
Introduction by Malcolm Cowley
Edited by Malcolm Cowley

By Walt Whitman
Introduction by Malcolm Cowley
Edited by Malcolm Cowley

By Walt Whitman
Introduction by Malcolm Cowley
Edited by Malcolm Cowley

Best Seller

Category: Poetry | Classics

Category: Poetry | Classics

Paperback $13.00

Jul 10, 1961 | ISBN 9780140421996

Ebook $7.99

Jul 10, 1961 | ISBN 9781101659625

All Formats
+
    Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
    Paperback $13.00
    Jul 10, 1961 | ISBN 9780140421996

    Also available from:

    See All Formats (1) +

    Paperback
    –

    • Paperback $13.00

      Jul 10, 1961 | ISBN 9780140421996

      Also available from:

    Ebook
    +

    • Ebook

      Jul 10, 1961 | ISBN 9781101659625

      Available from:

    Buy the Ebook:

    About Leaves of Grass

    “I am large, I contain multitudes”

    A Penguin Classic
     
    When Walt Whitman self-published his Leaves of Grass in July 1855, he altered the course of literary history. One of the greatest masterpieces of American literature, it redefined the rules of poetry while describing the soul of the American character. Throughout his great career, Whitman continuously revised, expanded, and republished Leaves of Grass, but many critics believe that the book that matters most is the 1855 original. Penguin Classics proudly presents that text in its original and complete form, with an introductory essay by the writer and poet Malcolm Cowley.

    “I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
    And what I assume you shall assume,
    For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

    For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    About Leaves of Grass

    Abraham Lincoln read it with approval, but Emily Dickinson described its bold language and themes as "disgraceful." Ralph Waldo Emerson found it "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet produced." Published at the author’s expense on July 4, 1855, Leaves of Grass inaugurated a new voice and style into American letters and gave expression to an optimistic, bombastic vision that took the nation as its subject. Unlike many other editions of Leaves of Grass, which reproduce various short, early versions, this Modern Library Paperback Classics "Death-bed" edition presents everything Whitman wrote in its final form, and includes newly commissioned notes.

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Also by Walt Whitman

    Leaves of Grass
    Life and Adventures of Jack Engle
    Walt Whitman's Guide to Manly Health and Training
    Leaves of Grass and Selected Poems and Prose
    Leaves of Grass
    See all books by Walt Whitman

    Also by Walt Whitman

    Leaves of Grass
    Life and Adventures of Jack Engle
    Walt Whitman's Guide to Manly Health and Training
    Leaves of Grass and Selected Poems and Prose
    Leaves of Grass
    See all books by Walt Whitman

    About Walt Whitman

    Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, near Huntington, Long Island, New York. His father–a farmer turned carpenter from whom Whitman acquired his freethinking intellectual and political attitudes–moved his wife and nine children to Brooklyn in 1823. The young… More about Walt Whitman

    About Walt Whitman

    Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, near Huntington, Long Island, New York. His father–a farmer turned carpenter from whom Whitman acquired his freethinking intellectual and political attitudes–moved his wife and nine children to Brooklyn in 1823. The young… More about Walt Whitman

    Product Details

    Category: Poetry | Classics

    Paperback | $13.00
    Published by Penguin Classics
    Jul 10, 1961 | 192 Pages | 5-1/16 x 7-3/4 | ISBN 9780140421996

    Category: Poetry | Classics

    Ebook | $7.99
    Published by Penguin Classics
    Jul 10, 1961 | 192 Pages | ISBN 9781101659625

    Inspired by Your Browsing History

    Also in

    ‹ ›
    The Penguin French Phrasebook
    The Penguin French Phrasebook
    Silva De Benedictis, Henri Orteu and Jill Norman
    Auden: Poems
    Auden: Poems
    W. H. Auden
    Walden and Other Writings
    Walden and Other Writings
    Henry David Thoreau
    The Illustrated Walden
    The Illustrated Walden
    Henry David Thoreau
    Walden & Civil Disobedience
    Walden & Civil Disobedience
    Henry David Thoreau
    Nature and Selected Essays
    Nature and Selected Essays
    Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Word by Word
    Word by Word
    Kory Stamper
    Writers
    Writers
    DK
    World's Greatest Bookstores
    World’s Greatest Bookstores
    Bob Eckstein
    Shakespeare's Sonnets, Retold
    Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Retold
    James Anthony and William Shakespeare
    The Book of General Ignorance
    The Book of General Ignorance
    John Mitchinson and John Lloyd
    The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe
    The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe
    Edgar Allan Poe
    The Rain in Portugal
    The Rain in Portugal
    Billy Collins
    The Death of Ivan Ilyich
    The Death of Ivan Ilyich
    Leo Tolstoy
    The Black Poets
    The Black Poets
    Dudley Randall
    Days & Days
    Days & Days
    Michael Dickman
    The Portable Walt Whitman
    The Portable Walt Whitman
    Walt Whitman
    Collected Poems
    Collected Poems
    W. H. Auden
    Poems
    Poems
    William Blake
    Why Read Moby-Dick?
    Why Read Moby-Dick?
    Nathaniel Philbrick
    New Hampshire
    New Hampshire
    Robert Frost
    The Collected Poems
    The Collected Poems
    Wallace Stevens
    Major Works of Charles Dickens (Penguin Classics hardcover boxed set)
    Major Works of Charles Dickens (Penguin Classics hardcover boxed set)
    Charles Dickens
    Collected Poems
    Collected Poems
    Donald Justice
    Eliot: Poems
    Eliot: Poems
    T. S. Eliot
    The Destiny Thief
    The Destiny Thief
    Richard Russo
    The Complete Poems
    The Complete Poems
    Walt Whitman
    Julius Caesar
    Julius Caesar
    William Shakespeare
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings (LOA #118)
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings (LOA #118)
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Little House Books Vol. 1 (LOA #229)
    Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Little House Books Vol. 1 (LOA #229)
    Laura Ingalls Wilder
    Blue Horses
    Blue Horses
    Mary Oliver
    Upstream
    Upstream
    Mary Oliver

    Praise

    “Whitman, the great poet, has meant so much to me. Whitman the one man breaking a way ahead. Whitman the one pioneer . . . Ahead of Whitman, nothing. Ahead of all poets, pioneering into the wilderness of unopened life, Whitman. Beyond him, none.” —D. H. Lawrence

    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read
    An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook
    The eBooks you want at the lowest prices

    LitFlash

    The eBooks you want at the lowest prices
    Read it first. Pass it on!

    Read it Forward

    Read it first. Pass it on!