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Schiller, had fulfilled their tasks and gone to other spheres; and all that remained with few exceptions, were

They stand, as it were, on clear mountains of intellectual elevation, and with keenest perception discern

He wears strange garb, cut and made by himself, as gracefully as a South American cavalier his poncho

A portion of that thought which broods over the American nation, is here seized and bodied forth by a

bibliographical data is missing; reprinted in Whitman, Leaves of Grass Imprints(Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1860

bibliographical data is missing; reprinted in Whitman, Leaves of Grass Imprints(Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1860

If I were to suspect death, I should die now.

I knew a man…he was a common farmer… he was the father of five sons…and in them were the fathers of sons

…and in them were the fathers of sons.

and visit him to see…He was wise also, He was six feet tall…he was over eighty years old…his sons were

publisher's name, and, if the reader goes to a bookstore for it, he may expect to be told at first, as we were

Walter Whitman, an American,—one of the roughs,—no sentimentalist,—no stander above men and women, or

seem to meabout 1860poetryhandwritten1 leaf13 cm x 11.5 cm; This manuscript is a draft of lines that were

published in Chants Democratic, number 13, in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass.

however, the lines on this manuscript are a draft of the section of the poem that was deleted after the 1860

share common ideas expressed throughout Leaves of Grass, especially in many of the new poems to the 1860

On the verso, in blue pencil, appears a note, reading "Drum Taps—City of Ships" which appears to be in

This may indeed have been a draft of the poem City of Ships, which first appeared in 1865 as part of

of references to the Civil War indicate that it was inscribed prior to the publication of the the 1860

partial draft of the poem eventually known as A Broadway Pageant, first published in the June 27, 1860

Bride]1856 or laterpoetryprintedhandwritten1 leaf; A clipping of an article entitled "The Indian in American

Related to Them, with a piece of paper pasted to the bottom containing an idea for a poem about Native Americans

edition of Leaves of Grass this and another poem, which had been included in every edition since 1855, were

duk.00035xxx.00610MS 13The American people ever1856prose2 leaveshandwritten; A manuscript about the California

The American people ever

appear in section 6 of the final version ofStarting from Paumanok, first published as Proto-Leaf in the 1860

the scrap (particularly the final portion of the second leaf) found their way into Whitman's essay American

National Literature, which appeared in the North American Review in March 1891, under the title Have

It was later reprinted in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891), under the title American National Literature before

revised draft of a poem first published as Longings For Home in Southern Literary Messenger (July 1860

) and Leaves of Grass (1860–61).

city stands.

to American persons, pro- gresses progresses , cities? Chicago, Canada, Arkansas?

I loved well those cities, I loved well the stately and rapid river, The men and women I saw were all

They were purified by death—they were taught and exalted.

From the American Phrenological Journal. AN ENGLISH AND AN AMERICAN POET. LEAVES OF GRASS.

seemed the sterile and stingy nature, as if too much handiwork, or too much lymph in the temperament, were

I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is

have set for myself to do, to meet people and The States face to face, to confront them with an American

Their shadows are projected in employments, in books, in the cities, in trade; their feet are on the

The instincts of the American people are all perfect, and tend to make heroes.

First-rate American persons are to be supplied.

There are Thirty-Two States sketched—the population thirty millions.

WE have before us one of the most extraordinary specimens of Yankee intelligence and American eccentricity

indelibly fix it and publish it, not for a model but an illustration, for the present and future of American

letters and American young men, for the south the same as the north, and for the Pacific and Mississippi

Of pure American breed, large and lusty—age thirty-six years, (1855,)—never once using medicine—never

, had fulfilled their tasks and gone to other spheres; and all that remained, with few exceptions, were

They stand, as it were, on clear mountains of intellectual elevation, and with keenest perception discern

He wears his strange garb, cut and made by himself, as gracefully as a South American cavalier his poncho

A portion of that thought, which broods over the American nation, is here seized and bodied forth by

does not prevail throughout the volume, for we learn on p. 29, that our poet is "Walt Whitman, an American

That he was an American, we knew before, for, aside from America, there is no quarter of the universe

he was one of the roughs was also tolerably plain; but that he was a kosmos, is a piece of news we were

Leaves of Grass (1856) From the American Phrenological Journal. AN ENGLISH AND AN AMERICAN POET.

Thus what very properly fits a subject of the British crown may fit very ill an American freeman.

Sure as the heavens envelop the earth, if the Americans want a race of bards worthy of 1855, and of the

Poetry, to Tennyson and his British and American eleves, is a gentleman of the first degree, boating,

Do you think city and country are to fall before the vehement egotism of your recitative of yourself?

the name of this erratic and newest wonder; but at page 29 we find that he is — Walt Whitman, an American

The words "an American" are a surplusage, "one of the roughs" too painfully apparent; but what is intended

unless it means a man who thinks that the fine essence of poetry consists in writing a book which an American

The chance of this might be formidable were it not ridiculous.

The American critics are, in the main, pleased with this man because he is self-reliant, and because

Emerson in the printed letter sent to us—"I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were no illusion

No illusion truly is Walt Whitman, the new American prodigy, who, as he is himself candid enough to intimate

On the other hand, according to an American review that flatters Walt Whitman, this kosmos is "a compound

maddened by this course of reading, and fancying himself not only an Emerson but a Carlyle and an American

Does he mention the American country, he feels bound thereupon to draw up a list of barns, waggons, wilds

Here our latter-day poets are apt to whine over the times, as if heaven were perpetually betraying the

the most amazing, one of the most startling, one of the most perplexing creations of the modern American

We were attracted by the very singular title of the work, to seek the work itself, and what we thought

Criterion says: "It is impossible to imagine how any man's fancy could have conceived it, unless he were

Poem of Walt Whitman, an American. 1 — Poem of Walt Whitman, an American.

I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning and the end, But I do not talk

If nothing lay more developed, the quahaug in its callous shell were enough.

if our colors were struck and the fighting done?

Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you, my brother, my sister?

see the tracks of the rail-roads of the earth, I see them welding state to state, county to county, city

to city, through North America, I see them in Great Britain, I see them in Eu- rope Europe , I see them

I see the cities of the earth, and make myself a part of them, I am a real Londoner, Parisian, Viennese

ward northward in Christiana or Stockholm—or in some street in Iceland, I descend upon all those cities

What cities the light or warmth penetrates, I penetrate those cities myself, All islands to which birds

Were all educations practical and ornamental well displayed out of me, what would it amount to?

6 Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor, wise statesman, what would it amount to?

Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that satisfy you?

, the bins, mangers, mows, racks, Manufactures, commerce, engineering, the build- ing building of cities

, the trottoirs of a city when thousands of well-dressed people walk up and down, The cotton, woolen,

the greatest city in the whole world.

Where the city stands with the brawniest breed of orators and bards, Where the city stands that is beloved

city of the healthiest fathers stands, Where the city of the best-bodied mothers stands, There the greatest

city stands.

Were those your vast and solid?

And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?

I knew a man, he was a common farmer, he was the father of five sons, and in them were the fathers of

sons, and in them were the fathers of sons.

and visit him to see—he was wise also, He was six feet tall, he was over eighty years old—his sons were

from head to foot, It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction, I am drawn by its breath as if I were

incomparable love, Plunging his semitic muscle into its merits and demerits, Making its geography, cities

, The superior marine, free commerce, fisheries, whaling, gold-digging, Wharf-hemm'd cities, railroad

to American persons, pro- gresses progresses , cities? Chicago, Canada, Arkansas?

Men, women, cities, nations, are only beautiful from nativity.

I will make cities and civilizations defer to me! I will confront these shows of the day and night!

These and all else were to me the same as they are to you, I project myself a moment to tell you—also

I loved well those cities, I loved well the stately and rapid river, The men and women I saw were all

I had done seemed to me blank and sus- picious suspicious , My great thoughts, as I supposed them, were

had as much of you—I laid in my stores in advance, I considered long and seriously of you before you were

Thrive, cities! Bring your freight, bring your shows, ample and sufficient rivers!

You flagged walks of the cities! you strong curbs at the edges! You ferries!

I think heroic deeds were all conceived in the open air, I think I could stop here myself, and do miracles

Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear, it would not amaze me, Now if a thousand beautiful forms

to which you were destined—you hardly settle yourself to satis- faction satisfaction , before you are

To take to your use out of the compact cities as you pass through!

A WOMAN waits for me—she contains all, nothing is lacking, Yet all were lacking, if sex were lacking,

or if the moisture of the right man were lacking.

The best farms, others toiling and planting, and he unavoidably reaps, The noblest and costliest cities

things in their attitudes, He puts today out of himself, with plasticity and love, He places his own city

They were purified by death—they were taught and exalted.

For I think I have reason to be the proudest son alive—for I am the son of the brawny and tall-topt city

ALL day I have walked the city and talked with my friends, and thought of prudence, Of time, space, reality—of

ment atonement , Knows that the young man who composedly periled his life and lost it, has done exceeding

doubt that shallowness, meanness, malig- nance malignance , are provided for; I do not doubt that cities

and the tidy and fresh-cheeked girls, and the bare-foot negro boy and girl, And all the changes of city

my clothes were stolen while I was abed, Now I am thrust forth, where shall I run?

from east to west as they lie unclothed, The Asiatic and African are hand in hand, the European and American

I saw the rich ladies in full dress at the soiree, I heard what the singers were singing so long, Heard

Let those that were prisoners take the keys! (Say!

Let the Asiatic, the African, the European, the American and the Australian, go armed against the murderous

Let there be immense cities—but through any of them, not a single poet, saviour, knower, lover!

Were you thinking that those were the words — those upright lines? those curves, angles, dots?

Were you thinking that those were the words — those delicious sounds out of your friends' mouths?

with them—my qualities interpenetrate with theirs—my name is noth- ing nothing to them, Though it were

echo the tones of souls, and the phrases of souls; If they did not echo the phrases of souls, what were

If they had not reference to you in especial, what were they then?

that men and women were flexible, real, alive! that every thing was alive!

To think of all these wonders of city and country, and others taking great interest in them—and we taking

Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business?

It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father—it is to identify you, 15 It is

The threads that were spun are gathered, the weft crosses the warp, the pattern is systematic.

the body of the work, wholly ignorant of the writer's name, profession, or age— "Walt Whitman, an American

These anxious longings of the soul as for an unknown good were to his mind the indication of slumbering

doubt [sic] because, "unlike one of the roughs," he failed to remark how "placid and self-contained" were

When we read that eulogy we were satisfied that this volume would prove to us a sealed book, and that

George Robins Gliddon (1809-1857) was an American Egyptologist who published several works on Egyptian

The Bowery Boys was a nativist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Irish gang based in New York City; they participated

of departed spirits, he weighs the hearts of the dead.; George Robins Gliddon (1809-1857) was an American

believe, of the famous Whitman's poems, which made such a flutter among the "gray goose quills" of this city

But the author reasoning that the spirit of the American people, nay, of any people is chiefly represented

His own picture: "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a Kosmos, Disorderly, fleshy, sensual

They live in other young men, O kings, They live in brothers, again ready to defy you: They were purified

by death…They were taught and exalted.

We have before us one of the most extraordinary specimens of Yankee intelligence and American eccentricity

He has pasted in the first page a number of notices extracted with the scissors from American newspapers

and therefore we shall confine ourselves to laying before our readers, first, the opinions of the American

The relation of the two classes of extracts is curiously illustrative of contemporary American criticism

I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is

All I mark as my own you shall offset it with your own, Else it were time lost listening to me.

says Mr Emerson in the printed letter sent to us,—"I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were

On the other hand, according to an American review that flatters Mr Whitman, this kosmos is "a compound

All I mark as my own, you shall offset it with your own, Else it were time lost listening to me.

Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, Disorderly fleshy and sensual . . . . eating

If nothing lay more developed the quahaug and its callous shell were enough.