A review by hstapp
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
1.0
Whitman's leaves of grass is a boring venture into the mind of a man who believes himself divine. He tries to convey that it is not just him that is divine, but everyone. However, his obvious feelings of superiority, due to his having discovered the divine nature that resides in everyone, and being the only one, or one of the few who has discovered it he pushes away his readers with his egotism.
Whitman speaks of a few other things America, sex, wars. He fails to mention them in any interesting manner, however. His stories are boring and uninteresting when he has them. His style is very strong. It consists mainly of endless lists one after another, sometimes with no connection between them.
With these long lists spanning broad areas Whitman comes off as knowing little about what he is writing about whether or not he does.
He also uses wordy "Poetic" language, that is hard to follow, even for experienced readers. If for some reason you have to read Whitman other than for assigned reading stick to drum-taps. It is the most interesting section of the book which isn't saying much.
From a literary standpoint there is nothing here, but it does have a small amount of historical, and philosophical merit that might make it worth study in those fields.
Whitman speaks of a few other things America, sex, wars. He fails to mention them in any interesting manner, however. His stories are boring and uninteresting when he has them. His style is very strong. It consists mainly of endless lists one after another, sometimes with no connection between them.
With these long lists spanning broad areas Whitman comes off as knowing little about what he is writing about whether or not he does.
He also uses wordy "Poetic" language, that is hard to follow, even for experienced readers. If for some reason you have to read Whitman other than for assigned reading stick to drum-taps. It is the most interesting section of the book which isn't saying much.
From a literary standpoint there is nothing here, but it does have a small amount of historical, and philosophical merit that might make it worth study in those fields.