Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is considered to be one of the greatest American poets. His collection of twelve poems, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 and initially shocked the American public with its unfamiliar form and democratic stance. He was particularly in the public eye in his last nineteen years of life when English writers such as William Rossetti and Robert Stevenson contended that Americans did not fully appreciate him.

• The Portable Walt WhitmanIntroductionPoems From Leaves Of Grass(dates indicate first book publication)1855:Song of MyselfA Song for OccupationsTo Think of TimeThe SleepersI Sing the Body ElectricFacesThere Was a Child Went ForthWho Learns My Lesson Complete?1856:Unfolded Out of the FoldsSong of the Broad-AxeTo YouThis CompostCrossing Brooklyn FerrySong of the Open RoadA Woman Waits for MeTo a Foil'd European RevolutionaireSpontaneous MeA Song of the Rolling Earth1860:Starting from PaumanokFrom Pent-up Aching RiversMe ImperturbeI Hear America SingingAs I Ebb'd with the Ocean of LifeYou Felons on Trial in CourtsThe World below the BrineI Sit and Look OutAll Is TruthOut of the Cradle Endlessly RockingNative MomentsOnce I Pass'd through a Populous CityOnce I Pass'd through a Populous City (draft version)Facing West from California's ShoresAs Adam Early in the MorningLive Oak, with MossI. (Not Heat Flames up and Consumes)II. (I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing)III. (When I Heard at the Close of the Day)IV. (This Moment Yearning and Thoughtful)V. (Calamus 8: "Long I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me")VI. (What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand?)VII. (Recorders Ages Hence!)VIII. (Calamus 9: "Hours continuing long, sore and heavy-hearted")IX. (I Dreamed in a Dream)X. (O You Whom I Often and Silently Come)XI. (Earth! My Likeness)XXI. (To a Western Boy)Calamus:In Paths UntroddenScented Herbage of My BreastWhoever You Are Holding Me Now in HandFor You O DemocracyThese I Singing in SpringOf the Terrible Doubt of AppearancesThe Base of All Metaphysics (added 1871)Are You the New Person Drawn toward Me?Roots and Leaves Themselves AloneOf Him I Love Day and NightCity of OrgiesTo a StrangerI Hear It Was Charged Against MeWe Two Boys Together ClingingHere The Frailest Leaves of MeA GlimpseSometimes with One I LoveAmong the MultitudeThat Shadow My LikenessFull of Life NowTo Him That Was CrucifiedTo a Common ProstituteTo YouMannahattaA Hand-MirrorVisor'dAs if a Phantom Caress'd MeSo Long!1865-66:Drum-Taps (1865) and Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865-66):Shut Not Your DoorsBeat! Beat! Drums!City of ShipsCavalry Crossing a FordBivouac on a Mountain SideAn Army Corps on the March (1865-66)By the Bivouac's Fitful FlameCome Up from the Fields FatherVigil Strange I Kept on the Field One NightA March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road UnknownA Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and DimAs Toilsome I Wander'd Virginia's WoodsThe Wound-DresserWhen I Heard the Learn'd AstronomerA Farm PictureGive Me the Splendid Silent SunTo a Certain CivilianYears of the ModernOver the Carnage Rose Prophetic a VoiceAs I Lay with My Head in Your Lap Camerado (1865-66)Out of the Rolling Ocean the CrowdI Saw Old General at BayLook Down Fair MoonReconciliation (1865-66)When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (1865-66)O Captain! My Captain! (1865-66)Old War-Dreams (1865-66)Chanting the Square Deific (1865-66)I Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the Organ (1865-66)1867:One's Self I SingThe RunnerWhen I Read the Book1871:Passage to IndiaProud Music of the StormA Noiseless Patient SpiderThe Last InvocationOn the Beach at NightSparkles from the WheelGodsJoy, Shipmate, Joy!Ethiopia Saluting the Colors1872:The Mystic Trumpeter1876:Prayer of ColumbusTo a Locomotive in WinterThe Ox-Tamer1881:The Dalliance of the EaglesA Clear Midnight1888:As I Sit Writing HereBroadway1891:Unseen BudsGood-bye My Fancy!PROSE WRITINGS"The Child's Champion"Prefaces and Afterwords from Leaves of Grass:Preface to "Leaves of Grass", 1855Letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson, from "Leaves of Grass", 1856Preface to "As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free," 1872Preface to the Centennial Edition of "Leaves of Grass", 1876"A Backward Glance O'er Travel'd Roads," 1888"Democratic Vistas"From Specimen Days"Slang in America"Suggestions for Further ReadingIndex of Titles and First Lines