Content:
This manuscript entitled "Inscription" appears to be a revision of other "Inscriptions" Whitman gathered in a notebook, along with prose drafts for a never-finished introduction to
Leaves of Grass,
and attached to his copy of the 1855 paper-bound edition. (The entire collection of draft "inscription" and introductory material is currently housed at the New York Public Library.) In the 1867
Leaves of Grass
Whitman culled material from this poem and the other "Inscription" poems to create an italicized "Inscription" that he placed before "Starting from Paumanok" at the beginning of the book; in that edition he also transferred part of verse 2 to "As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario's Shore" (later the line was dropped and the title was revised to "By Blue Ontario's Shore"). From 1872 onward, this poem, revised and retitled "One's-Self I Sing," was printed as the first of several poems in the "Inscriptions" cluster that opened the book. In the 1888
November Boughs
, however, Whitman reprinted the 1867 version as "Small the Theme of my Chant." Note: This manuscript draft may have been written before the Civil War, since it does not include the 1867 line "My Days I sing, and the Lands—with interstice I knew / of hapless War."
Whitman Archive Title: Inscription To the Reader at the entrance of Leaves of Grass
Content:
One of a series of draft introductions Whitman prepared for
Leaves of Grass
, but which were never printed during his lifetime. This particular introduction, composed entirely in verse, was reworked and revised multiple times. Though "Inscription To the Reader at the entrance of Leaves of Grass" did not appear in print as a distinct and cohesive piece until collected by Clifton Joseph Furness in
Walt Whitman's Workshop
(1928), portions of this draft were distilled into "One's-self I Sing," first published as "Inscription" in the 1867 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Whitman revised this poem before including it as "One's-self I Sing" in 1871, dropping some of the lines only to reintroduce them in "Sands at Seventy" (1888), under the title "Small the Theme of My Chant." Both "One's-self I Sing" and "Small the Theme of My Chant" appeared in the 1891-92 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines from this manuscript were also revised and used in the poem "So Long!," which first appeared in the 1860-61 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The verso of the last leaf is blank and an image is unavailable.
Whitman Archive Title: Inscription at the entrance of Leaves of Grass
Content:
One of a series of draft introductions Whitman prepared for
Leaves of Grass
, but which were never printed during Whitman's lifetime. This particular introduction, composed entirely in verse, was reworked and revised multiple times. Though "Inscription at the entrance of Leaves of Grass" did not appear in print as a distinct and cohesive piece until collected by Clifton Joseph Furness in
Walt Whitman's Workshop
(1928), portions of this draft were distilled into "One's-self I Sing," first published as "Inscription" in the 1867 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Whitman revised this poem before including it as "One's-self I Sing" in 1871, dropping some of the lines only to reintroduce them in "Sands at Seventy" (1888), under the title "Small the Theme of My Chant." Both "One's-self I Sing" and "Small the Theme of My Chant" appeared in the 1892 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Images of the versos are unavailable.
Whitman Archive Title: To the Reader at the Entrance of Leaves of Grass
Content:
One of a series of draft introductions Whitman prepared for
Leaves of Grass
, but which were never printed during Whitman's lifetime. This particular introduction, composed entirely in verse, was reworked and revised multiple times. Though "To the Reader at the Entrance of Leaves of Grass" did not appear in print as a distinct and cohesive piece until collected by Clifton Joseph Furness in
Walt Whitman's Workshop
(1928), portions of this draft were distilled into "One's-self I Sing," first published as "Inscription" in the 1867 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Whitman revised this poem before including it as "One's-self I Sing" in 1871, dropping some of the lines only to reintroduce them in "Sands at Seventy" (1888), under the title "Small the Theme of My Chant." Both "One's-self I Sing" and "Small the Theme of My Chant" appeared in the 1892 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines from this manuscript were also revised and used in the poem, "So Long!," which first appeared in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Content:
A Civil-War-era notebook containing entries written in 1862 and 1863 in both New
York and Washington, D.C. Many of the early leaves contain names,
addresses, and descriptions of acquaintances in New York. Beginning
roughly halfway through the notebook, the entries focus on Whitman's
experiences in and around Washington, visiting hospital camps and
battle-fields. Several of the entries contributed to published pieces of
poetry or prose. Surface 8 bears a clipping and is represented here by two images (8 and 9). Surface 39 (image 40) mentions the "Apollo Summer Garden," which
Whitman wrote about in a
New York Leader
column of 19
April 1862 entitled "City
Photographs—No. V." Surfaces 83 and 85 (images 84 and 86) contain notes that constitute a draft of a portion of the seventh installment of the "City Photographs" series on 17 May
1862 (the section titled "Lindmuller's"). Surface 47 (image 48) also contains a reference to "Lindenmuller's Halle," including its street address. Surfaces 67 and 69 (images 66 and 68) are early drafts of "The City Dead-House," a poem that first
appeared in the 1867 edition of
Leaves of
Grass
. On surface 89 (image 90) Whitman is drafting the title of "By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame," a poem
which first appeared as part of
Drum-Taps
(1865).
Surface 113 (image 114) contains notes about a pile of amputated limbs that
contributed to the section of
Specimen
Days
(1882–1883) describing Whitman's visit to an army camp hospital at Falmouth, Virginia, in December 1862, titled "Down at the
Front." This section had first appeared in the
New York Times
on 11 December 1864 in a piece
entitled "Our Wounded and Sick
Soldiers" and was later reprinted in the New York
Weekly Graphic
(14 February 1874) and
Memoranda During the War
(1875–1876).
Surface 138 (image 139) contains a prose passage that contributed to the poem "A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Grey and
Dim," first published in
Drum-Taps
(1865). Surface 143 (image 144) contains a draft of
"The Veteran's Vision," which also
first appeared as part of
Drum-Taps
and
was later re-titled "The Artilleryman's
Vision." Surface 153 (image 154) contains notes that likely contributed
to the poem eventually titled "One's-Self I
Sing" (first published, in a different form, as the
"Inscription" to the 1867 edition of
Leaves
). The
top half of surface 183 (image 184) contains early draft lines of "A Noiseless, Patient Spider," which
first appeared as a section of the poem "Whispers of Heavenly Death" in
The
Broadway, A London Magazine
in October 1868 before being
published as its own poem in
Passage to
India
(1871). Surfaces 194 and 195 (images 195 and 196) contain lines that contributed
to the poem ultimately titled "Quicksand
Years." The poem was first published as "Quicksand Years That Whirl Me I Know Not
Whither" in
Drum-Taps
(1865).
Content:
This is a draft of the poem "Inscription," which was first published in the 1867 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The poem was later revised and published as "One's-Self I Sing." In
Leaves of Grass
(1891–92), lines from this manuscript appear in both "One's-Self I Sing" and "Small the Theme of My Chant."
Whitman Archive Title: [Man's physiology complete I sing.]
Content:
This manuscript fragment, written in ink and heavily corrected in pencil,
contributed to the poem that appeared on the frontispiece of the 1867 edition of
Leaves of
Grass
under the title "Inscription." A revised and final version appeared in the
1871-72 edition, as the first poem of the
"Inscriptions" cluster, with the
title "One's-Self I Sing."
