Content:
Part of the word "Leaves" appears in the lower right corner of the verso. On the
verso, in blue pencil, appears a note, reading "Drum Taps—City of Ships" which
appears to be in Whitman's hand. This may indeed have been a draft of the poem
"City of Ships," which
first appeared in 1865 as part of the independent publication
Drum-Taps
, but the similarities to
the lines on another manuscript in the University of Virginia collection and lack
of references to the Civil War indicate that it was inscribed prior to the
publication of the the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
