James Edwin Miller

Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. First published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting Leaves of Grass, revising it multiple times until his death. There have been held to be either six or nine individual editions of Leaves of Grass, the count varying depending on how they are distinguished.This resulted in vastly different editions over four decades—the first edition being a small book of twelve poems, and the last, a compilation of over 400. (Source: [Wikipedia](

"The American Quest for a Supreme Fiction analyzes the essential characteristics and central forces in the development of this mode. James E. Miller, one of America's foremost Whitman scholars, divides his study into three parts corresponding to the growth of the American epic. He first explores its philosophical "Roots and Trunk" in the poetry and critical works of Whitman (with reference to how this philosophy appears in the work of Berryman, Lowell, and Stevens); in the second part he traces the "Branches" of Pound, Eliot, Williams, and Crane; and, in his first section, "Leaves," Miller examines the contemporary work of Olson, Berryman, and Ginsberg"--Back cover.

This guide contains a comprehensive study of Melville's fiction and poetry. James E. Miller, Jr. in addition to analyzing each of Melville's works, traces this author's principal themes and shows how his art and thought developed. A Reader's Guide to Herman Melville also includes a brief note on Melville's life, an evaluative bibliography, and an index.