Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
Contains spoilers for the entire book.
Discussion topics
Topic 01 of 08
I celebrate myself
How did you respond to the opening of "Song of Myself", with its I that also includes you?
Keep the conversation going
- Is Whitman's I boastful, generous or both?
- What does it mean for a poet to say he contains multitudes?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.
Discussion topics
How did you respond to the opening of "Song of Myself", with its I that also includes you?
Keep the conversation going
- Is Whitman's I boastful, generous or both?
- What does it mean for a poet to say he contains multitudes?
What answers does Whitman give when a child asks him what the grass is?
Keep the conversation going
- Why does he return to the grass again and again?
- What does the title of the whole book mean to you now?
How did you get on with Whitman's long lists of people, places and trades?
Keep the conversation going
- What do the catalogues do that a single image could not?
- Which line in them caught you?
How do poems like "I Sing the Body Electric" and the "Children of Adam" and "Calamus" poems celebrate the body?
Keep the conversation going
- Why did those poems shock readers in Whitman's day?
- How do they read today?
How does "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" speak across time to readers yet to come?
Keep the conversation going
- What does Whitman share with the future crowds on the ferry?
- Did you feel addressed by the poem?
How do the Civil War poems, from "Drum-Taps" to the wound-dresser, change the book's tone?
Keep the conversation going
- How did you respond to "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"?
- Why is "O Captain! My Captain!" so different from Whitman's other poems?
What kind of America does Whitman sing, and who belongs in it?
Keep the conversation going
- Where does his vision feel generous, and where does it fall short?
- What would he make of America today?
How does knowing that Whitman revised and expanded the book throughout his life change how you read it?
Keep the conversation going
- Which poem would you choose to introduce Whitman to a friend?
- Why do you think his free verse has been so influential?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.