Leaves of Grass (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Socrates recognized what every philosopher and religion, for that matter in the history of the world, from Plato to Aristotle from Epicurus to the Stoics from the Judeo-Christians to the Buddhists have all observed, which is that the balance needed for a happy life is illusory."
 

"And as soon as in our gorgeously flawed human way we think that we've attained it we're pretending divinity and we're gonna crash."

"Like Icarus, flaming into the sea."

~(Bill Kincaid)~

"What's your version of proper grammar?"

~(Daisy)~

 

 

"Rhythm, maybe."

~(Brady Kincaid)~

Leaves of Grass (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Leaves of Grass is an American black comedy/drama film written and directed by, and featuring, Tim Blake Nelson. It also stars Edward Norton, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Melanie Lynskey and Keri Russell.

Critical reception

"Leaves of Grass has the structure and the elements of a classical Greek drama: There's treachery, mistaken identity, deadly plots, and ambition; that it takes place in the middle of Oklahoma is almost irrelevant", said Paul Constant.  Leaves of Grass received mixed-to-positive reviews from film critics, with unanimous praise given to Norton's dual performance. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 63% of 35 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 5.6/10, and the critical consensus being that "Edward Norton delivers one of his finest performances in Leaves of Grass, but he's overpowered by the movie's many jarring tonal shifts."

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Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Though the first edition was published in 1855, Whitman spent his entire life writing Leaves of Grass, revising it in several editions until his death.

 

This book is notable for its discussion of delight in sensual pleasures during a time when such candid displays were considered immoral. Where much previous poetry, especially English, relied on symbolism, allegory, and meditation on the religious and spiritual, Leaves of Grass (particularly the first edition) exalted the body and the material world. Influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement, itself an offshoot of Romanticism, Whitman's poetry praises nature and the individual human's role in it. However, much like Emerson, Whitman does not diminish the role of the mind or the spirit; rather, he elevates the human form and the human mind, deeming both worthy of poetic praise.

The title Leaves of Grass was a pun. "Grass" was a term given by publishers to works of minor value and "leaves" is another name for the pages on which they were printed.