Walt Whitman (1819–1892) published “Song of Myself,” his towering masterpiece, in the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass, a book that he published at his own expense. But in the first several editions of that book it remained untitled. For the fourth (1867) edition, the poem was divided into 52 numbered sections and in the final edition of 1881, it was given the title “Song of Myself.” This passage is the first half of section 24 of that poem. In 1882, the district attorney of Boston threatened to ban Leaves of Grass for violating the state’s obscenity laws. Among the poems to which he particularly objected was “Song of Myself.”
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) published “Song of Myself,” his towering masterpiece, in the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass, a book that he published at his own expense. But in the first several editions of that book it remained untitled. For the fourth (1867) edition, the poem was divided into 52 numbered sections and in the final edition of 1881, it was given the title “Song of Myself.” This passage is the first half of section 24 of that poem. In 1882, the district attorney of Boston threatened to ban Leaves of Grass for violating the state’s obscenity laws. Among the poems to which he particularly objected was “Song of Myself.”
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