The Walt Whitman Archive
In Whitman's Hand
Manuscripts
About this Item
Title: The crowds naked in the
Creator: Walt Whitman
Date: Between 1850 and 1855
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00733
Source: The Oscar Lion Papers, 1914–1955, New York Public Library, New York, N.Y. 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: Whitman probably drafted this manuscript between 1850 and 1855, as he was composing the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass. A line from the manuscript appears in the first poem of that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Related item: On the back of this manuscript is a poetry draft related to "Song of Myself." See nyp.00078.
Contributors to digital file: Stephanie Blalock, Caitlin Henry, Nicole Gray, and Robert LaCosse
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Are there not The crowds naked in the bath?
Can my your sight behold them ^as with oysters eyes?
Can it Do you take the attraction of gravity for
nothing?
Does the negress bear no children?
Are they never handsome? Do they not thrive?
Will Do Will cabinet officers grow become blue or yellow
from excessive gin?
Is the light careful to pick out a bishop
or pope from the rest?
Shall I Who will receive the great things^ promises of thought of the spirit
on easier terms than I do a note
of hand?
Shall I Who examines the religions philosophies I find in the
market less scrupulously carefully than I
do than a baskets of peaches or a barrels
of salt fish?
Shall I Who [illegible] accepts Chemistry and on tradition?
Shall I purchase a ^
house lot without makingIs the light careful to The light picks out a bishop or pope from no more than the rest?
Is not aA mouse ^is miracle enough to stagger
billions of infidels?
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![[Page image: https://whitmanarchive.org/manuscripts/figures/nyp.00078.001.jpg]](https://whitmanarchive.org/manuscripts/figures/nyp.00078.001.jpg)