Walt Whitman first published Leaves of Grass in 1855, with 12 poems. In subsequent editions, Whitman dramatically expanded his collection of works. Controversy has also surrounded Walt Whitman's celebration of America.
1. Leaves of Grass: A Norton Critical Edition
by Walt Whitman. W.W. Norton. From the publisher: "This edition contains the most complete and authoritative collection of Whitman’s work in one volume." Also, "Harold Blodgett’s concluding essay discusses the pattern of Whitman’s critical fortunes."
2. Leaves of Grass
by Walt Whitman. HarperCollins. From the publisher: "Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, contained twelve long untitled poems, but Whitman continued to expand it throughout his life. Whitman's poetry was unprecedented in its unapologetic joy in the physical and its inextricable link to the spiritual."
3. Leaves of Grass
by Walt Whitman, and Jerome Loving (Editor). Oxford University Press. From the publisher: "This edition reproduces the 1891-2 text and includes Whitman's preface to the 1855 edition, as well as Emerson's famous letter of 1855, greeting Whitman 'at the beginning of a great career.'"4. Walt Whitman: Poetry and Prose
by Walt Whitman. Library of America. From the publisher: "Contains the first and 'deathbed' editions of Leaves of Grass, and virtually all of Whitman's prose, with reminiscences of 19th-century New York City, notes on the Civil War, especially his service in Washington hospitals and glimpses of President Lincoln, and attacks on the misuses of national wealth after the war."5. Leaves of Grass
by Walt Whitman. Modern Library. From the publisher: "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."6. The Evolution of Walt Whitman: An Expanded Edition
by Roger Asselineau. University of Iowa Press. From the publisher: "Now, nearly forty years after its original translation into English, Roger Asselineau's biography of Walt Whitman will remind readers of the complex weave of traditions in Whitman scholarship."7. The Portable Walt Whitman
by Walt Whitman, Mark Van Doren (Editor). Viking Penguin. From the publisher: "Mark Van Doren's Portable Walt Whitman includes one hundred poems from Leaves of Grass, as well as two of Whitman's prose works in their entirety, 'Democratic Vistas' and his wonderfully rambling reminiscences,'Specimen Days.'"8. A Reader's Guide to Walt Whitman
by Gay Wilson Allen. Syracuse University Press. From the publisher: "Author of the biography of Whitman and several other books about the poet, general co-editor of The Collected Writings, and for 25 years the leading scholar of Leaves of Grass, Allen has now produced a critical guide for an intelligent reader's analysis and evaluation of current interpretations and approaches to Whitman's poetry."9. Whitman, Slavery and the Emergence of Leaves of Grass
by Martin Klammer. Pennsylvania State University Press. From the publisher: "Klammer argues that Leaves of Grass is a major text dealing with race relations in the mid-19th century."10. Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself
by Jerome Loving. University of California Press. From the publisher: "Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself is the first full-length critical biography of Walt Whitman in more than forty years. Jerome Loving makes use of recently unearthed archival evidence and newspaper writings to present the most accurate, complete, and complex portrait of the poet to date."