Walt Whitman 
Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition 

The first edition of what would become Whitman’s magnum opus. This edition reveals the explosive promise of Whitman’s genius, which produced love lyrics, visionary musings, glimpses of nightmare and ecstasy, celebrations of the human body and spirit, and poems of loneliness, loss, and mourning. Alive with the mythical strength and vitality that epitomized the American experience in the nineteenth century, Leaves of Grass continues to inspire, uplift, and unite those who read it.