Content:
On the recto is a cancelled draft of
lines from "Song of the
Redwood Tree," first published in 1873. On the verso is a meditation on the war, of which the connection to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Content:
Notes for a poem about calls used in various occupations and, on the reverse of the second leaf, an early draft of a portion of "Song of the Redwood-Tree," a poem first published in the February 1874 issue of
Harper's Magazine
and reprinted in the "Centennial Songs" section of
Two Rivulets
(1876). Verso images are not available for the first and third leaves.
Content:
This manuscript contains a rough draft of the poem "Song of the Redwood-Tree" written, according to a note
intialed by Whitman, during October and November 1873 prior to its first
publication in the February 1874 issue of
Harper's Magazine
. In 1876 the poem was published in
the group "Centennial Songs"
and annexed to
Two Rivulets
. The
poem appears ungrouped again in
Leaves of
Grass
(1881). Several leaves contain deleted and undeleted titles or
variant verse references to other published poems: "Eidólons", "Waves in the Vessel's Wake", "(a sonnet)" written "for
Century Verses," which appears from a Library of Congress manuscript to have been
a working title of the group that became "Centennial Verses" and "A California song".
Content:
Written on miscellaneous sheets of paper, including scraps of prose notes and
letters, this manuscript contains eleven numbered leaves. Some pieces which were
pasted together have been lifted and photographed separately to show lines
obscured by the pasted-on scraps. This manuscript contains a rough draft of the
poem "Song of the
Redwood-Tree" written, according to a note intialed by Whitman, during
October and November 1873 prior to its first publication in the February
1874 issue of
Harper's
Magazine
. In 1876 the poem was published in the group "Centennial Songs" and annexed to
Two Rivulets
. The poem appears
ungrouped again in
Leaves of
Grass
(1881). The similarities between this manuscript draft and the
Harper's edition of the poem seem to indicate that Whitman revised these pages in
preparation for the first publication.
