Content:
A prose manuscript fragment in which Whitman discusses a range of topics, including a discussion, in the third person, of a person who "demands reality in literature." It is unclear if Whitman is referring to himself or to somebody else. Based on the handwriting, Edward Grier dates this manuscript to the 1850s or earlier (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 4:1429). On the verso Whitman has copied two stanzas of English poet William Collins' "The Passions. An Ode for Music."
