Title: Make no quotations
Creator: Walt Whitman
Date: Between 1847 and 1855
Whitman Archive ID: duk.00305
Source: Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Transcribed from digital images of the original. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of manuscripts, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note: Edward Grier speculates, based on the style and content, that this manuscript probably dates to between 1847 and 1855 (Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:159).
Contributors to digital file: Robert LaCosse, Kirsten Clawson, Janel Cayer, Kevin McMullen, Nicole Gray, Kenneth M. Price, and Brett Barney
Make no quotations, and no reference to any other writers.—nor
Lumber the writing with nothing—let it fly go as lightly as a bird flies in the air—or a fish swims in the sea
Be careful to temper down too much personality or [cut away]