Content:
This manuscript contains trial verses for the poem "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht!," first published in
the March
1891 issue of
Lippincott's
Magazine
in a group titled "Old-Age Echoes". The top part of this manuscript has
been cut away, leaving the emendations to what would become line 5 of the poem
only partly visible. Whitman grouped "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht!" in his "Second Annex," titled "Good-Bye My Fancy", to the 1891
edition of
Leaves of Grass
. The
pencil note "Sail Out for good, Eidólon Yacht / Good Bye My Fancy / Page 7"
appears in the lower left corner, below two new drafts of the ending lines.
Whitman Archive Title: Sail out for good? for aye, O mystic yacht!
Content:
This is a heavily revised draft of "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht!" The poem was
first published in
Lippincott's
Magazine
in March 1891 with "Sounds of the Winter,"
"The Unexpress'd," and
"After the Argument"
under the general title "Old-Age Echoes." The manuscript leaf is made from two scraps
pasted together. On the reverse of one of them is an envelope addressed to Whitman, bearing
several postmarks from June 1890.
Content:
Trial lines for "Sail Out
for Good, Eidólon Yacht!," which was published first in 1891. On the verso is a letter from Harry C. Kochersperger
dated June 27,
1890.
Whitman Archive Title: Sail forth O mystic yacht of me
Content:
Trial lines for "Sail Out
for Good, Eidólon Yacht!," which was published first in 1891. On part of the page is prose that appears to be a
journal entry. The rest, though, is dedicated to a draft of the poem,
with the title written half way down the page: "Sail forth O mystic yacht of
me." On the verso is written "Walt Whitman, July 30
1890" twice.
Content:
Draft titled "Old Age
Recitatives" written on the verso of an envelope and a letter
(author unknown) stuck together. Beneath the main title and Whitman's
signature is another title, "Sail out for good, Eidólon yacht!" The text
of the poem is identical to the published version of "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon
Yacht!" (1891). Whitman has
written a note about
Arena
magazine's rejection of the poem in the top right
margin.
Whitman Archive Title: Sail out for Good Eidolon yacht
Content:
Note regarding "Sail Out for
Good, Eidólon Yacht!," which was published first in 1891. Written on this small white sheet are the title of the
poem ("Sail out for good
Eidólon yacht") and trial phrases for what appears to be a
subtitle.
Content:
Proof sheet of "Old Age
Echoes" with many corrections written in ink and
pencil. "Old Age
Echoes" is a general heading for four poems: "Sounds of the Winter,"
"The Unexpress'd,"
"Sail Out for Good, Eidólon
Yacht!," and "After the Argument."
Content:
Proof pages of six poems collected under the general title "Old-Age Recitatives."
The poems included are: "Old Chants" (1891), "On, On the Same,Ye Jocund
Twain!" (1891), "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon
Yacht!" (1891), "L. of G.'s Purport"
(only two lines of the twelve-line poem of the same title first
published in 1891), "My task" (published as part of "L. of G.'s Purport" in
1891), and "For
us two, reader dear" (1891). At the top of the first page is a note to the printer
in Whitman's hand.
Whitman Archive Title: Sail out for good, Eidólon yacht
Content:
Heavily revised draft, nine lines, of "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht!" which
was first published in
Lippincott's Magazine
in March 1891. It was reprinted in
Good-bye My Fancy
(1891). Whitman's note at the bottom
calls the manuscript
rough crude outlines
and dates it
July 25
1890.
Included with the manuscript is a three-page
letter to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, dated 1878, drafted on the reverse sides of letters from Berry
Young and Richard M. Bucke.
Content:
A galley proof of a group of six poems titled "Old-Age Recitatives." The poems included
are: "Sail out for good,
Eidolon yacht!" (first published in 1891), "My task" (published as
part of "L. of G.'s
Purport" in 1891), "L. of G.'s Purport" (only the first two
lines of the poem of the same title published in 1891),
"Death dogs my
steps" (published as part of "L. of G.'s Purport" in 1891), "For us
two, reader dear" (first published in 1891), and "Grand is the seen" (first published in 1891). On the verso is a note to the printer.
