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 lines in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The list of flora and fauna could anticipate any number of similar lists in Whitman's writing, but has perhaps the most words in common with a line in the prose preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
. Poetic lines on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00254) also relate to lines in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
