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Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 27 February [1877]

I have gone over the chapters—got quite in the spirit of them—added & suggested a few lines or words here & there—and pruned a few passages, even pages, remorselessly.1 I like them all—they are very living—the "Beauty" chapter I think especially fine.2

Do you say the final chapter is already in print? the one about me? If so, send me the proof, which I will return by next mail. I am feeling quite well for me.

WW

Notes

  • 1. For Walt Whitman's emendations in Burroughs's manuscript, see the letter from Walt Whitman to John Burroughs on January 24, 1877. [back]
  • 2. "Before Beauty" is the fifth chapter of Burroughs's Birds and Poets (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1877). [back]
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