Blades of Grass

As I read Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, I start noticing how he has a defined style of his own. Starting with the title, I know that Whitman is a very original writer, and there are no clichés in his writing. You don’t say Leaves of Grass, you probably refer to it as blades of grass and leaves of a tree. But saying it this way takes away the clichés and adds the originality. As I read I notice that something with the structure probably is telling me something, but reading it through the computer I can’t find it. I noticed how the lines were all different lengths but couldn’t figure out why it was this way. During class, my teacher explained what it was, if you look at the book sideways, it looks like blades of grass! I couldn’t believe it, it was so obvious yet I wasn’t able to recognize it. I remembered Flaubert’s style, and how his structure showed us what was happening. Another stylistic effect I found, or at least I think I did, was again with the title, Leaves of Grass. The letter S, gives it some representation. This letter with its curves feels like a path, a prairie and perhaps mountains, all of these are covered in grass. There is an alliteration in the letter S, by repeating the consonant S and therefore adding the style to the title and the whole book of poems.