A Leaves of Grass for Walt Whitman’s People

Courtesy Walt Whitman Initiative

Ryerson Street, which holds Walt Whitman’s only surviving NYC residence, was declared “Walt Whitman Way” in 2019. It’s one of the projects the Walt Whitman Initiative has supported to keep the writer’s spirit alive.

Walt Whitman wrote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” He wrote it as part of his magnum opus, Leaves of Grass, arguably the greatest volume of poetry ever produced in the United States. He wrote those words by candlelight while living at 99 Ryerson Street in Brooklyn, New York, eager to share his thoughts of America with Americans, the common people.

That building where Whitman lived in 1855 while working on the first edition of Leaves of Grass still stands, though one wouldn’t know its literary significance by coming upon it. It’s a three-and-a-half-story drab home on a drab street. Down the way is a Key Food grocery store, a ramen place, a nail salon, and a car wash where sedans are sudsed up.

What happened in that house, in the mind of that man, is anything but drab. Indeed, multitudes of people have been affected by his words since he first penned them. Take, for instance, those involved with the Walt Whitman Initiative (WWI), a New York-based nonprofit that serves as an organizing center for cultural activism, community building, and celebrating the life and work of Whitman. It’s taken time for the WWI to build and grow, though build and grow it has. Founded in 2017, it has a shoestring budget, a handful of dedicated volunteers, and dreams ever growing, like securing funding for the Ryerson house, the only Whitman residence still standing in New York City. Nicknamed the “Cradle of American Poetry,” the house is, thus far, unprotected, unrecognized, and unlandmarked.

Karen Karbiener, a New York University clinical professor and scholar of nineteenth-century American literature who is currently working on a Whitman biography, is the WWI’s president. She’s eager to save the Ryerson house and, more, expand the reach of Whitman’s thoughts and ideals. “Whitman moves me,” she said. “He reveals the goodness in people’s hearts.”

Photo by Jim Henderson/Wikimedia

99 Ryerson Street in Brooklyn.

Courtesy Walt Whitman Initiative

The Tane Library at the South Street Seaport.

Susan Jaffe Tane, a philanthropist and Whitman collector, had heart enough to seed the nonprofit’s library, currently housed at the Fulton Stall Market at 91 South Street in Manhattan. It holds hundreds of Whitman and Whitman-related texts, including a rare first edition of Leaves of Grass that was acquired this January through community donations and financial support by Tane. The book, Karbiener said, “is the people’s Leaves of Grass. It’s America’s second Declaration of Independence. It’s for everyone.” And she’s seen how his words have literally changed people’s lives. “He never backed down. He always stood up for himself.”

Auction houses often sell Leaves of Grass first editions in the six-figure range, yet the WWI wants it to be accessible. “It’s ours,” Tane said. “The book is for everyone.”

That includes today’s youth. Deirdre E. Lawrence, a WWI board member and principal librarian emerita of the Brooklyn Museum, is proud of the organization’s work engaging with the city’s younger audiences. She said, “The programs here are a great way to share Whitman’s ideas, especially on democracy. So needed today!” The programs include poetry readings, fellowships, speaker series, classes, and much more.

Lawrence added, “Whitman gives us an appreciation and understanding of America’s ideals.” Tane wholeheartedly agrees. Why does Whitman resonate with us over 170 years after he sat at his Ryerson residence with wondrous thoughts in his head? “He just does,” Tane said. “He’ll always be relevant. He’s timeless.”

The WWI is hoping his Brooklyn home will stand as a beacon for anyone who finds bits of themselves in his immortal words: “I contain multitudes.” So do those who work at grocery stores, and ramen places, and nail salons, and car washes.