When Walt Whitman published

Leaves of Grass

in early July 1855, he sent an unsolicited copy to Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose essay “The Poet” had provided an important part of Whitman’s inspiration for his poetry. Emerson privately hailed Whitman’s work with these now-famous lines (famous to present readers because Whitman included them without Emerson’s permission in the second edition of

Leaves of Grass

): “I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit & wisdom that America has yet contributed”, and preeminent critic Harold Bloom concurs, in his introduction to the 150th Anniversary Edition of

Leaves of Grass

: “One century and a half later, it is still ‘the most extraordinary piece of wit & wisdom that America has yet contributed’” (ix). Yet the…

2270 words

Citation: McQuillan, Jennifer . "Song of Myself". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 August 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35582, accessed 19 March 2024.]

35582 Song of Myself 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.