Abstract

Unknown to scholars of Whitman, a fourth self-review of Whitman's first edition Leaves of Grass has been hiding in newsprint since 1855. This short piece, published in August 1855, not only provides another early glimpse of Whitman’s views of his own poetry and its need for public curation, but also hints at previously unknown journalistic writing or editorial work Whitman may have produced during this period. This self-review, titled “A Poet Showing the New York Muscle,” made its original appearance in the New York Sunday Dispatch, a literary weekly, for August 26, 1855, page 4. It is reprinted here for the first time since 1855, and finally under the poet’s own name.

Keywords: Leaves of Grass (1855), Review, Book Review, Poetry, Newspapers, New York, Sunday Dispatch, Self-Review, Puffery

How to Cite:

Turpin, Z., (2024) “Whitman's Fourth Known Self-Review of Leaves of Grass (1855)”, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 41(3/4), 96-108. doi: https://doi.org/10.17077/0737-0679.33876