Leaves of Grass

A collection of poems by American poet W. Whitman. The first edition, published in 1855, was a small 95-page booklet containing 12 untitled poems, but it ignored traditional poetic techniques and materials and sang the ideals and realities of a new America. Because of its "savage scream," the public opinion at the time was completely cold, except for a few favorable reviews from Emerson and others. Efforts to revise, expand, and delete were made with each edition, and the final edition, the 9th edition (1892), which is currently in circulation, is a large collection of poems containing over 400 poems. The first long poem in the first edition (later titled "Song of Myself") is a masterpiece and well represents the diversity and breadth of his mind. "The Children of Adam" and "Calamus," which appear in the third edition (1860), are poems praising love and friendship, and "From the Cradle of Endless Rocking" is a fine piece of lyric poetry. Other poems include "The Sound of the Military Drum," a series of poems about the Civil War, and "Lilacs Recently Bloomed in the Front Yard," an elegy mourning the death of President Lincoln. Of his later works, "Let Us Go to India," which laments the materialistic and all-powerful world after the Civil War, and calls for the superiority of the spirit, is noteworthy. This collection of poems not only forms the pure source of American poetry, but can also be said to be a representative expression of the free and open American spirit.

[Masayuki Sakemoto]

"Leaves of Grass" translated by Takashi Sugiki, Yoshihiro Nabeshima, and Masayuki Sakemoto (Iwanami Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アメリカの詩人W・ホイットマンの詩集。1855年に世に出た初版は、12編の無題詩を収めたわずか95ページの小冊子ながら、伝統的詩法や素材を無視して、新しいアメリカの理念と現実を歌い上げている。その「野蛮な絶叫」ゆえに当時の世評は、エマソンなどごく少数の好意的な批評を除くと、まったく冷淡だった。改筆、増補、削除の努力は改版のたびに重ねられ、現在流布している最後の第9版（1892）は、400編余りを収める大部の詩集となっている。なかでも初版の巻頭長編詩（のちに『ぼく自身の歌』と題す）は代表作で、彼の精神の多様さと広がりをよく表している。第3版（1860）に登場する『アダムの子ら』と『カラマス』は愛と友情をたたえる詩群で、『はてしなく揺れる揺りかごから』は叙情詩の佳作。ほかに南北戦争を素材とする詩群『軍鼓のひびき』、リンカーン大統領の死を悼(いた)む挽歌(ばんか)『先ごろ前庭にライラックが咲き』がある。晩年の作品としては、南北戦争後の物質万能の世相を嘆き、精神の優位を訴える『インドへ渡ろう』が注目される。この詩集はアメリカ詩の清冽(せいれつ)な源流を形成するばかりでなく、自由闊達(かったつ)なアメリカ精神の代表的表現ともいえるだろう。

［酒本雅之］

『杉木喬・鍋島能弘・酒本雅之訳『草の葉』全3冊（岩波文庫）』

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