Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Tin House Books (2014), Edition: 1, 256 pages
Description
"Walt Whitman's iconic Leaves of grass has earned a reputation as a sacred American text, so it's fitting that artist and illustrator Allen Crawford has illuminated--like the holy scriptures of medieval monks--the core of Whitman's masterpiece, "Song of myself". Crawford's handwritten text and illustrations intermingle in a way that's both surprising and wholly in tune with the spirit of the poem--exuberant, rough, and wild."--Book jacket.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kcshankd
I appreciate the effort but ultimately I found this copy unreadable. I kept having to turn the book this way and that to follow the rambling text and eventually gave up. Will re-sell and stick with my standard Library of America version.
LibraryThing member thenumeraltwo
Firstly, I bought this book online after hunting for it in Newcastle bookshops to no avail for a year. Come on home town. Stock poetry or people won't buy it. Its a self—fulfilling prophecy.
Anyhow, it was worth hunting out. I kind of already expected to enjoy the illustrations. The thing that
The poem itself you either know or don't (Do I contradict myself? Fine, I contradict myself. I'm large, I contain multitudes) and I didn't much care for it when I read it in my 20s. I still found passages a bit... unwoke? Maybe I'm too British. I can't love myself that much. But the illumination brought out more of the energy of the poem for me. It's one I can see my self going back to in 20 years.
Anyhow, it was worth hunting out. I kind of already expected to enjoy the illustrations. The thing that
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surprised me was how difficult it was to follow the flow of the text, until I found Crawford's patterns. This wasn't a bad thing. Reading a page wrong feels jarring and forces you to reread. Thisbook might just have improved my ability to read poetry.The poem itself you either know or don't (Do I contradict myself? Fine, I contradict myself. I'm large, I contain multitudes) and I didn't much care for it when I read it in my 20s. I still found passages a bit... unwoke? Maybe I'm too British. I can't love myself that much. But the illumination brought out more of the energy of the poem for me. It's one I can see my self going back to in 20 years.
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Awards
CLMP Firecracker Award (Finalist — 2015)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
256 p.; 5.4 inches
ISBN
1935639781 / 9781935639787