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Poem of the Universalities

About This Item

  • Title: Poem of the Universalities
  • Date: Between 1850 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: med.00735
  • Source: The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts, ed. Edward F. Grier (New York: New York University Press, 1984), 1322. Grier based his text on Notes and Fragments, ed. Richard Maurice Bucke (London, Ontario: A. Talbot & Co., printers, 1899), 142. The location of this manuscript is unknown. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the manuscripts, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: The last two phrases of this manuscript appeared in "Poem of Joys" in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. Because the manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances or date of its composition, but it was probably written between 1850 and 1860.
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Poem of the Universalities." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 08 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: med.00735.xml (TEI)

Key

Textual Feature Appearance
Overwritten brown with strikethrough
Added inline purple with double underline
Uncertain gray with wavy underline
Supplied from another source turquoise with brackets
Metamark green with triple underline
Long deletion gray background with top and bottom border

Poem of the Universalities. Poem of the Universal likenesses of all men—humanity. Though the times, climes, differ, men do not so much differ. There is a universal language. What is heroic is universal among men. Love is universal among men. Liberty is—justice is—the hatred of meanness is—etc.

Poem of the Longings of Friendship. Pictures of Friendship—the hankering for friends—the memory of only a look—the boy lingering and waiting.

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