Content:
A scrap of poetry with lines that contributed both to the poem ultimately titled "Thoughts [Of these years I sing...]" and to "Apostroph," the opening section of "Chants Democratic and Native American." Both poems first appeared in the 1860–1861 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The reverse (duk.00131) contains prose about America's need for "her own poems."
Content:
This manuscript contains a list of suggestions for titles poems or clusters of poems, including "The States," "Prairies," "Prairie Spaces," "Prairie Babes," and "American Chants." Since this manuscript was likely written in the late 1850s, it's possible that this last title is related to the "Chants Democratic and Native American" cluster in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. On the reverse (duk.00031) is an early draft of a portion of the poem that would eventually be titled "In Paths Untrodden".
Content:
This manuscript is a draft of lines that were published in "Chants Democratic," number 13, in
the 1860 edition of
Leaves of
Grass
. That poem was later revised and published as "Laws for Creations"; however, the
lines on this manuscript are a draft of the section of the poem that was deleted
after the 1860 publication.
Content:
The first two verses, taken more or less directly from a prose manuscript, "[Of Biography]," have no
revisions, but the remaining three verses represent a significant expansion of the
themes in the prose notes and are extensively revised. These verses, which precede
"[Walt Whitman's law]" in
the composition process, correspond, like "[Of Biography]," to section 13 of the 1860
version of the poem "Chants
Democratic and Native American" which was revised and permanently
retitled "Laws for Creations"
in 1872.
Content:
This leaf bears the deleted title "To
an artist, literat, &c". The first line "Come, I have now to tell
you" revises and expands on another manuscript "To a Literat". These lines were eventually revised to
form section 13 of the 1860 version of the poem "Chants Democratic" which was
revised and permanently retitled "Laws for Creations" in 1872.
