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Poetry Manuscripts
Finding Aids for Manuscripts at Individual Repositories
Guide to the Walt Whitman Poetry Manuscripts in The Livezey-Walt Whitman Collection, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Original records created by Rare Books and Special Collections, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; 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 Krieble Delmas Foundation, the University of Nebraska Research Council, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.
This electronic finding aid was created from the original finding aid obtained by The Walt Whitman Archive. The original papers and finding aid are held in Rare Books and Special Collections, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Walt Whitman Poetry Manuscripts in The Livezey-Walt Whitman Collection, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Collection Number: BANC MSS 72/234 z Bancroft
Creator:
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892
Repository: The Bancroft Library
Abstract:
This electronic finding aid was created from the original finding aid obtained by The Walt Whitman Archive. The original papers and finding aid are held in Rare Books and Special Collections, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Scope and Content:
The bulk of the collection, working notes for Specimen Days, has been divided into three sections. The first contains all the prefatory notes and references to the writing, the content, and the title of the book (including some which may in fact describe other works); these are arranged by title or first line of manuscript not crossed out. The second contains notes for the various chapters of Specimen Days, arranged and published by title; if there is more than one fragmentary note for the chapter, they are arranged in order of their appearance in the chapter. The third contains all notes which could not be indentitfied as related to a particular chapter, and possibly not to Specimen Days itself; they have been arranged by title or first line.
The Livezey-Walt Whitman Collection holds only one poetry manuscript, which is described below.
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
Item: 1
Whitman Archive ID: ucb.#####
Title: "Wood Odors"
Date: ca. 1875
Physical Description: 1 leaf
A draft of a poem unpublished in Whitman's lifetime entitled "Wood Odors." The poem was apparently written as Whitman was making notes for his 1882-1883 book, Specimen Days. Specifically, the poem appears to respond to the visit he made to the Stafford farm in New Jersey in the mid-1870s. Some have argued that this draft is not a poem at all, but a list of phrases toward the composition of Specimen Days (see David Goodale, "Wood Odors," Walt Whitman Review 8 [March 1962], 17). "Wood Odors" was published first in Harper's Magazine 221 (December 1960), 43.
Restrictions on Original Materials: Please consult with repository.
Preferred Citation: To identify this finding aid as a source, see the Archive's "Conditions of Use" page.
Repository Contact Information:
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720-6000