Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman @ 200

The poet Walt Whitman celebrates his 200th birthday in 2019. Whitman is known across the world as an innovator in free verse poetry and a powerful voice in support of democracy. Lehigh joins in celebrating Whitman's legacy through this exhibit of rare books donated by Robert B. Honeyman, a Lehigh alumnus who left his extensive collection of Americana to the university, including multiple copies of Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass. Whitman revised and rewrote Leaves of Grass throughout his life, beginning with a small collection of twelve poems in 1855 and ending with a volume of prose and poetry over 400 pages long in 1881, printed for a final time one decade later in the so-called “deathbed edition” of 1892, the year of the poet’s death.  As one of the most influential books in American literature, Leaves of Grass is not a single book, but rather an evolving work in progress that grew and developed over Whitman’s lifetime.

Leaves of Grass