I don't see the value of brilliant blades of grass. I think this is the greatest talent that America can contribute so far.
-Emerson, American thinker
Whitman is one of the greatest American poets in the19th century. He loved Italian operas, speeches and surging waves all his life. His poems reveal distinctive American characteristics, full of distinctive American consciousness, and convey an amazing spirit of courage in the natural expression of high passion. His Leaves of Grass liberated American poetry, and even for the whole English poetry, its influence can be described as "revolution". When Longfellow and others' poems were still keeping pace with European traditions in content and form, Whitman created a kind of freestyle poetry with internal rhythm. From him, American poetry really gained magnificent expressive force. As a result, Whitman became the creative mentor of many American poets later, and also became a model of French symbolism and later surrealism. A large part of the credit for China's new poetry revolution can also be attributed to Whitman, because Guo Moruo, the flag bearer, is his disciple.
Emerson was a hermit in the American literary world at that time, and he always had the reputation of being a Bole. His association with Whitman became a story in the history of American literature. Besides Whitman himself, he can be said to be the first person who really appreciated Leaves of Grass. He wisely realized that a great man was born in the new world. Today, Emerson has long since died, but Leaves of Grass keeps sprouting like an organic life. It flourished again and again, revised eight times and published eight versions. By 1892, when Whitman died, it had been published in the ninth edition, and the number of poems included in it had increased from the original 12 to nearly 400. "Leaves of Grass" is an organic life symbolized by "Leaves of Grass", which is "promising green quality". Whitman once said, "Comrade, this is not a book. Whoever touches someone is touching someone. " This is a very emotional statement, which contains Whitman's endless vicissitudes for decades and also summarizes the growth process of Leaves of Grass. Whitman has only published one collection of poems in his life, but this collection of poems is enough to rank him first among American poets.