Content:
An outline for a poem on various types of music, potentially related to
"Proud Music of the
Storm" and/or "The
Mystic Trumpeter." The poem "The Mystic Trumpeter" was first published in
The Kansas Magazine
of
February 1872. "Proud Music of the Storm" was first published in the
Atlantic Monthly
in February 1869.
The reverse contains cancelled notes about a stanza to describe a triumphal
instrumental and vocal chorus corresponding to that of man triumphing over
temptation and weakness.
Content:
Correction notes and potential extra lines for the poem "Proud Music of the Storm,"
first published in
The Atlantic
Monthly
(February 1869) as "Proud
Music of the Sea-Storm." Subsequently, the poem was titled "Proud Music of the Storm"
in
Passage to India
(1871),
Two Rivulets
(1876), and in
Leaves of Grass
(1881-1882). On the
reverse of the manuscript is the beginning of a letter on Attorney General's Office
stationery.
Whitman Archive Title: Proud Music of the Sea-Storm
Content:
Printer's copy of "Proud
Music of the Sea-Storm," published in
The Atlantic Monthly
in February
1869. In subsequent printings, the title was altered
to "Proud Music of the
Storm."
Whitman Archive Title: Proud Music of the Sea-Storm
Content:
A disbound notebook, mostly filled with names and addresses. However, the
sixty-first surface contains an idea for a poem about "The Storm / all
the various things that happen in a storm." It is possible that this is
an early conception of the poem that would eventually be titled "Proud Music of the Storm" (originally
titled "Proud Musc of the Sea-Storm").
The note mentions being "at sea," as well as "sleeping" and "wak[ing],"
all of which are ideas found in "Proud
Music." The range of dates in the notebook also falls within
the likely period of compositon for that poem, with an earliest
recorded date of January 1867 (leaf 18). "Proud
Music of the Sea-Storm" was first published in the February 1869
issue of the
Atlantic Monthly
, but was
completed by
30 November 1868
, when
Whitman sent a copy of the poem to Ralph Waldo Emerson.
