Content:
This poem was originally numbered 89. Whitman also numbered each leaf in the
lower-left corner in pencil: the leaves follow the order 1-9, 9 1/2 (a full page
despite its number), and 10-15. The expression "the Eightieth year of / These
States" at the top of leaf 2 indicates that Whitman was working on this poem as
early as 1856. It became section 4 of "Chants Democratic" in 1860. In 1867 Whitman
ungrouped it and retitled the poem "American Feuillage," a name it kept until being permanently retitled
"Our Old Feuillage" in
1881.
