From the book flap: "Collected here in a heritage edition are the best-known of Whitman's poems from Leaves Of Grass as well as selections from his several books of prose. 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd' is included, and 'I Hear America Singing,' and the ever-popular 'A Noiseless Patient Spider.' The editor of this anthology is C. Merton Babcock, professor of American Though and Language at Michigan State University. In an introduction he says: 'Walt Whitman...bequeathed to the American people one of their most memorable books - full of good cheer, of hope and comradeship. In Leaves of Grass, crowded as it is with impressions, with the emotions of a burgeoning continent, we may truly rediscover America.' Prose selections from the second part of this Whitman sampler. Dr. Babcock has selected writings that reveal Whitman's intense love of nature and his fascination with the American character. Through writings of enormous power, Leaves of Grass brings a vision of America as fresh as the day Whitman first conceived it. And within that grand sweep of vision appear dramatic close-ups of the seemingly minor moments of human emotion and experience. Thus Walt Whitman not only shows us America: he also shows us ourselves at our best, in daily life and family love."