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Originally Posted by issybird
I know this has been brought up already, but is there any chance of settling on a key group of poems to discuss? Poetry takes time and I can't manage all of this in two weeks--not and appreciate it, at any rate. Moreover, the intro to the deathbed edition I'm reading says the quality of poems is uneven. I'm all for dipping into it, but at the same time I'd like to ensure I read the best/most important early. Help, please!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fantasyfan
I was rather dismayed by the length and the variations in quality of this collection. I'm uncertain as to how to approach it and I couldn't see myself finishing it in the near future.
So why not start with one of Whitman's more famous and beautiful poems such as, for example, "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d"—the elegy on Abraham Lincoln. This is an acknowledged masterpiece and has so much complexity of tone and meaning that it could provide a very profitable experience.
I offer this purely as a personal suggestion and it is certainly not meant to usurp the authority and decisions of whoever decides to lead the discussion.
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My thoughts exactly regarding a core set of poems to concentrate on. It seems from most of what I have read about what critics have said ever since the "death bed" edition first appeared that that was for the most part not much of an improvement over the original. So maybe use the original as the core set, with a few additions such as those pertaining to Lincoln?
Thank you Sun Surfer for your post about the various editions. You are correct that my 150th anniversary is the first edition. I have also obtained the "death bed" edition as an ebook. So I am good with whatever people decide regarding the issue in my first paragraph, though I will probably limit myself for the most part to the 1st edition.