Mysticism, Democracy, Individuality&Personality The 1881 publication of the Leaves of Grass contained more than twenty-four poems, which were reasonably filled with ten or more diversified types of themes. Walt Whitman the author and compiler of this exceptional work changed the status of poetry writing through his utilization of thought and expression in the publication of the Leaves of Grass. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a collogue and admirer of Walt once spoke this of him “…Whitman, that Sir, is a strange case, a case unknown to any of us, unless we should stumble upon him at church one day…