Thought [Of closing up my songs by these]

Whitman Archive Title: Thought [Of closing up my songs by these]
Whitman Archive ID: uva.00190
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 9 x 12.5 cm pasted to 17.5 x 13.5 cm, leaf 2 21 x 13.5 cm, handwritten
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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.