Content:
A paragraph, heavily revised, expressing the opinion that the United
States is the culmination of human development. A note at the bottom of
the sheet, "As a Strong Bird," may refer to the poem "As a Strong Bird on Pinions
Free," which was first published in the
New York Herald
on 26 June
1872. Extracts from this poem also appeared in the
Washington Evening Star
on
the same date, within a larger article on the commencement exercises at
Dartmouth College. It more likely, however, refers to the slender volume
in which the poem was published later that year,
As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free. And Other Poems.
This
manuscript is probably part of an early draft of the preface for that
volume. The poem "As a Strong Bird on Pinions
Free" was subsequently included in
Two Rivulets
(1876). After adding a new
opening stanza and making additional revisions, Whitman incorporated the
poem into
Leaves of
Grass
(1881–82) under the new title "Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood." The
preface was reprinted, with minor changes, as "Preface, 1872, to 'As a Strong Bird on Pinions
Free'" in the 1892 volume
Comple Prose
Works
.
Whitman Archive Title: [Land of the potent-large!]
Content:
This manuscript includes a fragment of a poem, approximately seven lines,
that is possibly from an early draft of "As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free," a poem
Whitman originally wrote for the June
1872
Dartmouth College commencement exercises. This poem was
later revised and published as "Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood,"
Leaves of Grass
(1881–1882).
