Content:
These two scraps once formed part of a larger leaf and contain a crossed-out section of prose that seems to be discussing the human form and its treatment in literature. The phrase "organs and acts," which begins on the first scrap and continues onto the second, is also found in the poem that would eventually be titled "Starting from Paumanok". The poem originally appeared as the first poem in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, titled "Proto-leaf." It took its final title in the 1867 edition. On the reverse side is a manuscript (loc.05620) containing a draft of an unpublished piece of journalism or essay.
Content:
These notes on sights in Manhattan and the themes of personality, egotism,
and the equality of women may have contributed to what ultimately became
"Starting from
Paumanok," Section 12. The poem first appeared in the 1860 edition as "Proto-Leaf."
Content:
A notebook Whitman used for various purposes in the mid-1850s. Edward F.
Grier, in his edition of Whitman's
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose
Manuscripts,
6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1984), 1: 246–280, noted that the
notebook contains lines and phrases that relate to several poems: "Song of the
Broad-Axe,"
"To a Common
Prostitute,"
"You Felons on Trial in
Courts,"
"Starting from
Paumanok,"
"Trickle Drops,"
"I Was Looking for a Long
While,"
"Poem of Joys,"
"Facing West from
California's Shores,"
"To the States,"
"A Song of the Rolling
Earth,"
"On the Beach a Night
Alone,"
"Full of Life Now,"
and "With
Antecedents."
Content:
An early notebook Whitman used for various purposes. William White, in his edition of Whitman's
Daybooks and Notebooks
(New York: New York University Press, 1978. 3 vols.), noted a relationship between rough drafts of poems in this notebook (called "An Early Notebook" in White's edition) and the 1860 poem eventually titled "Starting from Paumanok." On surface 54 is a passage that seems to have contributed to the 1860 poem that became "Song at Sunset." On surface 85 is a passage that perhaps contributed to the 1855 poem later titled "Song of Myself," and a passage on surface 62 might have been used in the 1856 poem eventually titled "Miracles." Because Whitman wrote entries from both ends of the notebook, the writing on about half of the leaves is upside-down in relation to other leaves. Some leaves have become disbound, and their original positions are uncertain. Our ordering is based on the earliest known transcription, done by Fredson Bowers in 1955.
Content:
A notebook Whitman used for various purposes in the mid-1850s. Edward F.
Grier, in his edition of Whitman's
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose
Manuscripts,
6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1984), 1:226–243, noted that the notebook contains lines and phrases that relate to
several poems: "Song of the
Broad-Axe,"
"Crossing Brooklyn
Ferry,"
"I Sing the Body
Electric,"
"Starting from
Paumanok,"
"A Song for
Occupations,"
"By Blue Ontario's
Shore,"
"Salut au Monde!,"
"To One Shortly to
Die," and "A
Woman Waits for Me."
Content:
Draft of a poem about the relationship of the soul to the material
world. This manuscript contributed to the poem "Proto-Leaf," which was first published in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
and eventually titled "Starting from Paumanok."
Content:
This manuscript contains notes for poetry, including phrases which appear in
section 6 of the final version of"Starting from Paumanok" and in "Mediums." The published version of
"Mediums,"
originally "Chants
Democratic No. 16" in the 1860–1861 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, later
appeared as part of "Passage to
India" (1871–1872), and finally in the 1881–1882 edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
"Starting from Paumanok"
was published first in the 1860–1861 edition of
Leaves of Grass
as "Proto-Leaf." The reverse is a prose fragment dealing with political independence that contains phrases and ideas similar to those found in Whitman's complete but unpublished essay "The Eighteenth Presidency!"
Whitman Archive Title: [To this continent comes the]
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.
Content:
Thirty-three manuscript leaves numbered consecutively by Whitman in the lower left
corner. "Premonition" was
published as the introductory poem to the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
under the title "Proto-Leaf." In the 1867 and
later editions it appeared directly after the opening poem "Inscription" as "Starting from Paumanok." On the
verso of leaf 15 and part of leaf 16 appears a draft of what would become section
11 of "Calamus" in the 1860
Leaves of Grass
.
Whitman Archive Title: [Once I passed through a populous]
Content:
The recto verses appearing on this manuscript became the main section 9 of "Enfans d'Adam" in 1860 and
were retitled "Once I Pass'd Through
a Populous City" in 1867. On the verso appear two fragments: an
undeleted verse that would be used in Satan's section of "Chanting the Square Deific" in
"Sequel to Drum-Taps"
(1865-66); and what would become section 23 of "Proto-Leaf", which becomes "Starting from Paumanok" in 1867.
The undeleted verse is upside-down relative to the deleted section.
Whitman Archive Title: Thought [Of closing up my songs by these]
Content:
The paste-on revision contains an expanded version of the original lines Whitman
cut away and apparently discarded. The verso of the paste-on section contains,
five undeleted draft lines that would become the final verses of "Proto-Leaf" in the 1860
Leaves of Grass
; Whitman's small
note in the lower-right corner, in a semi-circle, reads "end of Poem." These
"Thought" lines became
section 11 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." 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.
Content:
Whitman's use of the tax form and the strong similarity this fragment bears both to the 1856 "Poem of the Road" (later "Song of the Open Road") and to the 1860 "Proto-Leaf" (eventually "Starting from Paumanok") indicate that this may have been a revision of the former poem or, as seems more likely, an early draft of "Proto-Leaf" intended for the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
Content:
Bound proof corrected extensively in Whitman's hand. This correction was
probably for the 1881 edition of
Leaves of Grass
. Opposite a portrait of Whitman, the title
page reads, "Starting From Paumanok, by Walt Whitman, The Poet's
Corrected Proof—." "Starting From Paumanok" was first published as "Proto-Leaf"in 1860.
