Some great minds and writers of the mid-Nineteenth century like Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Burroughs instantly recognized the greatness of Walt Whitman. This greatness lay in the merciless honesty and absolute, pure originality of Whitman in his life and in his work.

By the early 1850s Whitman was dabling as a newspaper editor. He had neither found his voice nor his style. Although Leaves of Grass only consisted of 12 poems when it was first published in 1855, American and British poets saw that a new voice, and a new man had emerged. Whitman's experience at the front during the American Civil War helped him mature his character and he saw the disparity between his inborn, natural character and other people. Between 1855 and 1860 and 1871 Leaves of Grass went through six or seven revisions, and was each time expanded to include large numbers of new poems. Also in 1871, Whitman published the long prose volume Democratic vistas.

Both Leaves of Grass and Democratic vistas are the fruit of the ripening and maturing mind of Walt Whitman between 1855 and 1870. They are like mirror images, one in poetry and the other in prose, of Whitman's insight and offer an extended mental view (vista) of the power of democracy based on the belief of the goodness of man, which in Whitman's mind encompassed all of society men, women and coloured people. Both texts offer readers a clear view of the New Man, a distinct picture of what the best Americans can be.

It is baffling to see how little attention this important text seems to get. Democratic vistas should be read by every American, and it should be included in every syllabus of political theory. It is a pity that a text like this is not available in a critical edition, which I think it requires, as the text is both about Whitman's outlook on people, American society and literature. ( )