Content:
The handwriting on this draft fragment indicates that it was written fairly early, probably before the publication of
Leaves of Grass
in 1855. Most of the fragment describes a moving panorama, a popular form of entertainment during the antebellum period. The juxtaposition Whitman sets up in this manuscript (of painted panorama to actual landscape) appears in a line published in the 1855 and 1856 editions of
Leaves of Grass
, from the poem that would later be titled "Song of Myself": "The panorama of the sea . . . . but the sea itself?"
Content:
Edward Grier concludes that this manuscript was likely written before 1855 because of its similarity to several of the notebooks that Whitman wrote from that period (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 6:2110). Ideas in this manuscript are similar to ideas in the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Song of Myself," and lines and phrases from the manuscript appear in another manuscript that may have contributed to the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself": see "I know many beautiful things" (tex.00031.html). The tone of the statements is also consistent with Whitman's early journalistic and editorial persona. Ideas and words from this manuscript are also similar to ideas and words that appeared in the preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
. There is also a chance this manuscript relates to language in a Whitman-authored review of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, titled "Walt Whitman and His Poems," originally published in the
United States Review.
An image of the reverse of this manuscript is currently unavailable.
Content:
This manuscript was probably written between 1850 and 1855, when Whitman was preparing material for the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The ideas and language in the last section of the manuscript may relate to the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The first part of this manuscript resembles a line in the fifth poem of that edition, eventually titled "I Sing the Body Electric." The leaf looks like it may have been extracted from a notebook. On the reverse (nyp.00549) is prose writing that contains several phrases similar to some found in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself," as well as later poems.
Content:
Two phrases and images from this manuscript appear, slightly altered, in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, in the poem that would later be titled "Song of Myself." The manuscript was therefore probably written before or early in 1855. In the manuscript Whitman has added the phrase "the timothy and the clover" to a description of plants growing in a field. On page 18 of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
Whitman describes jumping from the crossbeams of a barn into the hay and says he will "seize the clover and timothy." Later in the manuscript he writes of "the buckwheat and its white tops and the bees that hum there all day," and on page 36 of the 1855
Leaves
he writes of the "white and brown buckwheat, a hummer and a buzzer there with the rest." A similar line concerning buckwheat and bees appeared in the poem "Come Up From the Fields Father," and a reference to "clover and timothy" appeared in "Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun." Both poems were first published in
Drum-Taps
in 1865. "Clover and timothy" also appears in the poem "The Return of the Heroes," which was first published in the 1881 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. On the reverse of this manuscript (nyp.00085) are poetic lines, one of which appeared in the poem ultimately titled "I Sing the Body Electric."
Whitman Archive Title: Outdoors is the best antiseptic
Content:
This prose fragment extols the virtues of outdoor living and the appeal of physical laborers who work outdoors. Similar ideas are found throughout
Leaves of Grass
. The following lines in the poem that was eventually titled "Song of Myself" echoes the first two sentences of this manuscript: "I am enamoured of growing outdoors, / Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or woods, / Of the builders and steerers of ships, of the wielders of axes and mauls, of the drivers of horses" (1855, p. 21). The first part of this prose fragment also may relate to the following line from the preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
: "The passionate tenacity of hunters, woodmen, early risers, cultivators of gardens and orchards and fields, the love of healthy women for the manly form, seafaring persons, drivers of horses, the passion for light and the open air, all is an old varied sign of the unfailing perception of beauty and of a residence of the poetic in outdoor people" (p. v).
The transcription of the manuscript published in
Notes and Fragments
, ed. Richard Maurice Bucke (London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899), 152, includes additional text not now present in the manuscript that may also connect it to the following line in the poem eventually titled "I Sing the Body Electric": "Do you think they are not there because they are not expressed in parlors and lecture-rooms?" (1855, p. 81). Edward Grier claims that this manuscript was, at one time, pinned together with another manuscript (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:169; see duk.00296).
Content:
Edward Grier dates this notebook before 1855, based on the pronoun revisions from third person to first person and the notebook's similarity to Whitman's early
"Talbot Wilson"
notebook (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:102). Grier notes that a portion of this notebook (beginning "How spied the captain and sailors") describes the wreck of the ship
San Francisco
in January 1854 (1:108 n33). A note on one of the last pages of the notebook (surface 26) matches the plot of the first of four tales Whitman published as "Some Fact-Romances" in
The Aristidean
in 1845, so segments of the notebook may have been written as early as the 1840s. Lines from the notebook were used in "Song of Myself" and "A Song of the Rolling Earth," which appeared in the 1856
Leaves of Grass
. Language and ideas from the notebook also appear to have contributed to other poems and prose, including "Miracles;" the preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
; "The Sleepers," which first appeared as the fourth poem in the 1855
Leaves
; and "A Song of Joys," which appeared as "Poem of Joys" in the 1860 edition.
Whitman Archive Title: No doubt the efflux of the soul
Content:
This notebook consists almost entirely of prose. However, the ideas and language developed throughout the notebook can be linked to a number of poems that appeared in
Leaves of Grass
, including "Song of Myself," "Great are the Myths" (ultimately shortened to a few lines and titled "Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night"), "Faces," "The Sleepers," and "To Think of Time," versions of which appeared in
Leaves of Grass
in 1855. One manuscript passage is similar to a passage in the preface to the 1855 edition. Thus, this notebook was almost certainly written before that date. Content from the first several paragraphs of this notebook was also used slightly revised in "Song of the Open Road," first published in the 1856 edition of
Leaves
as "Poem of the Road."
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
Because this manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances or date of its composition, but based on the content it seems likely that it was written between 1850 and 1855, when Whitman was composing his first edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The manuscript note about the "superb wonder of a blade of grass" may relate to similar statements in the prose preface and the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." In
Notes and Fragments
, Richard Maurice Bucke transcribes the manuscript with "Enter into the thoughts of" (nyp.00112) and describes it as "a very early note, the paper torn and almost falling to pieces." The date of the manuscript is almost certainly before 1855.
Content:
This draft fragment includes phrases and poetic lines that were revised and used in different editions of
Leaves of Grass
. "The orbed opening of whose mouth," struck through on this manuscript, is suggestive of a line that appeared in 1855 in the poem ultimately called "Song of Myself": "The orbic flex of his mouth is pouring and filling me full." The line "Nature is rude at first—but once begun never tires" was used slightly altered in "Song of the Open Road," first published in the 1856 edition of
Leaves of Grass
under the title "Poem of the Road." Edward Grier, drawing from Richard Maurice Bucke's
Notes and Fragments
(1899), adds a bracketed conclusion to the last line: "Most works of art [tire. Only the Great Chef d'OEuvres never tire and never dazzle at first.]" (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:168). The line does not currently appear on the manuscript. On the reverse of this manuscript is a prose fragment on the subject of knowledge and learning (nyp.00024).
Whitman Archive Title: The most perfect wonders of
Content:
Edward Grier writes of this manuscript that "[t]he sentiments and the handwriting are those of 1855 or earlier" (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:186). Some of the language is similar to wording in the poems that would be titled "Song of Myself" and "A Song for Occupations." At some point, this manuscript formed part of Whitman's cultural geography scrapbook (owu.00090).
Whitman Archive Title: [I can tell of the long besieged city]
Content:
A scrap of paper with poetic lines that were used in revised form in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The lines contained in this manuscript were eventually used in the poem ultimately titled "Song of Myself." On the verso of this scrap is a prose fragment with no known connection to Whitman's published work.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was preparing materials for the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The manuscript includes lines that relate to the prose preface and to several of the poems in that edition, including the poems eventually titled "Song of Myself," "To Think of Time," and "A Song for Occupations." The manuscript also includes lines that relate to the manuscript poem "Pictures,"" which probably dates to the mid- to late 1850s. Notes about the arrangement and production of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
are written on the back of this manuscript.
Content:
Manuscript expressing a belief in the continuing "amelioration" of the earth
and humankind, written on a scrap of wallpaper. Although it is cast in
prose, this may be an early draft of a group of lines, expressing
similar thoughts, in "Great Are
the Myths," which was first published as the final, untitled,
poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves
of Grass
. It also bears some resemblance to lines that appeared in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Whitman continued to revise the poem in later editions of
Leaves of Grass.
In the 1881–1882 edition, Whitman removed "Great Are the Myths" from
Leaves
of Grass
altogether, except for four lines, which he titled "Youth, Day, Old Age, and
Night."
Content:
Because it comprises material that Whitman used in the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
, this notebook must date to sometime before mid-1855.Emory Holloway has posited several connections between passages in this notebook and specific lines in the 1855 edition. Although some of these connections are dubious, the notebook's series of drafts about the effects of music are clearly related to what ultimately became section 26 of "Song of Myself." See Emory Holloway, ed.,
The Uncollected Poetry and Prose of Walt Whitman
(Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1921), 2:83–86.
Whitman Archive Title: For remember that behind all
Content:
Edward Grier notes that this scrap contains ideas similar to those found in what would become section 4 of the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." But Grier also indicates that the manuscript could be notes for a lecture that Whitman was planning (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 6:2047). In either case, the manuscript likely dates to the 1850s.
Content:
Although they are written in free verse, both the conventional nature of these lines and the handwriting suggest an early date of inscription. This draft may be a continuation of duk.00018 ("There is no word in"), suggesting it may relate to the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." The lines, especially the first and third, also bear some resemblance to a passage of the preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
and to lines in what eventually became section 6 of "I Sing the Body Electric."
Content:
Early discussions of this notebook dated it in the 1840s, and the date associated with it in the Library of Congress finding aid is 1847. The cover of the notebook features a note calling it the "Earliest and Most Important Notebook of Walt Whitman." A note on leaf 27 recto includes the date April 19, 1847, and the year 1847 is listed again as part of a payment note on leaf 43 recto. More recently, however, scholars have argued that Whitman repurposed this notebook, and that most of the writing was more likely from 1853 to 1854, just before the publication of
Leaves of Grass
. Almost certainly Whitman began the notebook by keeping accounts, producing the figures that are still visible on some of the page stubs, and later returned to it to write the poetry and prose drafts. For further discussion of dating and the fascinating history of this notebook into the twentieth century, see Matt Miller,
Collage of Myself: Walt Whitman and the Making of Leaves of Grass
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010), 2–8. See also Andrew C. Higgins, "Wage Slavery and the Composition of
Leaves of Grass
: The
Talbot Wilson
Notebook,"
Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
20:2 (Fall 2002), 53–77. Scholars have noted a relationship between this notebook and much of the prose and poetry that appeared in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. See, for instance, Edward Grier,
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
(New York: New York University Press, 1984), 1:53–82. The notebook was lost when Grier published his transcription (based on microfilm). The notebook features an early (if not the earliest) example of Whitman using his characteristic long poetic lines, as well as the "generic or cosmic or transcendental 'I'" that appears in
Leaves of Grass
(Grier, 1:55).
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The general theme of this manuscript, as well as the specific wording of one of the lines, resembles a portion of the second poem in that edition, eventually entitled "A Song for Occupations": "When the sacred vessels or the bits of the eucharist, or the lath and plast, procreate as effectually as the young silvermiths or bakers, or the masons in their overalls / ... / I intend to reach them my hand and make as much of them as I do of men and women" (1855, p. 64). Language and ideas from this manuscript appear in other manuscripts that relate to the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, ultimately titled "Song of Myself." See in particular the lines: "The supernatural of no account . . . . myself waiting my time to be one of the supremes, / The day getting ready for me when I shall do as much good as the best, and be as prodigious, / Guessing when I am it will not tickle me much to receive puffs out of pulpit or print" (1855, p. 46). Based on its similarity to other manuscripts, this manuscript may also relate to lines 39-43 in "Debris," a cluster published in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
: "I WILL take an egg out of the robin's nest in the orchard, / I will take a branch of gooseberries from the old bush in the garden, and go and preach to the world; / You shall see I will not meet a single heretic or scorner, / You shall see how I stump clergymen, and confound them, / You shall see me showing a scarlet tomato, and a white pebble from the beach" (1860, p. 424). On the verso (loc.07512) is a proposition for a poem "embodying the sentiment of perfect happiness." Pin marks and leftover bits of glue near the bottom of the leaf suggest it was at one point attached to something else.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The lines are similar to lines in the first and third poems in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself" and "To Think of Time." Similar draft lines also appear in "Talbot Wilson," an early notebook (loc.00141). On the verso (loc.07869) is a draft of a piece of journalism published on October 20, 1854.
Whitman Archive Title: The genuine miracles of Christ
Content:
This cancelled prose manuscript was probably written between 1850 and 1855. Language in the manuscript was used in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, in the poem that was eventually titled "Song of Myself." Segments of the manuscript also resemble language that appeared in the preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
and in the 1856 "Poem of Perfect Miracles," later titled "Miracles." The wording of "the vast elemental sympathy, which, only the human soul is capable of generating and emitting in steady and limitless floods," was used, slightly revised, in "A Song of Joys," which first appeared in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
as "Poem of Joys."
Content:
Whitman probably inscribed the material in this notebook in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Some of Whitman's language about the poet and religion in this notebook is similar to the language and ideas used in the preface to the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Content from leaf 10 verso (see twentieth image) was revised and used in "The Sleepers," the poem eventually titled "The Sleepers," which first appeared in
Leaves of Grass
(1855), including the following lines: "Now the vast dusk bulk that is the whale's bulk . . . . it seems mine, / Warily, sportsman! though I lie so sleepy and sluggish, my tap is death" (1855, p. 74). The passage likely also relates to the following lines in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself": "How the flukes splash! / How they contort rapid as lightning, with spasms and spouts of blood!" (1855, p. 48). Content from leaf 13 recto (see twenty-fifth image) may relate to other sections of the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Lines and phrases on both the recto and verso of this manuscript contributed to portions of the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself," and possibly to other sections of the 1855
Leaves of Grass
, suggesting a composition date before 1855. However, this manuscript also includes lines that probably contributed to "Sun-Down Poem" (later retitled "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry") in the 1856 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. It is possible that some of these poetic lines contributed to the prose preface to the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. A line in this manuscript is similar to the following line, in the poem later titled "Song of Myself": "I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself" (1855, p. 17). Another line is similar to the lines "And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's-self is" (1855, p. 53) and "And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man" (1855, p. 26). Another manuscript line is similar to the line "Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man" (1855, p. 23). And several manuscript lines are similar to the lines beginning "Not merely of the New World but of Africa Europe or Asia . . . . a wandering savage, / A farmer, mechanic, or artist . . . . a gentleman, sailor, lover or quaker, / A prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician or priest" (1855, p. 24). Three other lines are similar to: "Storming enjoying planning loving cautioning, / Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing, / I tread day and night such roads" (1855, p. 38). Edward Grier speculates that Whitman's note "Don't forget the bombardment" relates to the "bombardment" of the "old artillerist" in "Song of Myself": "I am an old artillerist, and tell of some fort's bombardment . . . . and am there again" (1855, p. 40). (See
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:165). Several phrases of the prose on the verso were probably later used, in somewhat revised form, in the following lines from "Sun-down Poem" in the 1856 edition of
Leaves of Grass
: "The best I had done seemed to me blank and suspicious, / My great thoughts, as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre? Would not people laugh at me?" (1856, p. 216). The poem was later titled "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." It is possible that some of the poetic lines on the verso contributed to the prose preface to the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The lines "I am too great to be a mere President or Major General / I remain with my fellows—with mechanics, and farmers and common people" may relate to the sentence from the preface that reads: "Other states indicate themselves in their deputies....but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors...but always most in the common people" (1855, p. iii). The line "I remain with them all on equal terms" may also be related to the following line in the preface: "The messages of great poets to each man and woman are, Come to us on equal terms" (1855, p. vii). The line "In me are the old and young the fool and the wise thinker" may be related to a similar phrase in the poem eventually titled "Who Learns My Lesson Complete?": "The stupid and the wise thinker" (1855, p. 92). The phrase "mother of many children" appears in both the preface and in the poem later titled "Faces."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. It probably relates to the seventh poem in that edition, originally untitled, part of which eventually became "Song of the Answerer." The manuscript is collected in a bound volume with other manuscripts.
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
The lines in this manuscript likely contributed to lines of the poem that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself." The date of the manuscript is therefore probably before or early in 1855.
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
This list may have contributed indirectly to the ideas found in what became the second section of the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." Those lines deal with breath, scents, and sexuality, all of which are suggested by the terms in this manuscript. Because the manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances or date of its composition, but it seems likely that it was written before or early in 1855.
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
The language in this manuscript is similar to the following line from the first poem in the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Song of Myself": "Where the katydid works her chromatic reed on the walnut-tree over the well;" (1855, p. 37). Because the manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances of its composition, but it is likely that it was written in the early 1850s as Whitman was preparing materials for the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
The language in this manuscript is similar to the following line from first poem in first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Song of Myself": "What blurt is it about virtue and about vice?" (1855, p. 28). Because this manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances of its composition, but it is possible that it was written in the early 1850s as Whitman was preparing materials for the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
The language in this manuscript is similar to the following line from the poem that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself": "By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms" (1855, p. 29). Ideas and words from this manuscript are also similar to ideas and words that appeared in the preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
. See, for instance, the line: "the melancholy prudence of the abandonment of such a great being as a man is to the toss and pallor of years of moneymaking with all their scorching days and icy nights and all their stifling deceits and underhanded dodgings, or infinitessimals of parlors, or shameless stuffing while others starve . . " (1855, p. x).
Because the manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances of its composition, but it is possible that it was written in the early 1850s as Whitman was preparing materials for the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. In his transcription of the manuscript, Richard Maurice Bucke paired it with another manuscript, "Remember that the clock and" (duk.00298).
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
Language in this manuscript is similar to the following line from the first poem in the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Song of Myself": "Walking the path worn in the grass and beat through the leaves of the brush;" (1855, p. 36). Language in this manuscript is also similar to a line in the long manuscript draft poem, unpublished in Whitman's lifetime, titled "Pictures." The line in "Pictures" reads: "And there, rude grave‑mounds in California—and there a path worn in the grass." The first several lines of "Pictures" (not including this line) were revised and published as "My Picture-Gallery" in
The American
in October 1880. The poem was later published in
Leaves of Grass
as part of the "Autumn Rivulets" cluster (1881, p. 310). This manuscript may relate to the poem "A Farm Picture," published in
Leaves of Grass
in 1867, particularly the line: "A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding" (1867, p. 46). This manuscript may relate to the poem titled "A Song of Joys," which first appeared in the 1860
Leaves of Grass
as "Poem of Joys." A similar line in that poem reads: "O the joy of my spirit! It is uncaged! It darts like lightning!" (1860, p. 259). Because the manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances of its composition. Although Bucke has grouped the lines together in his transcription, there is also a possibility that they represent three separate manuscripts.
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
Phrasing and imagery in this manuscript are reminiscent of phrases and ideas Whitman used in the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, ultimately titled "Song of Myself." Compare these lines from that edition: "I lean and loafe at my ease . . . . observing a spear of summer grass" and "Wherever the human heart beats with terrible throes out of its ribs" (1855, pp. 13, 36). Because the manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances of its composition, but it is possible that it was written in the early 1850s as Whitman was preparing materials for the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
The phrasing and imagery in this manuscript are reminiscent of the following line of the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, ultimately titled "Song of Myself": "Where the splash of swimmers and divers cools the warm noon" (1855, p. 37). Because the manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances of its composition, but it is possible that it was written in the early 1850s as Whitman was preparing materials for the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten
View Images: currently unavailable
Content:
The phrasing and imagery in this manuscript are reminiscent of the following line of the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, ultimately titled "Song of Myself": "And I know that the spirit of God is the eldest brother of my own" (1855, p. 16). Because this manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances of its composition, but it is possible that it was written in the early 1850s as Whitman was preparing materials for the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Sculley Bradley and Harold W. Blodgett suggest that the mention of a "wild-drake" may connect this scrap to the line about a "wood-drake" in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself" (
Leaves of Grass: Comprehensive Reader's Edition
, ed. Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley [New York: New York University Press, 1965]). However, nothing else about the words in this manuscript suggest a connection to that line. The appearance of the paper, ink, and the letter forms do correspond with those in other pre-1855 manuscripts.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The draft line is similar in subject to lines used in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The numbering, paper, and ink are also similar to other manuscripts that feature lines that appeared in that poem. On the reverse are lines that were possibly also written as part of the process for the creation of that poem (see nyp.00732).
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Although these lines do not appear in the versions of the poems included in that edition, the numbering, paper, and ink are similar to other manuscripts with lines used in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself."" A draft line of poetry written on the back of this manuscript (nyp.00052) also may relate to that poem.
Whitman Archive Title: The fester of defeat sharper
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The last few lines of the manuscript are drafts of lines used in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Whitman Archive Title: Superb and infinitely manifold as
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The discussion of the vastness of time and space is similar to a passage from the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The manuscript includes the phrase "countless octillions of the cubic leagues of space," while a phrase from the version of the poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
reads "a few octillions of cubic leagues, do not hazard the span" (51). Whether or not this manuscript contributed directly to the poem, the similarity suggests that the manuscript was written before or early in 1855. Edward Grier includes two additional sentences in his transcription of this manuscript that are taken from Richard Maurice Bucke's
Notes and Fragments
(see
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:161). However, the source of Bucke's transcription have not been found and there is no evidence that the sentences were ever associated with the present manuscript.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855, as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Words and imagery from the manuscript are similar to lines in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The manuscript has been pasted down, so an image of the back of the leaf is unavailable.
Content:
Whitman likely drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855, as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Some of the language in the manuscript is similar to language in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." On the back of this manuscript is another poetry draft (nyp.00742) .
Whitman Archive Title: Why should I subscribe money
Content:
Whitman may have drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855, as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Language in the manuscript bears some similarity to language in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled
Song of Myself.
A poetry draft on the back of this manuscript (nyp.00089) may also relate to
Song of Myself.
Content:
This manuscript was likely written between 1850 and 1855, when Whitman was preparing materials for the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The idea of "[e]nter[ing] into the thoughts of the different theological faiths" described in this manuscript probably connects to the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Whitman also used the term "koboo" in that poem. Gary Schmidgall glosses the term "koboo" as referring to "a native of Sumatra," and Andrew Lawson has noted that Whitman apparently picked up the reference from a book by Walter M. Gibson, an American adventurer (
Walt Whitman, Selected Poems, 1855–1892
, ed. Gary Schmidgall [New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1999], 488;
Walt Whitman and the Class Struggle
[Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2006], 91). The manuscript is pasted down, so an image of the reverse is not available.
Whitman Archive Title: Describing the death of nine
Content:
This manuscript bears some similarity to lines from the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." The handwriting and ink of this manuscript are very similar to the handwriting and ink on the back (nyp.00511), which features draft lines of the same poem. The date of both is therefore likely before or early in 1855.
Content:
This manuscript was probably written between 1850 and 1855, when Whitman was preparing materials for the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The lines in this manuscript are similar to lines used in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." On the back is a prose draft (nyp.00113), also possibly related to "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Language in the manuscript is similar to lines that appeared in the fifth poem in that edition, later titled "I Sing the Body Electric." The discussion of the speed of the stars in this manuscript bears some resemblance to lines in the poem ultimately titled "Song of Myself." For further discussion of the relationship between this manuscript and the 1855
Leaves of Grass
, see Kenneth M. Price, "The Lost Negress of 'Song of Myself' and the Jolly Young Wenches of Civil War Washington," in
Leaves of Grass: The Sesquicentennial Essays
, ed. Susan Belasco, Ed Folsom, and Kenneth M. Price (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), 229–30. The manuscript has been pasted down, so an image of the reverse is not currently available.
Content:
This manuscript may have been written between 1850 and 1855, when Whitman was preparing materials for the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The description of the plate-glass windows on Broadway bears some resemblance to a description in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." This manuscript also bears a distant resemblance to a discussion of "shadows" in the poem later titled "There Was a Child Went Forth." It is also possible that the manuscript was written later, however: the description of Broadway in these lines also closely resembles a description Whitman wrote in his unfinished poem known as "The Two Vaults," a poem that is recorded in a New York notebook (loc.00348) that probably dates to the early 1860s. Whitman also wrote about Broadway elsewhere in later poems, so the manuscript may have been written still later. The manuscript has been pasted down, so an image of the back of the leaf is currently unavailable.
Content:
Several words from this manuscript ("loveroot," "silkthread," "crotch," and "vine") were used in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, in the poem that was later titled "Song of Myself." Other lines and words became part of the opening lines of "Broad-Axe Poem" and "Bunch Poem" in the 1856 edition (later titled "Song of the Broad-Axe" and "Spontaneous Me"). The date of the manuscript is therefore probably before or early in 1855. This manuscript is pasted down, so an image of the back of the leaf is currently unavailable.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855, as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. This list of words may have been brainstorming for lines that appeared in the first and fifth poems of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself" and "I Sing the Body Electric." On the reverse (nyp.00100) is a fragment related to the poem eventually titled "Who Learns My Lesson Complete?"
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The paper and ink are similar to that used for other early poetry manuscripts, and the lines bear a distant resemblance to ideas used in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." In his transcription of this manuscript, Richard Maurice Bucke combines it with "Do I not prove myself" (uva.00251.html), but the manuscripts do not appear to be continuous (
Notes and Fragments
[London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899], 25).
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855 as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Words and imagery from the manuscript appear in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself."
On the reverse (nyp.00733) are lines used in a different part of the same poem.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855, as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The phrase "attraction of gravity," used in this manuscript, was used twice in that edition, including in a line in the poem eventually titled "A Song for Occupations." The last line of the manuscript, about the mouse staggering infidels, appeared in a slightly revised form in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." On the reverse (nyp.00078) are lines also used in that poem.
Whitman Archive Title: vain the mastadon retreats beneath
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855 as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines from the manuscript appear in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself."
On the reverse are two prose notes, nyp.00523 and nyp.00524.
Content:
This manuscript fragment includes several lines of prose that became, after slight revision, lines of poetry in the initial poem of the 1855
Leaves of Grass
(ultimately titled "Song of Myself"). The lines that appear in the poem begin with "Sit awhile wayfarer" and continue through the end of the manuscript, ending with "and open the gate for your egress hence." These lines remained, with minor revisions, through all the various versions of "Song of Myself." The manuscript is held at Rutgers University Library along with several similar manuscripts that are numbered sequentially and probably date from around or before 1855: see "American literature must become distinct" (rut.00010), "dithyrambic trochee" (rut.00022), and "The only way in which" (rut.00023).
Content:
This manuscript was probably written between 1850 and 1855, when Whitman was preparing material for his first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. A portion of the first paragraph of the manuscript, dealing with music and its relationship to the soul, is similar to a passage in the poem eventually titled "A Song For Occupations." Other language in the manuscript is similar to the prose preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
and to lines from the poems that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself" and "I Sing the Body Electric."
Whitman Archive Title: I know many beautiful things
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855, as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Ideas and phrases from the manuscript appear in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." This manuscript also includes lines and phrases that appear in other manuscripts. See loc.00387 ("Lofty sirs") and loc.00163 ("Rule in all addresses").
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The manuscript includes drafts of lines used in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The prose drafted on the back of this and several other related manuscript leaves includes ideas and phrases that resemble those used in "Unnamed Lands," a poem published first in the 1860–1861 edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Content:
This manuscript was probably written in about 1855. The proposed poem about "a perfect school" is not known to have been published, although words and sentiments that appear in this manuscript also appeared in the poem that was eventually titled "Song of Myself." This manuscript's reference to "manly exercises" may also relate to a line in the poem eventually titled "A Song for Occupations."" On the back of this leaf (tul.00002) are draft lines that were used in the third poem in the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "To Think of Time."
Content:
This manuscript draft may have contributed to lines in the poem that eventually would be titled "Song of Myself," which first appeared in
Leaves of Grass
(1855). The clearest relation is to the line: "A minute and a drop of me settle my brain" (1855, p. 33), but the lines about touch and death also relate to ideas in sections 6 and 27-30 of the final version of the poem. In the 1856 edition it was titled "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of
Leaves
. The reverse side of the leaf (duk.00797 contains prose writing related to a different section of the same poem.
Content:
The second paragraph of this prose manuscript contains lines which appeared in a slightly altered form in the first poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The poem was later divided into numbered sections and titled "Song of Myself"; the lines here appeared in section 4. The second paragraph also bears a distant resemblance to a line in the poem eventually titled "Faces" and to a line in the poem eventually titled "Song of the Answerer." The reverse side of this manuscript leaf (duk.00007) contains lines related to other sections of "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Language from the manuscript appears in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The phrase "light and air" also appears in the fourth poem of that edition, eventually titled "The Sleepers." The supplied first line, beginning "Under this rank coverlid," was added to a transcription of the manuscript that appears in
Notes and Fragments
, ed. Richard Maurice Bucke (London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899), 16. The line is not currently written on the manuscript.
Content:
A manuscript draft treating ideas about divine revelation. Lines from this manuscript appear in the first poem in the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass.
In its final version the poem was titled "Song of Myself," and the relevant lines appeared in section 41. The ideas and some of the language are also similar to other early manuscripts that relate to the second poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves
, ultimately titled "A Song for Occupations," and part of a cluster titled "Debris" that appeared in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
(see loc.00013, uva.00251, and duk.00261). The reverse (duk.00887) contains notes, dated March 20th '54, about the characters and physical traits of several men that Whitman met in his travels.
Content:
The ideas and language in this manuscript relate to the first poem in 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Song of Myself." This connection is reinforced by the supplied first line, added to a transcription of the manuscript that appears in
Notes and Fragments
, ed. Richard Maurice Bucke (London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899): "foot to fee lawyers for his brother and sit by him while he was tried for forgery" (47). This line, which matches a line in the 1855 version of "Song of Myself," is not currently written on the manuscript. In language, ideas, and structure, the last few lines of this manuscript also resemble lines 39–43 in the untitled fourteenth poem of the "Debris" cluster of the 1860–1861 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The manuscript is also similar to other early manuscripts that relate to these poems and to the second poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves
, eventually titled "A Song for Occupations" (see loc.00013 ["Priests"], uva.00251 ["Do I not prove myself"], and duk.00051 ["I know as well as"]). The reverse (duk.00800) contains unrelated prose writing, including a line similar to one found in "Song of Myself."
Content:
This manuscript features drafts of lines and ideas that appeared, in a revised form, in the first poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, ultimately titled "Song of Myself." The drafted lines relate to the portions of the poem that ultimately became sections 48 and 49. This manuscript has been mounted and framed with a prose fragment, dealing with the soul and nature, and a photograph of Whitman. An image of the verso is unavailable.
Content:
Some of the words and phrases in this manuscript appear in the first poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The manuscript also bears some resemblance to a line in the 1855 poem eventually titled "A Song for Occupations." The combination of "Love" and "Dilation or Pride" is also articulated in "Chants Democratic" (No. 4) in the 1860–1861
Leaves of Grass
, later titled "Our Old Feuillage." The reverse contains one cancelled line: "Not one of the heroic guests."
Content:
Draft lines, cancelled with a vertical strike, that appeared in the second poem of the 1855
Leaves of Grass,
eventually titled "A Song for Occupations." The phrase "driver(s) of horses," a version of which appears in text added to a transcription of this manuscript in
Notes and Fragments
, ed. Richard Maurice Bucke (London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899), 31, appears in both the preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
and appears in its first poem, eventually titled "Song of Myself." On the reverse is one heavily corrected line whose relationship to the recto material or to any other published poem is uncertain.
Content:
This manuscript contains a draft of the following lines in the first poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, a poem that was later titled "Song of Myself": "To be in any form, what is that? / If nothing lay more developed the quahaug and its callous shell were enough. / Mine is no callous shell, / I have instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stop, / They seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me" (1855, p. 32). On the
reverse side (duk.00883) are notes, trial lines, and lists of words and phrases related
to what eventually became sections 24 and 49 of "Song of Myself" and to lines included in "The Sleepers." Both poems were first published in the 1855 first edition of
Leaves of Grass.
Content:
The draft lines on one side of the manuscript leaf contributed to the opening
poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass.
In the poem's final version,
"Song of Myself,"
these lines are found in section 48. The poem was first titled "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American" in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of
Leaves
. It is not known whether the prose on
the leaf's reverse (see duk.00003) is related to any of Whitman's published work; however,
physical and thematic similarities with "And I have discovered them by night and by,"
above, and "My tongue can
never be content with harness," below, make a connection with
the 1860 poem "Unnamed
Lands" likely.
Content:
On one side of the manuscript leaf are draft poetic lines similar in topic to lines from the opening poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, later titled "Song of Myself." The use of horse-related terms—"harness," "traces," "the bit"—may relate to the extended metaphor developed in following lines: "Deluding my confusion with the calm of the sunlight and pasture fields, / Immodestly sliding the fellow-senses away, / They bribed to swap off with touch, and go and graze at the edges of me, / No consideration, no regard for my draining strength or my anger, / Fetching the rest of the herd around to enjoy them awhile, / Then all uniting to stand on a headland and worry me" (1855, pp. 32–33). The prose drafted on the reverse includes ideas and phrases that resemble those used in "Unnamed Lands," a poem published first in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Whitman Archive Title: Remembrances I plant American ground
Content:
The draft poetic lines in this manuscript includes some language similar to wording in the first and final poems in the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Song of Myself" and "Great are the Myths." On the reverse (duk.00884) is a list of rivers, lakes, and cities that likely contributed to "Poem of Salutation" in the 1856 edition of
Leaves
.
Content:
Prose fragment containing words and ideas similar to segments of the 1855 poem that was eventually titled "Song of Myself." Edward Grier also connects the image of the heroic male and the "flowing grandeur of a man" to the poems that make up the 1855
Leaves
(
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:178). On the reverse is another prose fragment (duk.00888) dealing with the importance of independent thinking amid social forces of law and custom, as well as describing the attributes of a "perfect" man.
Whitman Archive Title: Remember that the clock and
Content:
A prose manuscript dealing mainly with conceptions of time and which may have contributed to the following line in the first poem of the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
(eventually titled "Song of Myself"): "The clock indicates the moment . . . . but what does eternity indicate?" The last few lines of the manuscript contain ideas and phrases similar to another passage of the same poem. The manuscript's likening of "God" or "the soul" to an "Elder Brother" is reminescent of lines "And I know that the hand of God is the elderhand of my own, / And I know that the spirit of God is the eldest brother of my own." These correspondences suggest a date of before or early in 1855.
Content:
Notes, or possibly trial lines, expressing the idea that the highest beauty is found in what is "cheapest" and "commonest," probably connected to a line in the first poem of the 1855
Leaves of Grass
, ultimately titled "Song of Myself". In the final version of the poem, the line appears in section 14. This scrap has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with "It seems to me," "What shall the great poet be then?" and "Make no quotations."
Content:
This manuscript includes notes that anticipate the preface to the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Images and phrases in the second paragraph of the first leaf are reminscent of lines in both the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself" and the poem eventually titled "I Sing the Body Electric." Another line on the first leaf appeared in a slightly different form in "Poem of The Singers, and of The Words of Poems" in the 1856 edition of
Leaves
(a poem later titled "Song of the Answerer"). The stated desire for "satisfiers" and "lovers" (found here on the bottom of the second leaf) appears in "Poem of Many in One," also first published in the 1856 edition and later titled "By Blue Ontario's Shore."
Content:
The wording and general idea of this prose manuscript anticipates lines in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, in the poem that was eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
A manuscript containing drafts of lines used in the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, eventually titled "Song of Myself," including the poem's famous opening line, "I celebrate myself." On the reverse is a prose manuscript (duk.00879) with an unknown connection to Whitman's published work. This manuscript has been bound, seemingly by a collector, with a printer's copy of the 1881–1882 edition of
Leaves of Grass
that contains numerous handwritten corrections by Whitman (duk.00098).
Whitman Archive Title: It were unworthy a live man to pray
Content:
An early scrap of prose material similar to parts of "Song of Myself," which first appeared as the opening poem in
Leaves of Grass
(1855). The manuscript's final three lines may have contributed to what became section 32, in which Whitman describes wanting to "live awhile with animals" because "[t]hey do not sweat and whine about their condition, / They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins." These lines were present in the first version of the poem in 1855, suggesting a date of before or early in that year.
Content:
This prose manuscript includes a thought similar to one from the poem that was eventually titled "Song of Myself." Whitman writes that "The noble soul steadily rejects any liberty or privilege or wealth that is not open on the same terms to every other man and every other woman." This idea is phrased more memorably in the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
—"By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms" (29)—suggesting a date for the manuscript of 1855 or earlier. Other ideas and words from this manuscript are similar to ideas and words that appeared in the preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
. See, for instance, the line: "the melancholy prudence of the abandonment of such a great being as a man is to the toss and pallor of years of moneymaking with all their scorching days and icy nights and all their stifling deceits and underhanded dodgings, or infinitessimals of parlors, or shameless stuffing while others starve . . " (1855, p. x). The reverse (duk.00261) contains ideas and language related to what eventually became section 41 of "Song of Myself."
Content:
This manuscript is an adaptation of notes Whitman took about Egypt, almost certainly based on his reading of Sir John Gardner Wilkinson's
Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians
, 3 vols. (London: John Murray, 1837). Related information about Sesostris appears on page 29 of the first volume in Wilkinson's collection, though Whitman may have been reading a different edition. Whitman used the information in his article "One of the Lessons Bordering Broadway: The Egyptian Museum," published in
Life Illustrated
on December 8, 1855. Similar descriptions of Sesostris appear in several of Whitman's other notes and manuscripts, including "Immortality was realized" (mid.00018) and "Abraham's visit to Egypt" (tex.00200) two sets of manuscript notes about Egypt that Edward Grier dates to between 1855 and 1860 (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 5:1922; 6:2022); the notebook "women" (loc.05589); and the poetic rendition "Advance shapes like his shape" (tex.00028). The manuscript is pasted to a larger document along with another scrap, the reverse of which (duk.00878) features prose notes that relate to what became section 2 of "I Sing the Body Electric," first published as the fifth poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Both manuscripts were probably written shortly before or early in 1855, though the notes on the backing sheet to which they have been pasted may have been written at a later date.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass.
This manuscript, filled with suggestive words and phrases, appears to have contributed to the first and fourth poems in the volume, eventually titled "Song of Myself" and "The Sleepers," respectively. The phrase the phrase "polished melons" is reminiscent of the line "I reach to the leafy lips . . . . I reach to the polished breasts of melons" in "Song of Myself," and the list in this manuscript may relate to the following line: "Root of washed sweet-flag, timorous pond-snipe, nest of guarded duplicate eggs, it shall be you." Other elements of this manuscript appear to have contributed to "The Sleepers." The jotting "I am a look / mystic / in a trance/ exaltation" may have led to the line "I am a dance . . . . Play up there! the fit is whirling me fast." Further, the reference to the soothing hand is perhaps an early version of the passage in which the narrator, who stands "with drooping eyes by the worstsuffering and restless," passes his "hands soothingly to and fro a few inches from them." Finally, the passage about "Sap that flows from the end of the manly maple" (associated in the manuscript with the "tooth of delight" and "tooth prong") probably contributed to the following passage in the same poem: "The white teeth stay, and the boss-tooth advances in darkness, / And liquor is spilled on lips and bosoms by touching glasses, and the best liquor afterward." These lines were removed from the final versioen of the poem. The writing on the reverse side of the leaf (duk.00001) contributed to a different part of the poem that became "Song of Myself."
Content:
This manuscript was probably written between 1850 and 1855, while Whitman was working on the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The lines in the manuscript appear in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." John C. Broderick has described this manuscript as the last surviving page of "the original manuscript of the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
" ("The Greatest Whitman Collector and the Greatest Whitman Collection,"
The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress
, 27.2 [April 1970], 109–128), a claim echoed by Arthur Golden in "The Ending of the 1855 Version of 'Song of Myself,'"
Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
, 3.4 (Spring 1986), 30n6. The page number at the top of the manuscript is not inconsistent with the possible positioning of these lines as part of a printer's copy, but lacking further evidence it would be difficult to confirm the claim. On the reverse side (loc.07428) is a long list of words, many of which are found in the poem eventually "Song of the Broad-Axe."
Content:
This manuscript contains notes about whales that mirror a passage about whales
published in "Song of Myself".
A direct relationship between this manuscript and Whitman's published work is unknown,
although a possible relationship also exists with drafts of the poem "The Sleepers" in which Whitman
was working with the idea of a whale being harpooned. These notes may be a
continuation of notes written on two separate scraps and held at Duke University
(The Trent Collection of Walt Whitman Manuscripts, Duke University Rare Book,
Manuscript, and Special Collections Library), "The Whale," MS q 88.
Content:
This manuscript was probably written in the mid-1850s. The lines beginning "After death" are not known to have been published in Whitman's lifetime. The lines on the verso, beginning "I have all lives," are likely related to the poem first published in the 1856 edition of
Leaves of Grass
as "Poem of The Sayers of The Words of The Earth" and ultimately entitled "A Song of the Rolling Earth." Because the handwriting is similar on the two sides, we treat them here as a single text.
Whitman Archive Title: [How can there be immortality]
Content:
These lines, appearing on a very small section of white laid paper cut and cropped
irregularly, bear a strong resemblance to the (eventual) second verse paragraph in
section 6 of "Starting from
Paumanok," first published in 1860 as "Proto-Leaf." The fragmentary lines on the verso
(beginning "Downward, buoyant, swif[t]"), represent a different version of a line
incorporated in the pre-1855 notebook poem "Pictures" and of one inscribed in the 1854 notebook [I
know a rich capitalist...], currently housed at the New York Public Library.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines in the manuscript are similar to sentences used in the preface to that edition. Ideas expressed in the manuscript also relate loosely to lines in the first poem in the 1855 edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Lines written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00570 appeared in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Whitman Archive Title: The spotted hawk salutes the
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines from the manuscript were included in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Several lines of poetry are drafted on the back of this leaf (uva.00238.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The last couple of lines are similar to lines in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. In language, ideas, and structure, the manuscript most closely resembles lines 39–43 in "Debris," a poem published in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. However, the ideas and some of the language are also similar to other early manuscripts that relate to the first and second poems in the 1855 edition of
Leaves
, ultimately titled "Song of Myself" and "A Song for Occupations" (see "Priests" [loc.00013], "I know as well as" [duk.00051], and "[Fa]bles, traditions" [duk.00261]). In his transcription of this manuscript, Richard Maurice Bucke combines it with "I ask nobody's faith" (nyp.00102), but the manuscripts do not appear to be continuous (
Notes and Fragments
[London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899], 25). Poetic lines written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00568) appeared in the poem eventually titled ""Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines from the manuscript appear in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled ""Song of Myself." Poetic lines on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00251) also relate to poems in the 1855
Leaves of Grass
.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines in the manuscript are similar to lines that appear in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The numbers written on the manuscript, along with remnants of paste and binding tape along the margin, suggest that the page likely came from a notebook. Lines similar to the last several in this manuscript were also reworked in the notebook "Talbot Wilson" (loc.00141). Notes written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00601) also relate to lines in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Lines in the manuscript are similar to lines in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The list of flora and fauna could anticipate any number of similar lists in Whitman's writing, but has perhaps the most words in common with a line in the prose preface to the 1855
Leaves of Grass
. Poetic lines on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00254) also relate to lines in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The fragmentary lines may relate to a section on touch included in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Poetic lines on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00256) relate to lines in the poem eventually titled "The Sleepers."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was preparing materials for the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. It is a draft of lines that appear in the fourth poem of that edition, eventually titled "The Sleepers." A revised version of the phrase "pennies on their eyes" appears in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." Lines on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00566) relate to the poem eventually titled "Faces."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. A line from the manuscript appears in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Lines on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00262) also relate to the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Versions of the manuscript lines appear in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Lines on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00261) also relate to the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. It is a draft of lines that appear in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." A series of notes about poetic meter are written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00603).
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The notes were revised and incorporated into the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The manuscript includes drafts of lines used in the first and tenth poems in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself" and "There Was a Child Went Forth," respectively.
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The first line in this manuscript matches a line in the "Talbot Wilson" notebook (loc.00141, recto leaf 38) and is similar in structure to lines that appeared in the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves
, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The image of the poet navigating stairs also appears in what would become section 44 of "Song of Myself." Draft lines written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00600) may also relate to the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The first line in this manuscript matches a line in the "Talbot Wilson" notebook (loc.00141, recto leaf 38) and is similar in structure to lines that appeared in the first poem in the 1855 edition of
Leaves
, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The image of the poet navigating stairs also appears in what would become section 44 of "Song of Myself." Draft lines written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00600) may also relate to the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The manuscript may relate to a passage about touch that appeared in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." In his transcription of this manuscript, Richard Maurice Bucke included lines at the beginning and end that read: "Yet I strike and dart through . . . . . . " and "I am a creased and cut sea; the furious wind . . . . . ." (
Notes and Fragments
[London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899], 34–5). These lines do not currently appear on the manuscript. Draft lines written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00269) relate to lines in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Content:
Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was preparing materials for the first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The lines bear some similarity to lines in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." Poetic lines on the back of this leaf (uva.00562) relate to the poem eventually titled "Faces."
Content:
This manuscript was probably written between 1850 and 1860. The lines are similar in subject to lines in the poem "To One Shortly To Die," first published in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The use of ellipses within poetic lines was characteristic of Whitman's first (1855) edition of
Leaves of Grass
, however, and lines in this manuscript also resemble lines that appeared in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." On the upper right corner of the manuscript appear the words "note last page of 'Ghost-seers'" in Whitman's hand, which may be a reference to one of the two volumes of
The Night Side of Nature, Or, Ghosts and Ghost-Seers
, by Catherine Crowe (London: T. C. Newby, 1848; G. Routledge & Co., 1852). Whitman mentioned the book in a conversation with Horace Traubel on December 9, 1889 (
With Walt Whitman in Camden
, 6:180–2). The phrase "Ghost-seers" also recalls a statement regarding Emerson in "Leaves-Droppings," a section of correspondence and commentary Whitman appended to the 1856 edition: "[Emerson] sees the future of truths as our Spirit-seers discern the future of man..." Fragmentary lines written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00561) were used in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."
