American poet Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass at his own expense in 1855, when it contained only 12 poems. But over the next 40 years, Whitman would add to the edition and revise it to complete this 'deathbed edition,' which was published in 1892 and contains 383 poems. Whitman's works were once criticized for their overt sexuality, but are now considered as the best and most influential in American poetry. Among his beautiful free verse poems are 'Pioneers! O Pioneers!,' 'I Sing the Body Electric,' 'Song of Myself,' and 'O Captain! My Captain!'
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