Content:
This is an unsigned draft of "Grand Is the Seen," a poem first published in
Good-Bye My Fancy
(1891).
Good-Bye My Fancy
was then included as the second annex to the Deathbed edition of
Leaves of Grass
(1891-92).
Content:
Proofs of four poems pasted together and collected under the main
handwritten title "An Old
Man's Recitatives." The poems included are: "Ancient songs
reciting" (published as "Old Chants" in 1891), "Grand is the seen"
(first published in 1891), "Death dogs my steps" (published as part of
"L. of G.'s
Purport" in 1891), and "For us two, reader dear," first published
in 1891. A note in Whitman's hand in the right margin details
failed attempts to publish this grouping in
Scribner's
.
Content:
A galley proof of a group of six poems titled "Old-Age Recitatives." The poems included
are: "Sail out for good,
Eidolon yacht!" (first published in 1891), "My task" (published as
part of "L. of G.'s
Purport" in 1891), "L. of G.'s Purport" (only the first two
lines of the poem of the same title published in 1891),
"Death dogs my
steps" (published as part of "L. of G.'s Purport" in 1891), "For us
two, reader dear" (first published in 1891), and "Grand is the seen" (first published in 1891). On the verso is a note to the printer.
