Subseries: 1
Title: Manuscript Poems Subseries, ca. 1855
and n.d.
Subseries Description:
Manuscript drafts and revisions of poems appearing in successive editions
of Leaves of Grass and poems not
published during Whitman's lifetime or not intended for Leaves of Grass.
File: 1
Title:
Leaves of Grass
Manuscript fragments are labeled "draft portions" if they constitute
early drafts or revisions of a poem appearing in any of the editions
of Leaves of Grass published during
Whitman's lifetime.
Item: 1
Title:
"[a nation announcing itself]"
Date: about 1856
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript draft of the opening passage of
"Poem of Many in One"
(1856). The final title of the
poem,
"By Blue Ontario's
Shore,"
first appeared in the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass. On the verso is
both prose and verse beginning "Asia" that appears to be a draft
of
"Salut Au Monde!,"
a poem
first published as
"Poem of
Salutation"
in the 1856 edition of Leaves of
Grass.
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Item: 2
Title:
"Carols Closing Sixty-Nine"
Date: about 1888
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript of suggestions for the title of a collection of
poetry which eventually appeared under the heading
"Sands at Seventy"
in the 1888 volume of
poetry and prose entitled November
Boughs. The title
"Carols
Closing Sixty-Nine"
appears here as one of the
possible names for this collection. The verso of this document
contains the underlined words "Sands at Seventy" and a cancelled
note "for annex to the preced" which corresponds to ideas
expressed on the recto.
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Item: 3
Title:
"[The Great Laws do not treasure
chips]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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This manuscript contains lines which, after revision, appeared in
the eleventh poem in the 1855 edition of Leaves of
Grass, later titled
"Who
Learns My Lesson Complete?"
On the verso are
cancelled lines, beginning "hands are cut," which later
appeared, in a revised form, in
"Faces,"
which was originally published as the sixth
poem of the 1855
edition of Leaves of Grass.
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Item: 4
Title:
"[Great are the myths]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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This manuscript has a partially cancelled draft of the first
lines of
"Great Are the
Myths."
The poem
"Great Are
the Myths"
was published first, untitled, in the
1855 edition
of Leaves of Grass as the
concluding poem, and again in the 1856 edition as
"Poem of a Few Greatnesses."
The
poem went through many revisions through the different editions
of Leaves of Grass, then was
permanently dropped in 1881, except the two couplets that
became the poem
"Youth, Day, Old Age,
and Night."
The verso of the manuscript has cancelled
prose beginning "The true friends of the Sabbath."
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Item: 5
Title:
"[You lusty and graceflu
youth!]"
Date: between 1850 and 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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An early version of a part of
"Great
Are the Myths,"
a poem published first, untitled, in
the 1855 edition
of Leaves of Grass as the
concluding poem, and again in the 1856 edition as
"Poem of a Few Greatnesses."
The
poem went through many revisions through the different editions
of Leaves of Grass, then was
permanently dropped in 1881, except the two couplets that
became the poem
"Youth, Day, Old Age,
and Night."
On the verso is partially cancelled verse
beginning "Are the prostitutes nothing?" which is a draft of
lines from the third poem in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, ultimately called
"To Think of Time."
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Item: 6
Title:
"[And now I care not to]"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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This manuscript is an early draft of a portion of the poem that
became
"In Paths Untrodden,"
which was published first in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. The verso contains
a list of thirteen suggestions for titles or groups of poems,
including "The States," "Prairies," "Prairie Spaces" and
"Prairie Babes."
"In Paths
Untrodden"
opens the
"Calamus"
group in all editions of Leaves of Grass, taking the title in 1867.
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Item: 7
Title:
Leaves of Grass
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 18 leaves, handwritten
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The handwritten Table of Contents of the 1881-1882 edition of Leaves of Grass with instructions to
the printer. Also included is a proof of the title-page of the
same edition, with Whitman's corrections.
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Item: 9
Title:
"Poem of Materials"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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This manuscript contains notes for poetry, including phrases
which appear in section 6 of the final version of
"Starting from Paumanok"
and in
"Mediums."
The verso is a
prose fragment dealing with political independence. The
published version of
"Mediums,"
originally
"Chants
Democratic"
No. 16 in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass, later appeared as part of
"Passage to India"
and finally in
the 1881 edition
of Leaves of Grass.
"Starting from Paumanok"
was
published first in the 1860 edition of Leaves of
Grass as
"Proto-Leaf."
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Item: 10
Title:
"[Theme for piece]"
Date: about 1869
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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An outline for a poem on various types of music, potentially
related to
"Proud Music of the
Storm"
and/or
"The Mystic
Trumpeter."
The poem
"The
Mystic Trumpeter"
was first published in The Kansas Magazine of February 1872.
"Proud Music of the Storm"
was first published in the Atlantic
Monthly in February,
1869. The verso contains cancelled notes about a stanza
to describe a triumphal instrumental and vocal chorus
corresponding to that of man triumphing over temptation and
weakness.
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Item: 11
Title:
"[?Gliding]"
Date: 1870
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
A fragment describing street and interior scenes similar to those
in
"Outlines for a Tomb."
"Outlines for a Tomb"
was
first published in The Galaxy in
January 1870 under
the title
"Brother of All, with
Generous Hand"
and finally in 1881 under the title
"Outlines for a Tomb."
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Item: 12
Title:
"[All that we are]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Draft of fifteen lines of poetry, first published only after
Whitman's death in Notes and
Fragments (1899). The last three lines on this manuscript leaf
appear in another version in a long manuscript,
"Pictures,"
which probably dates
to before 1855 and is held at the Beinecke Library, Yale.
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Item: 13
Title:
"Proud Music of the Storm"
Date: about 1869
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Correction notes and potential extra lines for the poem
"Proud Music of the Storm,"
first
published in The Atlantic Monthly
1869 as
"Proud Music of the Sea-Storm."
Subsequently, the poem was titled
"Proud Music of the Storm"
in Passage to India (1871),
Two Rivulets (1876), and in Leaves of Grass (1881-1882). The verso contains the beginning of a letter
on Attorney General's Office stationery.
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Item: 14
Title:
"[it is no miracle now that]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript draft of ideas about touch related to sections 28-30
in the final version of
"Song of
Myself."
The verso contains prose writing related to
ideas expressed in Leaves of
Grass.
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Item: 15
Title:
"[Light and air!]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
A manuscript draft of ideas related to section 31 in the final
version of
"Song of Myself."
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Item: 16
Title:
"[I know as well as you that Bibles
are divine revelation]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript draft treating ideas about divine revelation related
to section 41 in the final version of
"Song of Myself."
The verso
contains notes about the character and physical traits of
several different men: Bill Guess, Peter, and George Fitch,
dated March 20th '54.
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Item: 17
Title:
"[(Fa)bles, traditions, and]"
Date: Between 1850 and 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript draft with ideas and language related to what
eventually became section 41 of
"Song
of Myself"
and to the untitled fourteenth poem of the
1860 cluster "Debris." The verso
contains prose which begins "It is the endless delusion of big
and little smouchers" and deals in part with the poor.
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Item: 18
Title:
"[There is no word in any
tongue]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
A manuscript draft of ideas about God and man related to what
eventually became sections 48-49 of the final version of
"Song of Myself."
This manuscript
has been mounted and framed with a prose fragment, dealing with
the soul and nature, and a photograph of Whitman.
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Item: 19
Title:
"[My Spirit sped back to the]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript draft related in general to ideas expressed in
"Song of Myself."
The
verso contains one cancelled line: "Not one of the heroic
guests."
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Item: 20
Title:
"Broadaxe"
Date: about 1856
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Notes written in three separate columns about the uses and
history of the broadaxe.
"The
Broad-Axe Poem"
first appeared in 1856, taking the
title
"Song of the Broad-Axe"
in 1867.
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Item: 21
Title:
"[Poem (subject)]"
Date: about 1873
Physical Description: 4 leaves, handwritten
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Notes for a poem about calls used in various occupations and, on
the reverse of one leaf, an early draft of a portion of
"Song of the Redwood-Tree,"
a
poem first published in the February
1874 issue of Harper's
Magazine.
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Item: 22
Title:
"[I see who you are]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Lines, cancelled with a vertical strike, expressing ideas
modified considerably before use in the third poem of the 1855
Leaves of Grass, later titled
"A Song for Occupations."
On the verso is one heavily corrected line whose relationship to
the recto material or to any other published poem is
uncertain.
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Item: 23
Title:
"[Perfect serenity of mind]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
A fragment of several lines, apparently written before
publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855. One of the lines was
included in the 1860
"Poem of Joys,"
which was
later entitled
"A Song of
Joys."
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Item: 24
Title:
"[This is the Earth's word]"
Date: about 1856
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
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A note possibly related to the poem
"A
Song for Rolling Earth,"
first published in 1856. A portrait of
Whitman accompanies this manuscript.
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Item: 25
Title:
"[Proem]"
Date: about 1856
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
These notes on sights in Manhattan and the themes of personality,
egotism, and the equality of women may have contributed to what
ultimately became
"Starting from
Paumanok,"
Section 12. The poem first appeared in the
1860 edition
as
"Proto-Leaf."
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Item: 26
Title:
"[O Mother, did you think]"
Date: about 1856
Physical Description: 6 leaves, handwritten
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On four leaves, an early version of portions of the poem
ultimately titled
"This
Compost,"
first printed under the title
"Poem of Wonder at The Ressurection of
The Wheat"
in the 1856 edition of Leaves of Grass. On the reverse sides of these
leaves is a list of words regarding the physical body and
connected in concept to
"I Sing the
Body Electric,"
a poem that first appeared as the
fourth poem of the 1855
Leaves of Grass. With this list,
Whitman was gathering material for the noteworthy final section,
a paean to body parts, that he added to the poem in 1856. Glue residue
shows that these leaves were formerly pasted to two other
leaves, upon which is written a prose manuscript fragment
regarding California Vigilance Committees.
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Item: 27
Title:
"[To be at all]"
Date: before 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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On one side are draft lines for what became section 27 of
"Song of Myself,"
which was first
published as the opening poem in the 1855 edition of Leaves of
Grass. In 1897, after Whitman's death, a poem entitled
"To Be at All,"
based on this
manuscript, was published in
"Old Age
Echoes."
On the reverse side are notes, trial lines,
and lists of words and phrases related to what eventually became
sections 24 and 49 of
"Song of
Myself"
and to the poem
"In
Paths Untrodden,"
first published in 1860 as the
opening poem of the
"Calamus"
cluster.
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Item: 28
Title:
"[And when once they went far enough to see]"
Date: between 1850 and 1860
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
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On one side of these manuscript leaves are drafts of lines for the opening poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, ultimately titled
"Song of Myself,"
sections six and seven. On the reverse are fragments of an unpublished prose piece that appears to represent an early draft of "Unnamed Lands," a poem published first in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. The material on the second leaf shares with that poem not only a close thematic similarity but also several of the same phrases.
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Item: 29
Title:
"[And I have discovered them by night and by]"
Date: between 1850 and 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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The draft lines on one side of the manuscript leaf contributed to the opening poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. In the poem's final version,
"Song of Myself,"
these lines are found in section 48. It is not known whether the prose on the leaf's reverse is related to any of Whitman's published work; however, physical and thematic similarities with
"[And I have discovered them by night and by],"
above, and
"[My tongue can never be content with harness],"
below, make a connection with the 1860 poem
"Unnamed Lands"
likely.
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Item: 30
Title:
"[My tongue can never be content with harness]"
Date: between 1850 and 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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On one side of the manuscript leaf are draft poetic lines with an unknown relation to Whitman's published work. However, physical and thematic similarities with
"[And when once they went far enough to see]"
and
"[And I have discovered them by night and by],"
above, suggest that the lines were possibly drafted for the 1855 poem that eventually became
"Song of Myself."
These similarities also suggest that the prose on the leaf's reverse is likely related to
"Unnamed Lands"
, first published in Leaves of Grass, 1860.
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File: 2
Title:
Poems Not Appearing in
Leaves of Grass
Listed alphabetically by headings.
Item: 1
Title:
"Hands Ro[und]"
Date: between 1865 and 1881
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
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A manuscript poem with a patriotic theme left unpublished in
Whitman's lifetime.
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Item: 2
Title:
"[I am not content now]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript of two lines unpublished in Whitman's lifetime.
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Item: 3
Title:
"[I am that halfgrown angry
boy]"
Date: before 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Poetry manuscript left unpublished by Whitman, containing ideas
potentially connected with the unpublished short story
"[Of a summer evening]."
On the
verso is a fragment of an essay regarding municipal
legislation.
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Item: 4
Title:
"Poem of Existence"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript of lines unpublished in Whitman's lifetime.
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Item: 5
Title:
"[Remembrances I plant American
ground with]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript containing ideas which appear frequently in Leaves of Grass. On the verso is a
list of rivers, lakes, and cities.
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Item: 6
Title:
"[Scantlings]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript containing ideas about a race of scantlings, a
product of "the strong growth of America." Written on a scrap of
the paper cover stock used for some late copies of the 1855
edition of Leaves of Grass.
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Item: 7
Title:
"[Thought]"
Date: about 1856
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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A manuscript left unpublished by Whitman containing draft ideas
for a poem. Written on a sheet from the 1856 edition of Leaves of Grass.
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File: 3
Title:
Notes for Poems
Unless otherwise noted, the relationship of these notes to Whitman's
published work is unknown.
Item: 1
Title:
"The most Jubilant Triumphant
Poem"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript with ideas for a poem meant to express different forms
of "great jubilant glee." This fragment has been attached by a
collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[Poem of a proud]."
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Item: 2
Title:
"[Poem of a proud]"
Date: before 1861
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript with ideas for a poem of "joyous expression" about
Manhattan. This fragment has been attached by a collector or
archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"The most Jubilant Triumphant
Poem."
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Item: 3
Title:
"Poem of the Black Person"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript with ideas for a poem expressing the "sentiment" of a
"sweeping . . . protection of the blacks."
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Item: 4
Title:
"Poem [There can be no
greatest]"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Notes toward a poem comparing the progress of "the divine man" to
the geological development of the earth.
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Item: 5
Title:
"Poem of Poets (now) in all
lands"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript with notes for a poem to describe "the poetical
sentiments in all lands." This fragment has been attached by a
collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"Poem (bequeathing to others a charge)
what poems are wanted."
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Item: 6
Title:
"Poem (bequeathing to others a
charge) what poems are wanted"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Manuscript with idea for a poem to include "a long list" drawn
from other (unidentified) manuscript scraps. This fragment has
been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet,
together with
"Poem of Poets (now) in
all lands."
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Item: 7
Title:
"[And there a hunter's camp]"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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On one side are two lines, heavily corrected, from a draft of the
poem first published in 1860 as
"Chants
Democratic 4"
and eventually titled
"Our Old Feuillage."
On the other
side are two lightly corrected lines with an uncertain
connection to Whitman's published poetry. This scrap has been
attached by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet,
together with
"[(written for the
voice)],"
"[Poem of "(the Devil],"
and
"Poem of Sadness."
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Item: 8
Title:
"[(written for the voice)]"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Manuscript note apparently recording the poet's early idea for
the poem first published as
"Chants
Democratic 20"
in 1860, later as
"I Hear America Singing."
This
scrap has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing
sheet, together with
"[And there a
hunter's camp],"
"[Poem of "(the Devil],"
and
"Poem of Sadness."
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Item: 9
Title:
"[Poem of "(the Devil]"
Date: 1865 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
This note for a poem about the devil is possibly related to the
poem
"Chanting the Square
Deific,"
which was first published in 1865. The scrap has been attached
by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[And there a hunter's camp],"
"[(written for the voice)],"
and
"Poem of Sadness."
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Item: 10
Title:
"Poem of Sadness"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Manuscript note probably recording the idea for the 1860 poem
"Leaves of Grass 17,"
which was
ultimately titled
"I Sit and Look
Out."
This scrap has been attached by a collector or
archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[And there a hunter's camp],"
"[(written for the voice)],"
and
"[Poem of "(the Devil]."
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Item: 11
Title:
"[And there, farther south]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Fragment describing a "negro at daylight" giving "the Carolina
yell," possibly related to the poem first published in 1856 as
"Poem of Salutation"
and later
titled
"Salut Au Monde!"
This
scrap has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing
sheet, together with
"The Scout,"
"Drops of my Blood,"
and
"[In a poem make the
thought]."
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Item: 12
Title:
""The Scout""
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript suggesting "The Scout" as a good title for a poem,
magazine, or newspaper. This scrap has been attached by a
collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[And there, farther south],"
"Drops of my Blood,"
and
"[In a poem make the
thought]."
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Item: 13
Title:
"Drops of my Blood"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
On one side is a list of trial titles, probably for the poem
first published as
"Calamus
15"
in 1860 and
eventually titled
"Trickle
Drops."
On the reverse is a fragment of about two and a
half lines, heavily corrected, whose relationship to Whitman's
published poetry is unknown. This scrap has been attached by a
collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[And there, farther south],"
"The Scout,"
and
"[In a poem make the thought]."
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Item: 14
Title:
"[In a poem make the thought]"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Note for a poem to address the question "What will be the result
of this years hence?" Possibly related to the poem
"Recorders Ages Hence,"
first
published in 1860 as
"Calamus 10."
This scrap has been
attached by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet,
together with
"[And there, farther
south],"
"The Scout,"
and
"Drops of my Blood."
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Item: 15
Title:
"[Poems identifying the different
branches of the sciences]"
Date: about 1859
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
List of ideas for poems about astronomy, geology, chemistry,
mathematics, and music.
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Item: 16
Title:
"The Body—"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript containing ideas for a poem about the body as
something more than physical.
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Item: 17
Title:
"Poem of Language"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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Manuscript containing ideas for a poem about the variety of
languages and sounds. This scrap has been attached by a
collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[Whole Poem]."
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Item: 18
Title:
"[Whole Poem]"
Date: about 1855
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript containing ideas for a poem about insects. This scrap
has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing
sheet, together with
"Poem of
Language."
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Item: 19
Title:
"—[Poem of Ohio, Kentucky,
Indiana and Illinois]"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
List of ideas for poems, mostly about various states. This scrap
has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing
sheet, together with
"[To the
English]."
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Item: 20
Title:
"[To the English]"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Ideas for a poem about various nationalities and ethnicities,
suggestive of
"Salut au
Monde!"
which was first published as
"Poem of Salutation"
in 1860. This scrap has
been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet,
together with
"—[Poem of
Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois]."
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Item: 21
Title:
"[Poem of Fruits &
Flowers]"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Ideas for three different poems about various topics. This scrap
has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing
sheet, together with
"[Poem of
Wisconsin]."
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Item: 22
Title:
"[The carpenter's and]"
Date: between 1850 and 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript containing ideas for a poem about architecture,
carpentry, and masonry. This scrap has been attached by a
collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[Song]."
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Item: 23
Title:
"[Song]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Manuscript scrap with ideas for a poem or poems about democracy,
the future, women, young men, and the joy of life. This scrap
has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing
sheet, together with
"[The
carpenter's and]."
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Item: 24
Title:
"Poem [As in Visions of]"
Date: 1855 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
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1
Notes for a poem about night "visions," possibly related to the untitled 1855 poem that Whitman eventually titled
"The Sleepers."
Fragments of an unidentified newspaper clipping about the Puget Sound area have been pasted to the leaf.
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Item: 25
Title:
"[Poem of Wisconsin]"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
List of ideas for poems, mostly about various states, including
an allusion to a possible "Western Edition." This scrap has been
attached by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet,
together with
"[Poem of Fruits
& Flowers]."
|
Item: 26
Title:
"[Theory of a Cluster of
Poems]"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
Note suggesting a cluster of poems about "the passion of
Woman-Love," along with a few trial lines, all apparently
related to the 1860 cluster
"Enfans
d'Adam"
(later retitled
"Children of Adam"
).
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Item: 27
Title:
"[A poem which more]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
Manuscript note for a poem addressing Whitman's future readers.
This scrap has been attached by a collector or archivist to a
backing sheet, together with
"[Poem
of the Husband]."
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Item: 28
Title:
"[Poem of the Husband]"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
List of ideas for poems about "the husband," "the wife," and
"marriage." This scrap has been attached by a collector or
archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[A poem which more]."
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Item: 29
Title:
"Religious Canticles"
Date: about 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
On one side are notes regarding a projected group of religious
poems and their significance to other Leaves of Grass poems. On the reverse is a partial
draft of the 1860 poem
"Calamus 9,"
which was dropped
from subsequent editions of Leaves of
Grass. This scrap has been attached by a collector
or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"Secrets.—Secreta."
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Item: 30
Title:
"Secrets.—Secreta"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
Ideas for two poems, one listing "all the things done in secret,"
and the other involving a "vocabularium" of words and phrases.
This scrap has been attached by a collector or archivist to a
backing sheet, together with
"Religious Canticles."
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Item: 31
Title:
"Companions"
Date: About 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
Jotted idea for a series of poems about Whitman's various
companions. This scrap has been attached by a collector or
archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"Poem of Young Men."
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Item: 32
Title:
"Poem of Young Men"
Date: 1860 or before
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
Manuscript with ideas for a poem, possibly
"Salut Au Monde!"
which was first
published in 1860 as
"Poem of Salutation."
This scrap
has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing
sheet, together with
"Companions."
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Item: 33
Title:
"An After Thought or Two"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
Manuscript title, apparently for a group of poems, never used in
Whitman's published work. This scrap has been attached by a
collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"[Poem, as in a rapt and],"
and
"[Poem ante-dating]."
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Item: 34
Title:
"[Poem, as in a rapt and]"
Date: before 1860
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images:
1
A manuscript proposing ideas for a poem in the form of a
prophetic vision about the future of America. Possibly related
to
"As I Walk These Broad Majestic
Days,"
which was first published as
"Chants Democratic 21"
in 1860. This scrap has been attached
by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with
"An After Thought or Two,"
and
"[Poem ante-dating]."
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Item: 35
Title:
"[Poem ante-dating]"
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