"Walt Whitman sent out numerous presentation and review copies of his book (Leaves of Grass), receiving an immediate response from Emerson, who greeted him 'at the beginning of a grand career,' but met mostly silence. As weeks passed with few reviews, Whitman chose to write a few himself to be published anonymously, praising Leaves of Grass in the American Phrenological Journal, for instance, as one of "the most glorious triumphs, in the known history of literature."
- Norton Anthology of American Literature, pg. 2192
2 comments:
Whitman was nothing if not humble. ergo:
And the review he wrote!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also believe that the next printing he made of Leaves of Grass had Emerson's quote featured on the cover...but I could be wrong. We got to look at one of the copies in Cornell's rare book library, and that's what I recall.
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