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Finding Aids for Manuscripts at Individual Repositories
Guide to the Walt Whitman Poetry Manuscripts in the
Walt Whitman Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of
Texas at Austin
Original finding aid created by Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center; revised
and expanded by the Walt Whitman Archive and the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. Encoded Archival Description completed through the assistance of the Gladys
Kreible Delmas Foundation, the University of Nebraska Research Council, and the
Institute for Museum and Library Services.
Title: Walt Whitman Poetry
Manuscripts in the Walt Whitman Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at
the University of Texas at Austin
Collection Number: N/A
Creator:
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892
Repository:
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
Abstract:
This electronic finding aid was created from the finding aid created by the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, and obtained by
the Walt Whitman Archive. The original papers are held at
the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.
Scope and Content:
Handwritten manuscripts, fragments, notes, proofs, galleys, clippings, monographs,
correspondence, drawings, photographs, and memorabilia document the life and work of
Walt Whitman and include information about Whitman created and collected by several of
his early admirers and devotees. The collection is organized into four series: I. Works,
1846-1913, nd (2 boxes), II. Correspondence, 1863-1892, nd (1 box), III. Works and
Correspondence by Others, 1863-1956, nd (3 boxes), and IV. Images and Checks, 1875-1887,
nd (1 folder)
The earliest dated material consists of tearsheets of "The Tomb-Blossoms," published in
1846 in The United States Magazine and Democratic. The bulk of the materials dated after
Whitman's death in 1892 originated with Whitman's friend and biographer, Horace Traubel;
Whitman Society President Gustave Percival Wiksell; Whitman scholars Richard M. Bucke
and Milton Hindus; and William Douglas O'Connor. In addition to Whitman's original
manuscripts, a draft fragment in the hand of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "VIII | O subtle,
various world," is bound with correspondence between Whitman and Tennyson and manuscript
material for Leaves of Grass "Sands at Seventy: To Get the Final Lilt of Songs."
Many of the manuscripts and letters are in fragile condition and access to individual
items may be limited while they undergo conservation treatment. All Whitman items are
handwritten unless otherwise indicated. Additional Whitman material is located in the
Ransom Center's vertical files, art collection, photography collection, and personal
effects.
Biographical Information:
For additional biographical information, see
"Walt Whitman," by Ed Folsom and Kenneth M. Price, and the
chronology of Whitman's Life.
Subjects: Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892;
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892--Manuscripts;
Poets, American--19th century;
Series Description and Item Lists
Series: 1
Title: Works, 1846-1913 and undated
Series Description:
Works are arranged alphabetically by title or first line. Many of the poems
included in Leaves of Grass are listed
alphabetically under that title. The bulk of the materials are handwritten
manuscripts, fragments, and notes. Six unidentified fragments may include writing
by someone other than Whitman, possibly Horace Traubel.
Other materials in the series include one-page printed proofs of individual poems,
clippings of published articles, and galley proofs. Of note is an 1876 edition of
Leaves of Grass in paper wrappers with numerous
handwritten additions and corrections by Whitman. Other major works represented
include Democratic Vistas, "O Captain My Captain,"
Specimen Days & Collect, and Two Rivulets.
Two headings, "Works I" and "Miscellaneous I," list individual works bound or
grouped together previous to their acquisition by the Ransom Center. These works
have been kept together physically, but the titles of individual works are listed
in the appropriate alphabetical sequence in the folder list. "Miscellaneous I"
also contains several items about Whitman, similar to materials found in "Series
III: Works and Correspondence by Others."
Item: 1
Box: 2
Folder: 2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00027
Title:
"A Riddle Song,"
Date: 1880
Physical Description: 1 leaf,
proof with annotation
View Images: 1 | 2
Proof with handwritten addition. "A Riddle Song" first appeared in the Tarrytown Sunnyside Press on 3 April 1880. It was reprinted in Forney’s Progress (Philadelphia) 2 (17 April 1880): 508, and then included in the (1881–1882) edition of Leaves of Grass.
Item: 2
Box: 2
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00097
Title: A Riddle Song
Date: 1880
Physical Description: 1 leaf, newspaper clipping
View Images: 1
Clipping of the poem "A Riddle Song" from an unidentified newspaper. The reference to the Tarrytown Sunnyside Press in the right hand corner probably means that this is a reprint from the newspaper in which Whitman's poem first appeared.
Item: 3
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00028
Title: "[Advance shapes like his shape]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Manuscript of approximately eight lines, lightly revised, celebrating the legendary Egyptian ruler Sesostris. Any connection between this manuscript and Whitman's published work is unknown. Walt Whitman's description may be derived from his reading of Sir John Gardiner Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (1836-1840).
Item: 4
Folder: bv1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00069
Title: "After all, not to create only"
Date: about 1871
Physical Description: 29 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30
Draft of the poem "After all, Not to Create Only," written for the opening of the fortieth Annual Exhibition of the American Institute in 1871 and published on 7 September 1871 in both the New York Commercial Advertiser and the New York Evening Post. It was reprinted in several newspapers and as a pamphlet, After All, Not to Create Only (1871); as "Song of the Exposition" in Two Rivulets (1876); and with some revisions in Leaves of Grass (1881–82). Sheets from the pamphlet were included in some copies of the 1871 Leaves of Grass. A note at the top of the manuscript, written by Whitman's friend William Sloane Kennedy, indicates that it was used as printer's copy for the pamphlet publication.
Item: 5
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00059
Title: "All tends to the soul"
Date:
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Draft of a poem about the relationship of the soul to the material world.
Item: 6
Box: 1
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00003
Title: "[Americans are charged with disproportionate brag and]"
Date: 1819-1872
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
A paragraph, heavily revised, expressing the opinion that the United States is the culmination of human development. A note at the bottom of the sheet refers to "As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free," a poem first published in the New York Herald on 26 June 1872. This poem was later published with seven other poems in a pamphlet, As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free (1872). Subsequently it was included as a supplement bound with Two Rivulets (1876). Later still Whitman changed the title to "Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood," added a new opening stanza, and additional revisions, and incorporated the poem into Leaves of Grass (1881-82). Extracts from this poem also appeared in the Washington Evening Star on the same date, within a larger article on the commencement exercises at Dartmouth College.
Item: 7
Box: 1
Folder: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00004
Title: "[Among the many]"
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
On one side of the leaf, Whitman explores the idea that life, with its petty concerns, is "an exercise, a training & development" for an afterlife. A note at the top suggests that the poet considered developing this thought in conjunction with "From Noon to Starry Night," a cluster that first appeared in the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves of Grass. The writing on the reverse side of the leaf appears to reflect Whitman's disillusionment with the current political situation and puts forward various suggestions for reform.
Item: 8
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00057
Title: "And to me each minute of the night"
Date: before 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
About ten draft lines from the opening poem of the 1855 Leaves of Grass, ultimately called "Song of Myself." This manuscript passage is made up of versions of lines from numerous places widely scattered in the first published version of the poem (and of the 1855 preface). Various lines from this one passage appear in widely scattered places: in the final version of "Song of Myself," they appear in sections 5, 13, 16, 31, 36, and 43, while other pieces appear in the poem eventually entitled "To Think of Time" and the pre-1855 manuscript poem "Pictures." The verso features a list of poems as an alternative plan for structuring the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass.
Item: 9
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00091
Title: "['Animals,' says George Eliot]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Three manuscript leaves and two newspaper clippings pasted to a larger backing sheet. All but one of the scraps presents an aphorism attributable to someone other than Whitman. The other, also aphoristic, is fragmentary but appears to be a draft line of verse. According to Edward F. Grier, the handwriting in the first and third paragraphs is that of the 1850s or 1860s; that of the second one seems to be the looser, more irregular writing of the 1870s.
Item: 10
Box: 1
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00005
Title: "[Armies & navies pass on the surface]" | "[Locust whirring they come in July]"
Date: probably 1850-1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This manuscript was probably composed in the 1850s or 1860s. On one side of the leaf are approximately five lines toward a poem about the effects of war that was never published in Whitman's lifetime. On the other side are two sentences or lines, one headed "Locust," and the other headed "Sunflower." The relationship of these notes to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 11
Box: 1
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00006
Title: "As at thy Portals also Death"
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Draft, with revisions, of "As at Thy Portals Also Death," which was first published in the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass. A second, smaller leaf, was at some point pasted over the lines at the bottom of the first leaf, but the two have become separated and are at present stored separately as "[To her, the ideal woman]" .
Item: 12
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00048
Title: "[To her, the ideal woman]"
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Draft, with revisions, of the final three lines of "As at Thy Portals Also Death," which was first published in the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass.
Item: 13
Box: 1
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00007
Title: "As one by one withdraw the lofty actors"
Date: 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Printer's copy, annotated and lightly corrected, of the poem first published under the title "As One by One Withdraw the Lofty Actors" in Harper's Weekly, 16 May 1885. The poem was reprinted as "Grant" in the Critic, 15 August 1885 and revised as "Death of General Grant" in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).
Item: 14
Box: 2
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00014
Title: "A Soul Duet"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Heavily revised draft of a poem unpublished in Whitman's lifetime. The regular, rhymed structure and pious theme suggest a date before the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855. Critics Sculley Bradley and Harold Blodgett see similarities of style and theme between this manuscript and Whitman's writings of the 1840s.
Item: 15
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00030
Title: "[become a shroud]" | "[off, dim and filmy in their outlines]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
On one side of this manuscript leaf are approximately seven lines, lightly revised, of the poem eventually titled "The Sleepers," first published in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. On the other side is a prose fragment, showing moderate revision, of approximately 150 words. Phrases and ideas from this manuscript were incorporated in the poem "Unnamed Lands," first published in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass.
Item: 16
Box: 1
Folder: 2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00013
Title: "Branches & sprigs of lilacs"
Date: about 1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
A note expressing Whitman's intentions for the revision of a poem or group of poems, the identity of which is uncertain. A connection to "Warble for Lilac-Time," first published in 1870, seems likely, however.
Item: 17
Box: bv2
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00082
Title: "Bravo, Paris Exposition!"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, proof with handwritten corrections
View Images: 1
"Bravo, Paris Exposition!" was published in Harper's Weekly 33, 28 September 1889. It was reprinted in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891) and in Leaves of Grass (1891–1892). According to a letter from Whitman to R. M. Bucke, this poem was also reprinted in the French paper "Le Temps."
Item: 18
Box: 1
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00088
Title: "[Do you know what man does]"
Date: about 1854
Physical Description: 3 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Approximately six paragraphs, propounding a set of beliefs about the nature of the human soul. This manuscript was apparently written before Leaves of Grass first appeared in 1855, while Whitman was exploring various literary forms for the proper expression of his ideas. In addition to the general thematic resemblance to the first edition of Leaves, these paragraphs contain several phrases that are echoed in the later volume.
Item: 19
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00117
Title: "Echoes and Supplements" | "Vereinigte Staaten"
Date:
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
The front of this leaf seems intended as a cover page of sorts, with "Echoes & Supplements" as the title. The reverse features a reference to the German term for the United States, "Vereinigte Staaten," as well as the address of T. W. Rolleston, co-author of the first book-length German translation of Leaves of Grass from 1889, in Dresden, Germany.
Item: 20
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00020
Title: "For Queen Victoria's Birth-Day"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Lightly revised printer's copy of "For Queen Victoria's Birthday," which was published in Good-Bye My Fancy in 1891. Also included are an uncorrected proof sheet and an envelope, which is inscribed with a note in Whitman's hand, indicating that he presented them together as a gift to an unknown recipient.
Item: 21
Box: bv2
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00072
Title: "Halcyon Days"
Date: about 1888
Physical Description: 1 leaf,
View Images: 1 | 2
Heavily revised draft, approximately eleven lines, of "Halcyon Days," which was first published in the 29 January 1888 issue of the New York Herald. Written on the reverse of a letter from Fred W. Waggert, dated "4th June 1887."
Item: 22
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00012
Title: "[The bivouac does not the voice of]" | "[hear outside the orders given]"
Date: about 1865
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
On one side, five partly cropped lines from a draft of the poem "A March in the Ranks Hard-Pressed, and the Road Unknown," first published in Drum-Taps in 1865. On the reverse side, two lines of verse, with revisions. The relation of these lines to Whitman's published poetry is unknown, though in concept and imagery they echo a passage from the prose volume Specimen Days, in which the poet writes that the war was not a quadrille in a ball-room.
Item: 23
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00079
Title: "I cannot guess" "waited their due time"
Date:
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Three lines on a scrap of paper that seem to suggest that Whitman is musing on how "generous" some upcoming "entertainment" will be. The scrap appears to be torn from a draft of "From Noon to Starry Night" , since there are about three lines from the poem on the reverse, with revisions.
Item: 24
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00025
Title: "[Idea of a Poem]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Notes, approximately 40 words, toward a poem of "celebration of the superiority of the night," perhaps related to the poem eventally titled "Night on the Prairies," first published in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass as No. 15 in the "Leaves of Grass" cluster.
Item: 25
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00108
Title: "Idea of New Po[em?]"
Date: 1873–1886
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Brief note outlining a poem to express modern views of myth, religion, etc. Pasted at the bottom of the leaf is a clipping from a Philadelphia newspaper, "King Ludwig's Latest Whim," which describes plans to move monumental religious statues to a mountain peak overlooking Oberammergau by means of a "street locomotive." As Edward F. Grier points out, the contrast between traditional devotion and modern technology evidently moved Whitman. Since Ludwig II was deposed as King of Bavaria in 1886, this must have been written between 1873 and 1886.. The source of the clipping is unidentified, and it is unknown what connection, if any, this manuscript bears to published poems. The "idea" it outlines, however, is one that Whitman treated frequently.
Item: 26
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00023
Title: "[I do not expect to see myself]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Lightly revised manuscript fragment of approximately 42 words, written with hanging indentation and expressing a confidence in future popular acceptance. Connection with Whitman's published work is uncertain. Christopher Morley suggests that it was written "on a piece scissored from left-over stock of the green wrappers and end-papers of the 1855 Leaves." The date of this manuscript is unknown, though it seems likely that it is from the 1870s based on the handwriting. In addition, in the 1870s, Whitman repeatedly complained about how he was treated by American magazines.
Item: 27
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00094
Title: "[I have had serious doubts]"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Partial draft, heavily revised, of what appears to have been intended as a preface to a late edition of Leaves of Grass.
Item: 28
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00024
Title: "[I have heard spars]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Two lines, with revisions, possibly related to the poem "The Mystic Trumpeter," which was first published in the February 1872 issue of The Kansas Magazine.
Item: 29
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00031
Title: "I know many beautiful things about men and women"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Draft of lines that are possibly related to what eventually became section 24 of "Song of Myself," a version of which first appeared in the 1855 edition Leaves of Grass. Lines on the reverse are continuous with those on the front—a rarity in Whitman manuscripts.
Item: 30
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00101
Title: "In Western Texas"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Note, approximately 25 words, about the Texan landscape. Any relationship between this manuscript and Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 31
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00090
Title: "[It is among these]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Two small scraps pasted together. On one side is a sentence describing Whitman's visits in Civil War hospitals, probably drafted for Memoranda During the War, (1875). On the reverse are three words/fragments of words, which bear an uncertain relationship to Whitman's published poetry.
Item: 32
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00033
Title: "Life"
Date: 1888
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A draft, lightly revised, of the poem "Life," which was first published in the New York Herald on April 15, 1888. On the verso appears the handwritten date: "June 8. '88" .
Item: 33
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00034
Title: "Light & the senses abdicate"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This manuscript of approximately four heavily revised lines may have contributed to the poem "Chanting the Square Deific," first published in Sequel to Drum-Taps in 1865.
Item: 34
Box: 2
Folder: 2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00035
Title: "Make a poem"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Prose fragment suggesting a poem whose "central theme" would be "the Untellable." Any relationship between this manuscript and Whitman's published works is unknown.
Item: 35
Box: 1
Folder: 5
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00022
Title: "Mem. Hospitals"
Date: probably 1860s
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Lightly corrected paragraph of about 75 words, celebrating the nobility of the soldiers as exhibited in hospitals. The relationship of this manuscript to Whitman's published work is unknown. According to Edward F. Grier, possibly this is part of the "Hours in Our Military Hospitals" project of 1863.
Item: 36
Box: 2
Folder: 2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00036
Title: "MY 71st YEAR"
Date: about 1883
Physical Description: 1 leaf, proof with revisions
View Images: 1
Corrected proof of "My 71st Year," which appeared in the November 1889 issue of Century.
Item: 37
Box: 2
Folder: 3
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00098
Title: "Nevertheless it must be distinctly admitted...," | "The intention of the following poems..."
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
A short note that discusses how Emerson "serves Democracy." The verso features the line "The intention of the following poems is to arouse + suggest."
Item: 38
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00104
Title: "[New Jersey Sept 14 '84]"
Date: 1884
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
A list of observations on nature, especially on plants, that also mentions the Rio Grande.
Item: 39
Box: 2
Folder: 3
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00037
Title: "*Note"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
A note in Whitman's hand refering to the incorrect chronology of certain "memoranda and happenings" printed on the last pages of an unnamed book instead of at the beginning. The note concludes, however, that, "dates being tyrants," a little "insubordination" is not out of place.
Item: 40
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00092
Title: "Now Precedent Songs, Farewell,"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
A handwritten draft of the poem "Now Precedent Songs, Farewell," which first appeared in the 1891–92 edition of Leaves of Grass, with revisions.
Item: 41
Box: bv2
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00081
Title: "[Now, trumpeter]"
Date: about 1872
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Nine draft lines, uncorrected, of section 8 of "The Mystic Trumpeter," a poem first published in The Kansas Magazine in February 1872. The verso features references to the poems "From Noon to Starry Night" and "The Mystic Trumpeter," as well as to a "vol. II."
Item: 42
Box: 2
Folder: 3
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00040
Title: "[O I think I could not be the]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Approximately four draft lines, showing a moderate amount of revision. The lines are perhaps related to the poem "Song of the Banner at Daybreak," first published in 1865 in Drum-Taps.
Item: 43
Box: bv2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00071
Title: "On, on the same, ye jocund twain!"
Date: about 1891
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Heavily revised draft, approximately fourteen lines, of "On, on the Same, Ye Jocund Twain!" , which first appeared in Good-Bye My Fancy in 1891.
Item: 44
Box: bv2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00080
Title: "On, on the same, ye jocund twain!"
Date:
Physical Description: 1 leaf, Proof with handwritten corrections
View Images: 1
Heavily revised proof sheet of "On, on the Same, Ye Jocund Twain!" , which first appeared in Good-Bye My Fancy in 1891.
Item: 45
Box: 2
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00041
Title: "Patroling Barnegat"
Date: about 1880
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Proof sheet with handwritten corrections, apparently prepared for the April 1881 publication of "Patroling Barnegat" in Harper's Monthly. The poem had been first published in The American in June 1880.
Item: 46
Box: 2
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00042
Title: "Pictures"
Date: about 1865
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Poetry manuscript titled "Pictures," approximately six lines, heavily revised. The first few lines of this manuscript appeared, further revised, in "The Runner," first published in the 1867 edition of Leaves of Grass. The middle section of the manuscript is possibly related to "Song of the Banner at Daybreak," which was first published in 1865 in Drum-Taps. A different version of last two lines of the manuscript appear in another poetry draft, also titled "Pictures," that Whitman wrote in a notebook now in Yale University's Beinecke Library. The first several lines of the notebook draft were revised and published as "My Picture-Gallery" in The American in October 1880. The verso of the leaf has about five lines of handwriting beginning with "Lilac Times."
Item: 47
Box: 2
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00043
Title: "Poem of the Woods"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Notes toward a poem to be titled either "Poem of the Woods" or "Poem of the Prairies," intended for a "Chicago edition" that never materialized. Any relationship between this manuscript and Whitman's published work is unknown. The notes are written on the back of a page from Sartain's Magazine, which features an engraving of a woman in peasant's clothing, with her bodice unlaced, by J. Bannister from an original by Andre. The picture is captioned "WON'T YOU COME ALONG."
Item: 48
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00032
Title: "Poem of Triumph"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Prose notes, draft lines, and trial titles toward a poem or perhaps several poems about a triumphant attitude toward approaching death. A note on the manuscript shows that Whitman was thinking about writing a poem including a list of "what poems are yet wanted." Any connection between this manuscript and Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 49
Box: bv10
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00063
Title: "Proud Music of the Sea-Storm"
Date: about 1869
Physical Description: 9 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Printer's copy of "Proud Music of the Sea-Storm," published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1869. In subsequent book publications, the title was altered to "Proud Music of the Storm."
Item: 50
Box: 2
Folder: 2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00102
Title: "Proud Music of the Sea-Storm,"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, folio proof
View Images: 1
Folio proof of "Proud Music of the Sea-Storm" with the handwritten addition "Atlantic Monthly, February."
Item: 51
Box: bv6
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00067
Title: "Sail out for good, Eidólon Yacht,"
Date: 1890
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Heavily revised draft, nine lines, of "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht!" which was first published in Lippincott's Magazine in March 1891. Whitman's note at the bottom calls the manuscript "rough crude outlines" and dates it "July 25 1890."The poem was reprinted in Good-bye My Fancy (1891). The manuscript is bound with a letter to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1878, 3pp (verso: letter from Berry Young, nd, 1p, and letter from Richard M. Bucke, nd, 1p).
Item: 52
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00115
Title: "Scintillations"
Date:
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Draft of about three lines, titled "Scintillations."
Item: 53
Box: bv2
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00083
Title: "Shakespeare-Bacon's Cipher"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, Proofs with handwritten corrections
View Images: 1
Proofs with handwritten corrections. The poem first appeared as "Shakespeare Bacon's Cipher" in The Cosmopolitan 4 (October 1887): 142. It was reprinted in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891) under the title "Shakspere-Bacon's Cipher."
Item: 54
Box: bv2
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00084
Title: "Shakespeare-Bacon's Cipher"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, Proofs with handwritten corrections and additions
View Images: 1
Proofs with handwritten corrections and additions. The poem first appeared as "Shakespeare Bacon's Cipher" in The Cosmopolitan 4 (October 1887): 142. It was reprinted in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891) under the title "Shakspere-Bacon's Cipher."
Item: 55
Box: 2
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00045
Title: "Songs for Lilac-times"
Date: about 1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, notes
View Images: 1 | 2
Title, note, and verse fragment, approximately twenty-five words, probably related to the poem "Warble for Lilac-Time," which was first published in The Galaxy in May 1870. On the verso is a letter drafted in Whitman's hand on behalf of the US Attorney General and dated Feb. 12, 1869.
Item: 56
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00110
Title: "Starry Union"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
On the front of the first leaf are three handwritten lines of a poem titled "Starry Union" , the reverse is blank. The second leaf seems to have originally been attached to the first one, featuring more drafted lines of the poem with annotations and revisions. "Starry Union" was never published in Whitman's lifetime, though several different draft forms exist.
Item: 57
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00111
Title: "Supplement-Sands"
Date: after 1889
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
The words "Supplement-Sands" are written in blue crayon on a scrap of paper, apparently torn from a letter. The verso features the beginning of the letter, written in Lisbon, NH, 28 January 1889
Item: 58
Box: bv2
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00074
Title: "[Thanks in old age]"
Date: about 1887
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Heavily revised draft of approximately seven lines of the poem "Thanks in Old Age," which was first published on 24 November 1887 in the Philadelphia Press.
Item: 59
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00087
Title: "Thanks in Old Age."
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, proof with handwritten comment
View Images: 1
Proof with handwritten addition on publication date by Whitman.
Item: 60
Box: 1
Folder: 2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00011
Title: "[The ball-room was swept]"
Date: around 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Three lines of a poem beginning "The ball-room was swept, and the floor white." The relationship between these lines and Whitman's published poetry is unknown. On the verso is a fragment of an apparent letter to Thayer and Eldgridge, concerning their loan to Henry Clapp of $200, which Edwin Haviland Miller dates August 1860.
Item: 61
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00016
Title: "The Dead Tenor"
Date: 1884
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Signed draft of "The Dead Tenor," approximately 14 lines and written on several scraps pasted together. There is a newspaper clipping with the death notice of Pasquale Brignoli in the bottom lefthand corner. The poem was first published on 8 November 1884 in the Critic. Whitman was inspired to write the poem by the death of Pasquale (or Pasqualino) Brignoli (1824–1884), a tenor who made his New York debut in 1854 and remained a popular favorite for twenty years. According to Horace Traubel, Whitman appears to have known Brignoli.
Item: 62
Box: 1
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00019
Title: "The Epos of Democracy"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Heavily revised draft of approximately five lines. Connections between this manuscript and Whitman's published work are uncertain, but the lines bear some resemblance to the poem "Ashes of Soldiers," first published in Drum-Taps in 1865.
Item: 63
Box: 2
Folder: 1
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00029
Title: "The Prairie States"
Date: 1880
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Signed manuscript, lightly revised, of the poem "The Prairie States," which was first published in The Art Autograph in March 1880.
Item: 64
Box: 2
Folder: 4
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00099
Title: "The Serpent, the sickle...,"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Two columns of notes on stellar constellations with a few revisions. The relationship to Whitman's published work is unclear, but Whitman was especially intrested in the stars in his later years.
Item: 65
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00066
Title: "this suits very well"
Date:
Physical Description: 1 leaf, frontispiece with handwritten instructions to the printer
View Images: 1
This famous portrait, first used as the frontispiece for the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, was reused by Whitman for the 1881-1882 edition where it faced page 29.
Item: 66
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00047
Title: "[To change the]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This note of approximately fifty words contains Whitman's exhortation to himself to make "the book," presumably Leaves of Grass, "more intensely the poem of Individuality."
Item: 67
Box: bv8
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00086
Title: "To Get the Final Lilt of Songs,"
Date: about 1888
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
First published in the New York Herald, April 16, 1888, under the title "The Final Lilt of Songs."
Item: 68
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00105
Title: "To getter up of the books—Printer and proof reader"
Date: about 1876
Physical Description: 2 pages, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Full handwritten instructions by Whitman for the printer and proofreader of the London reprint of Leaves of Grass (1876).
Item: 69
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00049
Title: "To THE MAN-OF-WAR-BIRD"
Date: about 1878
Physical Description: 1 leaf, proof with corrections
View Images: 1
Clipping of "The Man-of-War-Bird," with handwritten revisions, from the November 16, 1878 Philadelphia Progress. The poem had first appeared in the London Athenaeum, on 1 April 1876.
Item: 70
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00051
Title: "To the Sunset Breeze"
Date: about 1889
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This heavily revised early draft of "To the Sun-set Breeze" was first published in Lippincott's Magazine in December 1890.
Item: 71
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00053
Title: "To the sunset breeze"
Date: 1889
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Heavily revised intermediate draft, approximately sixteen lines, of "To the Sun-set Breeze," which was first published in Lippincott's Magazine in December 1890.
Item: 72
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00052
Title: "To the sunset breeze."
Date: about 1890
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Printer's copy, sixteen lines, with minor revisions. "To the Sun-set Breeze" was first published in Lippincott's Magazine in December 1890.
Item: 73
Box: 2
Folder: 2
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00050
Title: "To the Year 1889,"
Date: 1889
Physical Description: 1 leaf, proof
View Images: 1
Page proof with handwritten information on the poem's initial publication in the Critic on 5 January 1889. "To the Year 1889" was published first on January 5, 1889, in the Critic. The poem was later retitled "To the Pending Year."
Item: 74
Box:
Folder:
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00002
Title: "You villain, Touch!" | "war and justice"
Date:
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
On the front are Whitman's notes and thoughts on prehistoric human life, with certain key phrases such as "In the trance of the healthy brain of man" repeated. The reverse features about eleven lines, heavily revised, from "Song of Myself" , beginning with "You villain, Touch!" .
Item: 75
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00054
Title: "Who shall write"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Fragment of approximately forty words, in which the poet writes that if he "were younger & well" he would write a book containing "the lessons of one mere day and night—the picture of the sky." No connection has been established between this manuscript and any of Whitman's published works.
Item: 76
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00055
Title: "Write A Drunken Song"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Note containing twelve words, wherein Whitman suggests writing "A Drunken Song." The relationship of this manuscript to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 77
Box: 2
Folder: 6
Whitman Archive ID: tex.00056
Title: "[write a poem on the theme]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
Short handwritten note, approximately twenty words, on leaf to which has been pasted a clipping from an unidentified newspaper. With it is a long clipping from an unidentified Washington paper about Major General Winfield Scott Hancock's repulse of the charge led by Major General George E. Pickett (1825-1875) at Gettysburg. No definitive connections between this manuscript and Whitman's published work has been established.
Restrictions on Original Materials: Please consult with the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin.
Preferred Citation: To identify this finding aid as a source, see the Archive's "Conditions of Use" page.
Repository Contact Information:
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The University of Texas at Austin