《草叶集》初版序言是美国文学批评史上最重要的文献之一。如同华兹华斯《抒情歌谣集》第2版序言一样，惠特曼《草叶集》初版序言预言和定义了未来诗人的作用、诗歌的形式和范围，从而对诗歌发展进程产生了深远的影响。就风格而言，《草叶集》初版序言雄辩且抒情，有如一篇不分行的长诗。
Whiteman's preface to the first edition of Leaves of Grass is one of the important landmarks of American literary criticism.Like Wordsworth's introduction to the second issue of Lyrical Ballads in 1800，Whiteman's preface 1855 influenced the changing course of poetry by predicting and defining the functions of the poet and the form and range of poetry in the age to come.Furthermore，the preface is a prose of noteworthy lyrical power and intellectual persuasiveness，with a corresponding stylistic authority.
