WHITMANS FAME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20958, 22 August 1931, Page 9 (Supplement)

WHITMANS FAME.

BRIGHTENING WITH THE YEARS. First editions of "Leaves of Grass" bring sums ranging from, £6OO to £BOO. Walt Whitman's fame has outlived its years of obloquy, and this year the poet has been given a place in the Hall of Fame and his book a commemorative plaque on the site where it was first published, says the literary DigestIt is at the corner of Fulton and Cranberry Streets, Brooklyn. New York, where the first edition of '* Leaves of Grass" was published, in 1355, by Borne Brothers, job printers and friends of the poet, who himself helped to set the type of ibis nowrare and easily volume. Sponsored by the Authors' Club, the plaque was unveiled by the sculptor, Alexander Fiat,a, who designed and donated the memorial. It is thus described in the New York Herald Tribune:—'"lts central fcgiire is an idealised head of the P'->eT. with Sowing hair and beard. Surrounding it are symbolic representations of four of Whitman's,poems, 'Old Ireland.' * 0 Captain, My Captain," ' Passage to India,' and * Democracy.' Figures of outstretched bands are placed in the upper corners." At the unveiling of the plaque, Dr. John Erskia-3, novelist, and president of the Authors' Club, drew Whitman into the company of Lamb, Dante, and Virgil. " Whitman, with prophetic vision, saw the city of congestion and skyscrapers that was to come, and accepted it with all its implications, and was proud. The city was fortunate in having Whitman as its interpreter, as London had Charles Lamb, Jrlorenee had Dante, and Rome hud Virgil. " Whitman had as vast a theme as any, and the sentiment of life v. hich he expressed for us would, if sinceieiy carried out, help us to understand our fellows and sc>ive our irritations. Whitman knew that the phenomenon oi" the modern city meant that labour eventually would rule, and that literature., poetry, and art, in spite oi tradition, must become democratic."

Mrs. Leander Young, of Greenport, Long Island, niece of "Whitman, was present at the ceivmony, though her more than eighty yeai s made her fearful " of the glaioour and excitement of a public demonstration.'"