Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines in the manuscript are similar to sentences used in the preface to that edition. Ideas expressed in the manuscript also relate loosely to lines in the first poem in the 1855 edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Lines written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00570 appeared in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
