Strange fate than that of the first edition of the Leaves d'Herbe, since it has remained to this day unpublished in France where Whitman (1819 - 1892) is often confined to the role of traditional poet or even school.
The eminence of this book in the 1855 edition is a reflection of the undeniable boldness of a poetic burn that 150 years of existence and seven successive versions seem to have always made dazzling and radical. It was in 1959 that this "chef d'oeuvre buried in American literature" resurfaced in the English-speaking world thanks to Malcolm Cowley, where he made a lasting impression. There are currently six editions of this text, while in France we still remain at Whitman's tireless rewriting company.
The poems in their state appear new, radical and confusing, hence the interest of presenting them in this version to the French reader. His "barbaric bark over the roofs of the world" inaugurated the birth in July 1855 of modern American poetry.