Leaves of Grass
Not all responses were negative, however. Critic William Michael Rossetti considered "Leaves of Grass" a classic along the lines of the works of William Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri. A woman from Connecticut named Susan Garnet Smith wrote to Whitman to profess her love for him after reading "Leaves of Grass" and even offered him her womb should he want a child. Although he found much of the language "reckless and indecent," critic and editor George Ripley believed "isolated portions" of "Leaves of Grass" radiated "vigor and quaint beauty."