Portraits · Poets · VI of XIV

Walt Whitman

1819–1892 · Poet

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity. Nothing is better than simplicity.
The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity. Nothing is better than simplicity.... nothing can make up for excess or for the lack of definiteness.
Walt Whitman · preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855

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Walt Whitman wrote this in the preface to the first edition of Leaves of Grass, published in Brooklyn in 1855, when he was thirty-six. The great poet, he argued, needs no ornament; elegance and effect only hang between writer and reader like curtains.

He went on revising and enlarging the book for the rest of his life.

Preface to Leaves of Grass, first edition (Brooklyn, NY: [printed by Andrew and James Rome], 1855), p. vi.

The originals

Photograph of Walt Whitman in old age with a long white beard and a broad felt hat — **The likeness**PHOTOGRAPHED BY GEORGE C. COX · 1887Our portrait is painted after it.Public domain (1887 photograph, Library of Congress ppmsca.07549; Commons tags it PD).

A dark green cloth cover with the title Leaves of Grass in gilt letters sprouting roots and leaves — **Leaves of Grass, 1855**The first edition, which he published himself in Brooklyn. His name was not on the title page; on the cover, the gilt title sprouts roots and leaves.Leaves of Grass, first edition (Brooklyn, NY, 1855), front cover. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.