Content:
This notebook consists almost entirely of prose. However, the ideas and language developed throughout the notebook can be linked to a number of poems that appeared in
Leaves of Grass
, including "Song of Myself," "Great are the Myths" (ultimately shortened to a few lines and titled "Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night"), "Faces," "The Sleepers," and "To Think of Time," versions of which appeared in
Leaves of Grass
in 1855. One manuscript passage is similar to a passage in the preface to the 1855 edition. Thus, this notebook was almost certainly written before that date. Content from the first several paragraphs of this notebook was also used slightly revised in "Song of the Open Road," first published in the 1856 edition of
Leaves
as "Poem of the Road."
Whitman Archive Title: something that presents the sentiment
Content:
A line in this manuscript appears in a long manuscript poem unpublished in Whitman's lifetime, titled "Pictures." The first several lines of that poem were revised and published as "My Picture-Gallery" in
The American
in October 1880. The notes written in ink on this manuscript probably relate to the poem that was eventually titled "Salut au Monde!" first published as "Poem of Salutation" in the 1856 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The earlier lines written in pencil may relate to the sixth poem in the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Faces." These connections suggest the manuscript was probably written in the early to mid-1850s. The manuscript is pasted down, so an image of the reverse is not currently available.
Content:
This manuscript contains draft lines that later appeared in a revised form in the sixth poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Faces." On the reverse (duk.00264) are lines which, after revision, appeared in the eleventh poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, later titled "Who Learns My Lesson Complete?"
Content:
The second paragraph of this prose manuscript contains lines which appeared in a slightly altered form in the first poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The poem was later divided into numbered sections and titled "Song of Myself"; the lines here appeared in section 4. The second paragraph also bears a distant resemblance to a line in the poem eventually titled "Faces" and to a line in the poem eventually titled "Song of the Answerer." The reverse side of this manuscript leaf (duk.00007) contains lines related to other sections of "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. It is a draft of lines that appear in the sixth poem in that edition, eventually titled "Faces." Lines on the back of this manuscript leaf relate to the poem eventually titled "The Sleepers."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was creating material for the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. It is a draft of lines that appear in the sixth poem in that edition, eventually titled ""Faces." Poetic lines on the back of this leaf (uva.00273) may relate to the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
This notebook, now lost, contains much draft material used in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, in addition to a few images and phrasings that Whitman used in the second (1856) and third (1860) editions. As the folder title indicates, the notebook is currently represented by photocopied images of each page derived, apparently, from a microfilm of the original that was made in the 1930s prior to the notebook's disappearance from the collection during World War II. As Floyd Stovall has noted, the few datable references in this notebook (e.g., the fighting at Sebastopol during the Crimean War) are to events from about 1853 to late 1854, shortly before the first publication of
Leaves of Grass
. See Stovall, "Dating Whitman's Early Notebooks,"
Studies in Bibliography
24 (1971), 197–204. See also Edward Grier,
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
(New York: New York University Press, 1984), 1:138–155. Surfaces 9, 10, 54, and 55 bear passages that probably contributed to the first poem of the 1855 edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself," and other material, on surfaces 26, 46, 51, 54, and 58, is clearly linked to the evolution of that poem. A passage on surface 23 is also perhaps related to its development. Surfaces 11 and 12 both have material probably used as fodder for the poem "Song of the Answerer," first published as the seventh poem in the 1855
Leaves.
A brief passage on surface 12 possibly contributed to the poem first published in 1860 as the fourth of the "Chants Democratic" and later retitled "Our Old Feuillage." Surfaces 13 and 46 contain drafts of passages used in the second poem of 1855, later titled "A Song for Occupations." Material on surfaces 24 and 47 probably also contributed to this poem. Passages on surfaces 17, 18, 40, 42, and 45 are likely early drafts toward lines used in "Poem of the Sayers of the Words of the Earth" (1856), which later became "A Song of the Rolling Earth." Surface 18 also bears writing probably related to the twelfth and final poem of the 1855
Leaves,
later titled "Faces." On surfaces 18, 24, and 51 are lines that might represent draft material toward "I Sing the Body Electric" (first published as the fifth poem of the 1855
Leaves
). Other passages, on surfaces 47 and 55, are likely related to that poem; those on surfaces 36, 37, 44, 45, and 47 are certainly related. Ideas and images written on surfaces 20 and 46 are likely related to the poem "Song of the Open Road," which first appeared as "Poem of the Road," and a passage on surface 24 may also be related. Two passages on surface 21 were used in the tenth poem of the 1855
Leaves of Grass,
later titled "There Was a Child Went Forth." Surface 22 contains writing probably used in "Sun-Down Poem" (1856), titled "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" in later editions. Some of the writing on surface 24 might also have contributed to the development of that poem. Another passage on surface 22, as well as passages on surfaces 26, 47, and 60, are possibly related to the 1855 Preface. A different passage on surface 60 is clearly related to the Preface, and a passage on surface 45 is likely related to it. Two of the draft lines of poetry on surface 31 were used in the untitled third poem of the "Debris" cluster in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass.
This poem was retitled "Leaflets" in 1867 and dropped from subsequent editions. The writing on surface 41 contributed to the 1856 "Poem of Salutation," which was eventually titled "Salut au Monde!" The jotting at the top of surface 43 is also likely connected to this poem.
