Content:
This note of approximately fifty words contains Whitman's exhortation to
himself to make "the book," presumably
Leaves of Grass
, "more intensely the poem
of Individuality."
Content:
This prose manuscript comments on a "Venetian fable," which is possibly a
piece of early fiction. The date and relationship of this manuscript to
Whitman's published work are unknown.
Content:
Sections of paper are pasted together in this prose reflection on "the
motif of life." The relationship of these revised drafts to Whitman's
published work is unknown.
Whitman Archive Title: [floor with his hands in his pockets]
Content:
These notes about verse forms are similar to notes in rut.00022 ("dithyrambic trochee"), a manuscript currently housed at Rutgers University. Edward Grier posits that the Rutgers manuscript probably dates to around 1856, when Whitman was pursuing a self-education in poetry (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
[New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:355–356). These manuscript notes may also date to that period, although the draft lines on the reverse of the leaf, which were probably written before 1855, may suggest a slightly earlier date. Draft lines on the back of this manuscript leaf (uva.00263) relate to the poem ultimately titled "Song of Myself."
Whitman Archive Title: American air I have breathed
Content:
Although Whitman did not publish these verses himself, their structure and the
type of paper upon which they are inscribed suggest a close relationship with the
lines on another manuscript in the University of Virginia collection, which were
revised to form part of section 14 of "Chants Democratic" in the 1860 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, a set of verses
eventually transformed into an independent poem under the title "Poets to Come."
Whitman Archive Title: [The beef, wheat, and lumber of Chicago]
Content:
Although these poetic notes are difficult to date, they may represent an
intermediate stage between the 1855 Preface to
Leaves of Grass
and the 1856
"Poem of Many in One"
(eventually "By Blue Ontario's
Shore"), which cast many sentences similar to these from the Preface in
poetic form.
Content:
The paper and ink, as well as the appearance of a transcription of this manuscript along with transcriptions of other early manuscripts in the "Notes on the Meaning and Intention of 'Leaves of Grass'" section of
Notes and Fragments
(1899), edited by Richard Maurice Bucke, suggest Whitman probably drafted this manuscript in the 1850s. Bucke's transcription concludes with the following words, which do not currently appear on the manuscript: "where they fail of themselves" (55). In
The Regenerate Lyric
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), Elisa New attributes the manuscript to "the period when the first drafts of
Leaves of Grass
were taking shape" (112). An image of the back of the leaf is not currently available.
Whitman Archive Title: We know of no beginning in universal literature
Content:
Draft of unpublished prose work regarding the beginnings of "universal
literature." Pasted to the page is a clipping from an unknown newspaper with
the heading "Greeks, Romans, Hebrews." This document has been titled by
other collectors "The Dawn of
Poetry" (Charles E. Feinberg)
and "Beginning of Literature,
1856" (Richard Maurice Bucke).
The relationship of this document to Whitman's published work is
unknown. An image of the verso is unavailable.
Content:
This manuscript contains a small newspaper clipping review of
Leaves of Grass
, along
with Whitman's comments about himself as an artist. The word "Horace" is
written on the verso.
Content:
Edward Grier and Richard Maurice Bucke date this manuscript to the 1850s (
Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts
, ed. Edward F. Grier [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 4:1588;
Notes and Fragments
, ed. Richard Maurice Bucke [London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899], 67–8). Because the fragmentary draft material on the back of the leaf (duk.00945) relates to an 1855 review, this manuscript was almost certainly written in or after 1855.
Content:
Trial title, possibly for a projected sequel to
Specimen Days & Collect,
written on the reverse of a scrap torn from a mailing label addressed to Whitman. A note in the hand of Horace Traubel identifies the sender as T. W. Rolleston, co-author of the
first book-length German translation of
Leaves of Grass
(1889).
