Eleves I salute you

On the 150th anniversary of publishing the third edition of “Leaves of Grass”, facsimile edition has been published. The covers of the book remind Whitmaniacs how it looked like so many years ago. Instead of looking up for  the old texts on the internet, readers can have this old-new edition in their hands. Whitman’s 1860 edition was a kind of attempt to awake the American nation before the Civil War. He was like a prophet in this turbulent period and his third edition was aimed to be a new Bible for the American nation, a “national salvation”. As he added 146 poems to the 32 from the second edition, the thickness of the book made it look like a religious tome. The way he divided the book into clusters and numbered poems in the third edition, is similar to that in the Bible. Jason Stacy, assistant professor of history at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Whitman scholar, gives a historical and social frame of Whitman’s third edition in the introduction. He is not much concentrated on the literary value of the 1860 “Leaves” but gives a reader a new dimension of interpreting the book. Politics, outbreak of the war, Whitman’s beliefs and perception of the world, theology, the evolutionary theories and phrenology are intermingled in this edition.

Jason Stacy explains that Whitman used religious language because it is a powerful mean to shape public opinion. What I find very interesting in this edition is dating of it : “Year 85 of the States“. Instead of Christ’s birth, July 4, 1776 is set as an important date in historical chronology. Whitman introduced the 1860 “Leaves of Grass” with a new poem “Proto-Leaf” which promised a new religion : “Free, fresh, savage … I strike up for a new world“. In this introduction, Stacy gives a more complete explanation of the terms “amativeness” and “adhesiveness” incorporated in the clusters “Enfans d’Adam” and “Calamus”.  “Amativeness” is not just a glorification of heterosexual sex but also the promulgation of the republic. The final result of “amativeness” is healthy next generation, while the final result of “adhesiveness” is love of society, love that maintains unity and egalitarian affection. So, neither “adhesivness” was just an attraction between men but something deeper. Another thing which attracted my attention is that Whitman changed portrayal of slaves in this edition. Slavery  was less central theme comparing to the 1855 edition. In “Chants Democratic” he writes : “ In Tennessee and Kentucky, slaves busy in the coalings, at the forge, by the furnace-blaze, or at the corn-shucking; …” These words about slaves were not typical for Whitman and a bit disappointing for me, when I read this passage.

I would recommend not just this edition of  “Leaves of Grass” to all Whitmaniacs but also, other editions because each “was formed from a particular set of circumstances in the poet’s life and times”.  I really like the design of it : drawings and curvings around the clusters. Also, the letters in an old-fashioned style transcend me to the XIX century. One of the options for Whitmaniacs looking for this edition is internet but also, do not miss to feel it in your hands, smell it and turn the pages instead of clicking on the computer mouse.