Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself

Walt Whitman's iconic collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, has earned a reputation as a sacred American text. Whitman himself made such comparisons, going so far as to use biblical verse as a model for his own. So it's only appropriate that artist and illustrator Allen Crawford has chosen to illuminate--like medieval monks with their own holy scriptures--Whitman's masterpiece and the core of his poetic vision, Song of Myself. Crawford has turned the original sixty-page poem from Whitman's 1855 edition into a sprawling 234-page work of art. The handwritten text and illustrations intermingle in a way that's both surprising and wholly in tune with the spirit of the poem--they're exuberant, rough, and wild. Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself is a sensational reading experience, an artifact in its own right, and a masterful tribute to the Good Gray Poet.