Thought [Of these years I sing]

Whitman Archive Title: Thought [Of these years I sing]
Whitman Archive ID: uva.00189
Repository: Catalog of the Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts at the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia
Folder: 50-51
Date: 1857-1859
Genre: poetry
Physical Description: 2 leaves, leaf 1 21.5 x 13 cm, leaf 2 18.5 x 12.5 cm, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
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.