For this 60-minute cassette, actor Brian Murray reads 9 poems from "Leaves of Grass," among them "I Hear America Singing." Includes paperback edition of Whitman
Em Canto de Mim Mesmo, Walt Whitman canta-se e canta o mundo, dando-nos a ver as cores com que ele o pinta. Partilhamos a intimidade, o quotidiano, o pensamento e as palavras. O convite é do próprio autor, que no canto II escreve: "Fica comigo este dia e esta noite e possuirás a origem de todos os poemas, Possuirás o que há de bom na Terra e no Sol (há milhões de sóis), Não terás coisas em segunda ou terceira mão, nem verás pelos olhos dos mortos, nem te alimentarás dos espectros dos livros, Nem através dos meus olhos verás, nem de mim terás as coisas, Escutarás tudo e todos e tudo em ti filtrarás". Um livro para ler no vagar dos dias, saboreando cada lugar que o autor percorre, percorrendo-os nós mesmos, com a imaginação.
The poetry of Walt Whitman is the cornerstone of modern American verse. He was America's first truly great poet and his influence is still evident today. The first edition of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass, published in 1855, was a revolutionary manifesto declaring America's independence from European cultural domination. His rhapsodic free verse broke radically with poetic, tradition: it was poetry about America, its democracy, its people, and its hopes. It was uniquely American without apology--brash, proud, optimistic, and filled with the bustling energy of the new and growing nation. This collection brings together Whitman's greatest and most famous poems spanning the whole of his career. From the groundbreaking first edition of "Leaves of Grass are seven poems, including "Song of Myself" and "I Sing the Body Electric." From later editions there are such masterpieces as "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," and "I Hear America Singing." Also included is Whitman's great cycle of Civil War Poems, "Drum-Taps, which he wrote in the months when he was ministering to the wounded in battlefield hospitals. Concluding this collection is one of his last poems, "Good-bye My Fancy!"--his touching farewell to his muse, his life, and his readers. More than one hundred years after his death, Walt Whitman's poetry has become part of the American heritage. It is a visionary which speaks as aptly to readers today as it will to future generations. As he says in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," "others...look back on me because I look'd forward to them." Whitman's poetry is a link that connects all Americans--past, present, and future. This book features a deluxe cover, ribbon marker, top stain, and decorative endpaper with a nameplate.
Whitman published his Leaves of Grass in 1855 and prepared eight other editions during the next thirty-five years. These incorporated completely new poems as well as extensive changes in those that had already appeared. The changes served to emphasize the prophetic strand in his poetry - Whitman as the exuberant champion of political and sexual emancipation. Francis Murphy has chosen to print the final 'death-bed' edition (1891-2) of Leaves of Grass, in accordance with a note of instruction left by the poet to his future editors. But earlier versions of many poems are also given in the notes so that the reader can follow Whitman's development. In addition, the 1855 version of one of his most important poems, Song of Myself, is given in full in an appendix. Whitman's early poems appear in another appendix, so that, apart from manuscript fragments left on his death, the present edition contains all of Whitman's known work.
In 1855, the first edition of Leaves of Grass appeared, consisting of twelve untitled poems and a preface outlining the author's poetics. An initial commercial failure, this volume was the first stage of a massive, lifelong enterprise. Six editions and some thirty-seven years later, Leaves of Grass would become one of the central works m the history of world poetry. This Vintage Books/The Library of America edition includes both the 1855 first edition in its exact, original form and the magnificent final edition of 1891-1892. For the first time, the authoritative editions of works by major American novelists, poets, scholars, and essayists collected in the hardcover volumes of The Library of America are being published singly in a series of handsome paperback books. A distinguished writer has contributed an introduction for each volume, which also includes a chronology of the author's life and career, an essay on the text, and notes.
