Thou vast Rondure, swimming in space

Whitman Archive Title: Thou vast Rondure, swimming in space
Whitman Archive ID: pml.00084
Repository ID: MA 8645
Repository: Catalog of the Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts in The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
Repository Title: Thou vast rondure, swimming in space: autograph manuscript poem signed
Date: about 1868
Genre: prose
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Content: A fair copy of a poem titled, "Thou vast Rondure, swimming in space," that Whitman attempted to publish in several venues, to no avail. In December 1868 Whitman sent a copy of this poem to John Morley, then editor of the Fortnightly Review . Morley replied that he could not print the poem until April. For the solicitation to the Fortnightly Review , see Whitman's December 17, 1868 letter to Morley. On 20 January 1869 , Whitman sent the poem to James T. Fields at the Atlantic Monthly . Unaccountably, the poem did not appear in print. Parts of the poem were reworked and first published as section five of "Passage to India" (1871). A facsimile of this manuscript appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 26 October 1911. For more on the publication history of "Thou vast Rondure, swimming in space," see Joann P. Krieg, "Holograph Manuscript of 'Thou Vast Rondure' Comes to Light On Long Island," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 5 (Summer 1987), 32-36.