File spoon-archives/phillitcrit.archive/phillitcrit_1997/phillitcrit.9711, message 227


Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 20:34:13 -0500
From: George Trail <gtrail-AT-UH.EDU>
Subject: Re: PLC: Song of myself


>Thanks George,
>however, I just got in from the used bookshop where I bought a full version
>of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass, The Death Bed Edition." Two fish tacos, a
>couple of Corona beers and Whitman ought to go nicely for tonight.
>
It'll do, as you note," nicely." If the bug bites you you might find it
interesting to compare the first edition and the death bed re that poem
specifically. There's a real nice facsimile of the first available in
paper,and a large used book store might well have one. Whitman lost his
faith in his self during the civil war (simply put his humanity betrayed
him. He could not justify that much death, that much suffering. You can see
him lose it in "The Old Wound Dresser," but the man had the courage to let
us see [unlike Yeats, who kept going back and cleaning up his "errors," in
favor of the coherent vision]). Walt  left us the record, and never revised
the poem to accord with the later view.

Enjoy. He is one of the great hearts.
g




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