Summary: "Leaves of Grass" introduced a new voice, a new style, and an optimistic, bombastic vision in American literature that took the nation itself as its subject. Unlike many other editions of "Leaves of Grass" that reproduce various short early versions, our new "Deathbed" edition presents everything Whitman wrote in its final form. By the author: Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) is one of the greatest American poets. "Leaves of Grass" was published in 1855, and he continually added to and revised it throughout his life.