First published in 1855 with Whitman’s own money, Leaves of Grass is a highly sensual collection of verses that became a monument to American poetry. The journalist, philosopher, clerk, and Civil War nurse spent the following four decades revising and expanding the work from twelve poems to a massive four-hundred-poem compilation. Celebrating nature and human sexuality with explicit imagery, his poetry was controversial but also drew high praise from the likes of Alfred Tennyson and D. H. Lawrence, who called him the “greatest modern poet.” With its sensuous and highly imaginative free-form verses, Walt Whitman’s greatest masterpiece is now available in an elegantly designed clothbound edition with an elastic closure and a new introduction. The Knickerbocker Classics bring together the works of classic authors from around the world in stunning gift editions to be collected and enjoyed. Complete and unabridged, these elegantly designed cloth-bound hardcovers feature a slipcase and ribbon marker, as well as a comprehensive introduction providing the reader with enlightening information on the author's life and works.