an fails as prophetic poet, precisely because he was such a powerfully humane poet…when he tried to write prophetic poetry, he came eventually to sacrifice man…” (Pearce 66)Perhaps the most appealing aspect of Leaves was Whitman’s style of discourse, as the American people could easily and willingly relate to it. Ezra Pound has described Whitman as “the only one of the conventionally recognized ‘American poets’ who is worth reading”. She goes on to articulate what seems to be the general sentiment among critics:“He (Whitman) is America…entirely free from the renaissance humanist ideal of the complete man of from the Greek idealism, he is content to be what he is, and he is his time and his people. He is genius because he has a vision of what he is and of his function. He knows that he is a beginning and not a classically finished work.” (Pound 8)In essence, Leaves of Grass was an extension of Whitman’s soul. He used his work as a vehicle in which he could convey his opinion of life, and he succeeded. D.H. Lawrence writes:“Whitman’s essential message was the ‘open road’. The leaving of the soul free unto herself, the leaving of his fate to her and to the loom of the open road. Which is the bravest doctrine man has ever proposed to himself.” (Lawrence 20)It is this “brave doctrine” that literary critics seem to be most attracted to, and they give high praise to Whitman for his courage in manufacturing this dogma. Literary criticism has been kind to Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass, hailing his innovation and bravery in attempting to write such a book. Whatever the real reason behind Whitman’s brilliance, the fact remains that he was indeed brilliant. That virtuosity has shone through brightly in his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass, making it a classic. “Not bad” for a Quaker from Long Island. ...
