Content:
These lines share common ideas expressed throughout
Leaves of Grass
, especially in many of the new poems
to the 1860 edition. The strongest verbal echoes appear in the poem "So long!" which expresses very
similar ideas and the common words "menacing" and "offspring." The printed words
"Leaves of" appearing on the verso indicate that Whitman composed this draft on a
piece of paper cover from the 1855 edition.
Whitman Archive Title: Thought [Of these years I sing]
Content:
Whitman inscribed and circled the note "2d/ piece/ in Book" in the upper-right
corner of the first leaf. The small top section is inscribed on the verso of some
deleted draft verses excised from "So
Long!" "Thought"
became section 9 of "Chants
Democratic" in 1860. In the 1867
Leaves of Grass
Whitman combined it with the second
"Thought" to form the poem
"Thoughts" in the
supplement "Songs Before
Parting." (This particular "Thought" was numbered section 1 of the composite poem.) In 1871 "Thoughts" appeared in the cluster
"Songs of Parting" within
the main body of
Leaves of Grass
,
and in 1881, it achieved its final position within that cluster. These leaves
correspond to the verses in the 1860 "Chants Democratic" version.
Content:
Whitman numbered the leaves 75-81 in the upper right corner, with the exception of
leaves 6 and 7, which are numbered at top center. In 1860 this was the final poem
in
Leaves of Grass
; in 1867
Whitman cut twenty-one lines and transferred it to the end of the last
Leaves of Grass
supplement "Songs of Parting." In 1872, with
the transformation of this supplement into the cluster "Songs Before Parting," it was permanently fixed as the
final poem in the main body of
Leaves of
Grass
.
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: 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:
Corrected pages, many originally appearing in the 1876
Leaves of Grass,
of cluster "Songs of Parting," containing 17 poems.
Opposite a portrait of Whitman, the title page reads, "Songs of Parting,
by Walt Whitman, The Poet's Corrected Proof." These corrections were
probably intended for the 1881–82 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The 17 poems included
are: "As the Time Draws
Nigh,"
"Ashes of Soldiers,"
"Years of the
Modern,"
"Thoughts,"
"Song at Sunset,"
"My Legacy,"
"Pensive on Her Dead
Gazing, I Heard the Mother of All,"
"Camps of Green,"
"Bathed in War's
Perfume,"
"Now Finalé to the
Shore,"
"As they Draw to a
Close,"
"The Untold Want,"
"Portals,"
"These Carols,"
"To the Reader at
Parting,"
"Joy, Shipmate,
Joy!," and "So
Long."
