Excerpt from Selected Poems

This edition Mr. Whitman's poems is, on his part, a concession to friendship. He has not abandoned his position, but has yielded to urgent request. Several eclectic editions of "Leaves of Grass" have been issued in England and Scotland, most of them with his half-willing consent. Here, where he can assert his rights, he never has permitted one such to appear.

With regard to the editor, the volume is partially a concession to the spirit which banished "Leaves of Grass" from Massachusetts. It cannot, however, be styled a concession to the New England critics who begrudge any good thing which comes out of Manhattan. It is intended rather as a justification of New England's leaders of thought, who have consistently appreciated Mr. Whitman's genius from the first.

My intention has been to offer, in a conventional form, those of his poems which are held to be most nearly in harmony with the poetic era (though really they have a character quite apart from it), and to add selections from his more distinctive chantings. With the choice and arrangement of the poems Mr. Whitman has had nothing to do, save in the most general way of approval.

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