Born in 1819, Walt Whitman spent his early working years as a typesetter, teacher, journalist, editor and, for a time, publisher. Though not a rousing success at any of these occupations, he did manage to support himself and, at times, his parents and siblings. Driven, perhaps, by a combination of his own inherently artistic nature, and Emerson's "call" for a true American poetry, he brought out his slim volume of poetry, Leaves of Grass, in 1855, followed by an expanded edition in 1856. Published with Whitman's own funds, the early editions of LG did win him some few admirers (including Emerson and Thoreau), but did not find much acceptance with the general public.

Whitman's activities between 1857 and 1860 are not very well documented, but most biographers and critics seem to agree that Whitman experienced some kind of emotional crisis during this period. He also wrote some of his most compelling poetry, and it is the nature of the poetry itself which is the best evidence for this "crisis." Whatever it may have been, Whitman ended his self-described "two years of silence" late in 1859.

"A Child's Reminiscence," The New York Saturday Press, Dec. 24, 1859: Published by Henry Clapp, Jr., Saturday Press was a weekly self-described "Journal of the Times." It was in existence from 1858 until 1866, and featured original literary works (including poetry/prose from the likes of Emerson, Christina Rosetti, Balzac, and Mark Twain to name a few), literary gossip (including accounts of Charles Dickens' marital troubles in 1860), reviews of music in New York, a regular chess column (featuring games by Paul Morphy, among others), etc.

Clapp was apparently a great friend and supporter of Whitman during the times in the late '50s when employment was difficult for him, and LG had not won him much literary standing. A number of writers have speculated that Whitman also experienced an unhappy homosexual love affair during this time (see Gilbert, Moon, and Whicher on the bibliography page), which greatly unsettled him (and also led him to produce OCER and the Calamus cluster). Clapp's support for Whitman is demonstrated by his continued printing of Whitman in the face of outspoken and satirically critical opposition to Whitman's poetic work (a poet with the pen-name of Saerasmid mocked "A Child's Reminiscence" by coupling Whitman's style of language with ridiculously meaningless content). Clapp may have welcomed the uproar (Saturday Press was never a financial success), but his support seems to have been genuine.

"A Word Out of the Sea" Leaves of Grass, 1860 edition: For the 1860 LG, Whitman had a new publisher, Thayer and Eldridge of Boston, and some compelling (and to many, scandalous) new poetry. "Children of Adam," "Calamus," and "A Child's Reminiscence" (re-titled as "A Word Out of the Sea") all made their LG debuts in this edition. They won Whitman more notoriety than fame; particularly his open explorations of sexual themes and his doctrine of "manly love."

It would seem, however, that Whitman was just beginning to hit his poetic stride. A copy of this edition, which Whitman himself owned, shows his continuing editorial alterations to the poems, even as he was on the verge of writing his most famous works. This personal copy of his survives in the Oscar Lion collection of the New York Public Library. The NYPL has published it in a facsimile edition (Walt Whitman's Blue Book, 1968), and it makes for fascinating study.

"A Word Out of the Sea," Leaves of Grass, 1867 edition: With this edition of LG, Whitman finally began to achieve some wider critical acceptance by American readers. Part of this was surely due to the inclusion of Drum Taps and its Sequel, which included his most famous poems, "O Captain, My Captain," and, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" (poems inspired by the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865), as well as his Civil War poems. Part of this, too, was likely due to an increasing popularity of his work in England. Gay Wilson Allen, in his Walt Whitman, writes that William Rossetti sought Whitman's permission to bring out a volume of selected poems in England. Whitman gladly sent him a copy of the 1867 edition, which provided the source for Rossetti's volume, and further increased his popularity there. European acceptance apparently greatly elevated his stature with his American audience.

This edition, with its inclusion of the previously published Drum Taps, firmly established Whitman's pattern of re-editing and absorbing into LG works from separately published volumes.

"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," Passage to India, 1870: Whitman referred to volumes such as Drum Taps (1865), and Passage to India as "annexes," presumably because they would ultimately be added to the ever-growing breadth of LG. In this version, the poem takes on the title it has come to be known under, and heads a poem cluster entitled, "Sea-Shore Memories." The volume Passage to India includes twenty-three then-new poems, as well as selected (and re-edited) poems from earlier LG clusters (which themselves were re-titled for this volume). Published in 1870, this arrangement was incorporated as a non-repaginated supplement in LG 1872, and in the 1876 annex, Two Rivulets.

"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" Leaves of Grass, 1881: In 1873 Whitman experienced a paralytic stroke which more or less debilitated him during his remaining years. He would spend these years living in a small house in Camden, N.J., across the river from Philadelphia, though he still travelled when he felt well enough.

The 1881 LG is, perhaps, most notable for Whitman's "final re-ordering" of earlier poems, rather than for new poetry, though he continued to write new works, to be sure. As James R. Osgood & Co., his Boston publishers at this time, were in the early stages of circulating this edition, word came that the Boston District Attorney's office had declared "A Woman Waits for Me," and "To a Common Prostitute" to be obscene - twenty-one years after their original publication! The matter ended with Whitman accepting the Osgood LG plates in exchange for his royalties-due, and Whitman finding a new publisher in Philadelphia: Rees Welsh & Co., with Whitman's project being handled by the young David McKay.

OCER receives, in the 1881 edition, its final editorial touches and heads the newly-titled cluster, "Sea Drift." The so-called "Death-Bed" edition of 1892 was published by the now-independent David Mckay, and utilised the 1881 plates for the first 380-odd pages. Thus, the 1881 edition of OCER represents Whitman's final published expression of it.