Leaves of Grass: A Walt Whitman Bicentennial Celebration

2019 marks the 200th birthday of Walt Whitman, America’s original literary bad-ass and great poet of democracy. For this occasion, SDPL will celebrate his brilliant work and imperfect legacy with a public presentation by Palomar College English professor Adam Meehan on Whitman’s masterpiece Leaves of Grass, one of the greatest books of American poetry ever written. 

Registration encouraged for this program. Please scroll down.

Leaves of Grass was highly controversial during its time for its explicit sexual imagery and working-class aspirations, and Whitman was attacked by many contemporary critics. Over time, the collection has infiltrated popular culture and been recognized as one of the central works of American poetry. Well-known poems such as I Sing the Body Electric, The Sleepers, Song of Myself, O Captain! My Captain!, and I Hear America Singing have become part of the American cultural fabric.

Professor Meehan teaches writing and literature in the English & Humanities department at Palomar College. He has published several essays on 19^th and 20^th century American writers, and specializes in modernist fiction, the novel, and critical theory. His first book, Modernism and Subjectivity: How Modernist Fiction Invented the Postmodern Subject, will be published by Louisiana State University Press next spring. 

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Parking is underground and free with 2-hour validation. The Central Library is one block from the Park & Market stop on the Trolley Blue and Orange lines. Bus routes #12 stops right in front of the library.