The Walt Whitman Archive
In Whitman's Hand
Manuscripts
About this Item
Title: Where the little musk ox
Creator: Walt Whitman
Date: Between 1850 and 1855
Whitman Archive ID: uva.00261
Source: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. 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 in the early 1850s 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: Lines on the back of this manuscript leaf also relate to the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." See uva.00262.
Notes written on manuscript: On leaf 1 recto, in unknown hand: "12"
Contributors to digital file: Caitlin Henry, Nicole Gray, Leslie Ianno, and Stephanie Blalock
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Where the little musk ox carries his
perfumed bag at his navel;
Where the life car is drawn on its slip‑noose
At dinner on a dish of huckleberries, or rye bread
and a round white pot cheese:
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![[Page image: https://whitmanarchive.org/manuscripts/figures/uva.00262.001.jpg]](https://whitmanarchive.org/manuscripts/figures/uva.00262.001.jpg)