My hand will not hurt what | Whitman Archive

Whitman Archive Title: My hand will not hurt what
Whitman Archive ID: uva.00254
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
Box: 1
Folder: 88
Date: Between 1850 and 1855
Genre: poetry
Physical Description: 1 leaf, 19 x 15.5 cm, handwritten
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Content: Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass . Lines in the manuscript are similar to lines that appear in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself." The numbers written on the manuscript, along with remnants of paste and binding tape along the margin, suggest that the page likely came from a notebook. Lines similar to the last several in this manuscript were also reworked in the notebook "Talbot Wilson" (loc.00141). Notes written on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00601) also relate to lines in the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself."