Self-published in 1855 and revised and expanded across nearly four decades, Leaves of Grass abandoned rhyme and formal meter for a sprawling, democratic free verse that celebrated the human body, American landscapes, ordinary workers, and Whitman's own boundless self with equal reverence. "Song of Myself," the collection's centerpiece, remains one of the most influential poems in the English language. Leaves of Grass didn't just launch Walt Whitman's career — it fundamentally changed the possibilities of American poetry for every writer who came after him.
