🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass is a collection of quality words that speak for themselves. At the heart of the poem is a message of love. Whitman encourages his reader to love not only himself but also the planets and all living creatures. The poem also touches on the need to be open to change. What has been taught in church and school may seem like the truth, but it is good not to be so rigid and miss some of the lessons that life may have for you. Reading this novel, it is hard to believe that it was first published in 1855. Whitman was clearly ahead of his time, and his writing is simply spectacular. One of the points that the author makes is that we all have the elements of nature in us. Once our bodies die, they go back to the earth and become a part of the universe again.
All Book Series by Walt Whitman
Franklin Evans, or The Inebriate: A Tale of the Times
Series opener · book 1 of 38 · published 1842
Manly Health and Training with Off-Hand Hints Towards Their Conditions
Book 5 of 38 · published 1858
Democratic Vistas: The Original Edition in Facsimile
Book 9 of 38 · published 1871
An American Primer: With Facsimiles of the Original Manuscript
Book 15 of 38 · published 1904
The World Below the Brine
Latest in the series · book 38 of 38 · published 2021
The Wound Dresser: A Series of Letters Written from the Hospitals in Washington during the War of the Rebellion
Book 4 of 20 · published 1975
New York dissected: A sheaf of recently discovered newspaper articles by the author of Leaves of grass
Book 5 of 20 · published 1976
Walt Whitman's Diary in Canada - With Extracts from Other of His Diaries and Literary Note-Books
Book 6 of 20 · published 1977
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts: Volume I: Family Notes and Autobiography, Brooklyn and New York
Book 10 of 20 · published 1984
Earth, My Likeness: Nature Poetry of Walt Whitman
Book 16 of 20 · published 2005
Masculine Beauty of Walt Whitman's Poetry Of Same-Sex Affection
Book 17 of 20 · published 2014
Every Hour, Every Atom of Walt Whitman's Early Notebooks and Fragments
Book 19 of 20 · published 2020
"The Million Dead, Too, Summ'd Up": Walt Whitman's Civil War Writings
Latest in the series · book 20 of 20 · published 2021 Co-authored · Christopher Merrill,Ed Folsom
William Carlos Williams
Book 5 of 29 · published 1984 Anthology · William Carlos Williams
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Book 6 of 29 · published 1991 Anthology · Edna St. Vincent Millay
Carl Sandburg: Selected Poems
Book 7 of 29 · published 1996 Anthology · Carl Sandburg
Poets of World War II
Book 10 of 29 · published 2003 Anthology · Various,Harvey Shapiro
John Greenleaf Whittier
Book 12 of 29 · published 2004 Anthology · John Greenleaf Whittier
John Berryman
Book 15 of 29 · published 2004 Anthology · Kevin Young,John Berryman
Poets of the Civil War
Book 16 of 29 · published 2005 Anthology · J.D. McClatchy
The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks
Book 19 of 29 · published 2005 Anthology · Gwendolyn Brooks,Elizabeth Alexander
Cole Porter
Book 20 of 29 · published 2006 Anthology · Robert Kimball,Cole Porter
Louis Zukofsky
Book 21 of 29 · published 2006 Anthology · Louis Zukofsky,Charles Bernstein
Kenneth Koch
Book 22 of 29 · published 2007 Anthology · Ron Padgett,Kenneth Koch
James Agee
Book 24 of 29 · published 2008 Anthology · James Agee,Andrew Hudgins
Poems from the Women's Movement
Book 25 of 29 · published 2009 Anthology · Honor Moore
Ira Gershwin
Book 26 of 29 · published 2009 Anthology · Robert Kimball,Ira Gershwin
Lyrics of the First Great Popular Songs
Book 27 of 29 · published 2010 Anthology · Stephen Collins Foster,Ken Emerson
Amy Lowell
Latest in the series · book 29 of 29 · published 2012 Anthology · Honor Moore
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Book 6 of 28 · published 1998 Anthology · Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Book 7 of 28 · published 1999 Anthology · Edna St. Vincent Millay
Robert Louis Stevenson
Book 8 of 28 · published 2000 Anthology · Robert Louis Stevenson
William Shakespeare
Book 9 of 28 · published 2000 Anthology · William Shakespeare
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Book 16 of 28 · published 2003 Anthology · Samuel Taylor Coleridge
William Wordsworth
Book 17 of 28 · published 2003 Anthology · William Wordsworth
William Carlos Williams
Book 19 of 28 · published 2003 Anthology · William Carlos Williams
Poetry for Young People
Book 25 of 28 · published 2007 Anthology · Maya Angelou
Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg
Book 26 of 28 · published 2008 Anthology · Carl Sandburg
African American Poetry
Book 27 of 28 · published 2013 Anthology · Karen Barbour
Poetry for Kids: Walt Whitman
Latest in the series · book 28 of 28 · published 2017
The Children's Hour: Leaders and Heroes
Series opener · book 1 of 10 · published 1954
Growing Up Gay/Growing Up Lesbian: A Literary Anthology
Book 3 of 10 · published 1993
Writers: Their Lives and Works
Latest in the series · book 10 of 10 · published 2018
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Walt Whitman?
Leaves of Grass is a collection of quality words that speak for themselves. At the heart of the poem is a message of love. Whitman encourages his reader to love not only himself but also the planets and all living creatures.
Which Walt Whitman series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Walt Whitman Works series, the earliest of Walt Whitman's multi-book series: it opens with Franklin Evans, or The Inebriate: A Tale of the Times (1842) and runs to 38 books across 1842–2021, ending with The World Below the Brine (2021). Walt Whitman's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Walt Whitman written?
Walt Whitman has 125 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1842 and 2021. 95 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Walt Whitman Works series with 38 books — and 30 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Walt Whitman's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Walt Whitman's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Walt Whitman Works (1842–2021, 38 books) and American Poets Project (1892–2012, 29 books).
How are Walt Whitman's books organised into series?
This guide splits Walt Whitman's 125 books into 3 named series and 30 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Walt Whitman Works (38 books, 1842–2021); American Poets Project (29 books, 1892–2012); Poetry for Young People (28 books, 1977–2017).