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Poetry Manuscripts
Finding Aids for Manuscripts at Individual Repositories
Guide to the Walt Whitman Poetry Manuscripts in The Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Original records created by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; 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 Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Collection Number: N/A
Creator:
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892
Repository: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Abstract:
This finding aid was created from catalog cards obtained by the Walt Whitman Archive. The original papers and catalog cards are held at The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Scope and Content:
The Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library holds a variety of documents related to Walt Whitman, including drafts of poetry and prose, notes, letters, printed versions of Whitman compositions, and pieces written about Whitman by others. This electronic finding aid includes item-level descriptions of only those documents deemed poetry manuscripts.
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;
Item List
Item: 1
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00004
Title: "As in a Swoon"
Date: about 1876
Physical Description: 1 leaf,
handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a manuscript of the poem, "As in a Swoon," first published in the 1876 printing of Leaves of Grass. Although this poem was not included in any subsequent editions of Leaves of Grass, Whitman did include it in the 1891 volume, Good-Bye My Fancy, and as one of the few poems in the 1892 volume, Complete Prose Works.
Item: 2
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00014
Title: "By thine own lips, O Sea"
Date: about 1884
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This manuscript is a draft of the poem eventually published as "With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!" in the March 1884 edition of Harper's Monthly Magazine. This poem was reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to the 1888 edition of Leaves of Grass. Whitman wrote this draft on the verso of a sheet of stationary for the Sheldon House of Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
Item: 3
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00039
Title: "Fancies at Navesink"
Date: 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This manuscript appears to concern the possible arrangement of the eight-poem cycle, "Fancies at Navesink," which was published in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. The titles of three poems not included in "Fancies at Navesink" — "After the Supper and Talk," "You Lingering Sparse Leaves of Me," and "Ah, Not This Granite Dead and Cold" —are also mentioned. This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 4
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00072
Title: "Fancies at Navesink"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 5 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
These five leaves remain from what was originally a six-leaf manuscript (a note at the top of the first leaf reads, in Whitman's hand, "these six pages all one piece") of "Fancies at Navesink," an eight-poem cycle which was first published in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. The poems included are "The Pilot in the Mist," "Had I the Choice," "Last of Ebb, and Daylight Waning," "Proudly the Flood Comes In," "By That Long Scan of Waves," and "Then Last of All." These leaves are bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 5
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00073
Title: "Had I the Choice"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This manuscript is an early draft of the poem, "Had I the Choice," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 6
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00040
Title: "Had I the Choice"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This is a draft of the poem, "Had I the Choice," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. The leaf is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 7
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00042
Title: "[waning day]"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a revised draft of poetic lines that may be an early version of "Last of Ebb, and Daylight Waning," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. On the verso is part of a cancelled letter to Whitman. The leaf is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 8
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00044
Title: "[Last of ebb, and daylight waning]"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This is a draft of the poem, "Last of Ebb, and Daylight Waning," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 9
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00046
Title: "[Last of ebb, and daylight waning]"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 3 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3
This is a draft on three leaves of the poem, "Last of Ebb, and Daylight Waning," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. The manuscript has the cancelled title, "At the Mouth of the River." This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 10
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00049
Title: "[Nor you alone]"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This is a draft of the poem, "And Yet Not You Alone," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. The draft also has, in the bottom margin, the title of the poem which follows it in "Fancies at Navesink," "Proudly the Flood Comes In." This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 11
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00050
Title: "[your needed blending]"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This is a draft of the poem, "And Yet Not You Alone," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 12
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00052
Title: "[Proudly the flood comes in]"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a draft of "Proudly the Flood Comes In," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. The verso of this manuscript is an advertisement for Whitman's book, Drum-Taps. This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 13
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00054
Title: "[and deeper still]"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This is a revised draft of the poem, "Then Last of All," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 14
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00055
Title: "[last—Dec 11]"
Date: about 1885
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a revised draft of the poem, "Then Last of All," published as part of "Fancies at Navesink" in the magazine, Nineteenth Century, in August 1885. The verso of this manuscript is an advertisement for Whitman's book, Drum-Taps. This manuscript is bound with others under the title, "Fancies at Navesink."
Item: 15
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00013
Title: "Funeral Interpolations"
Date: 1888
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a signed draft of "Funeral Interpolations," a poem published first as "Over and Through the Burial Chant" in the New York Herald on August 12, 1888, on the occasion of General Philip K. Sheridan's death, and later as "Interpolation Sounds" in the 1891 edition of Good-Bye My Fancy.
Item: 16
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00032
Title: "For Queen Victoria's Birthday"
Date: about 1890
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a typed and corrected proof of "For Queen Victoria's Birthday," first published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger on May 24, 1890. Whitman later included this poem in the 1891 edition of Good-Bye My Fancy.
Item: 17
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00008
Title: "Incidents, for (Soldier in the Ranks)"
Date: about 1863
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This manuscript includes both a description of the aftermath of a Civil War battle and the poem, "Incidents, for (Soldier in the Ranks)," which addresses "the second day of the battle" at Gettysburg.
Item: 18
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00010
Title: "Inscription: to the 4th Edition of Leaves of Grass"
Date: about 1867
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a draft of the poem, "Inscription," which appeared in the 1867 edition of Leaves of Grass. The poem was later revised and published as "One's-Self I Sing." In the 1892 edition of Leaves of Grass, lines from the poem from this manuscript appear in both "One's-Self I Sing" and "Small the Theme of My Chant."
Item: 19
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00003
Title: "Italian Music in Dakota"
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
This is a draft of "Italian Music in Dakota," first published in the 1881–82 edition of Leaves of Grass.
Item: 20
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00035
Title: Leaves of Grass advertisements and table of contents
Date: about 1881
Physical Description: 10 leaves, printed table of contents with handwriting
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
These manuscripts are proofs of the publisher's advertisement and the table of contents for the 1881–82 edition of Leaves of Grass, with corrections and deletions in Whitman's hand.
Item: 21
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00005
Title: "The Man-of-War Bird"
Date: about 1876
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This manuscript is a note by Whitman for the poem, "To the Man-of-War Bird," first published in 1876.
Item: 22
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00033
Title: "[A modern 'poem']"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a short note, lightly revised, which discusses in disparaging terms the "modern 'poem.'"
Item: 23
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00015
Title: "[names]"
Date: undated
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a note in Whitman's handwriting which lists "names," including "the Niam-Niams," "the Battas," "the Tonga-Taboos," and "the Aleuts"; also included in this note is the address of John P. Soule, a Boston "photographer and publisher." The relationship of this note to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Item: 24
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00037
Title: "Osceola"
Date: 1890
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This manuscript is apparently a printer's copy of the poem, "Osceola," first published in Munyon's Illustrated World in April 1890. This manuscript is bound together with others.
Item: 25
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00020
Title: "Sands at Seventy"
Date: about 1884
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a note written on the verso of a postmarked envelope that offers the title, "Sands on the Shores of Seventy &c &c for Annex to the preceding," as an alternative to the title, "Sands at Seventy," which was first used for a cluster of poems in November Boughs, published in 1888.
Item: 26
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00061
Title: "Song of the Universal"
Date: 1874
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This manuscript is a note in Whitman's hand about the poem, "Song of the Universal" , with the date, June 17, 1874. The leaf is bound together with other manuscripts.
Item: 27
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00062
Title: "[Come, said the Muse]"
Date: about 1874
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This fragment is a very early draft of "Song of the Universal," first published in the New York Evening Post in 1874; it bears the cancelled date "March 31, '74." The two leaves are bound together with other manuscripts.
Item: 28
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00064
Title: "Song of the Universal"
Date: about 1874
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This fragment is a very early draft of "Song of the Universal," first published in the New York Evening Post in 1874. The leaf is bound together with other manuscripts.
Item: 29
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00065
Title: "[all the vast mass]"
Date: about 1874
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This fragment is a very early draft of "Song of the Universal," first published in the New York Evening Post in 1874. The leaf is bound together with other manuscripts.
Item: 30
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00066
Title: "[Christ]"
Date: about 1874
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1
This fragment is a very early draft of "Song of the Universal," first published in the New York Evening Post in 1874. The leaf is bound together with other manuscripts.
Item: 31
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00068
Title: "Song of the Universal"
Date: June 1874
Physical Description: 5 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
These five leaves make up what is apparently a complete printer's copy of "Song of the Universal," first published in the New York Evening Post in 1874. This manuscript is dated June 1874. The leaves are bound together with other manuscripts.
Item: 32
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00069
Title: "Song of the Universal"
Date: about 1874
Physical Description: 4 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
These four leaves make up an early complete draft of "Song of the Universal," first published in the New York Evening Post in 1874. The four leaves are bound together with other manuscripts.
Item: 33
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00021
Title: "[the Idea of All]"
Date: about 1872
Physical Description: 16 leaves, 6.25 x 3.5 in., handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13
These leaves are pages from a top-bound notebook containing draft lines of poetry, apparently for a poem delivered at the Dartmouth College commencement in June 1872 and first published under the title, "As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free," later revised and published as "Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood." Many of the pages have been cut out or trimmed, and seven envelope faces have been attached at the back of the notebook.
Item: 34
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00011
Title: "Rise, Lurid Stars"
Date: about 1865
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a poem draft, the last three lines of which were later revised and published as "World Take Good Notice" in 1865. On the verso of this draft is a prose fragment discussing slavery and Southern aristocracy.
Item: 35
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00006
Title: "Sea Captains, Young or Old"
Date: about 1873
Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
This manuscript is a signed draft of "Sea Captains, Young or Old," which was published first in the New York Daily Graphic on April 4, 1873. The poem was later retitled, "Song for All Seas, All Ships," and appeared in Two Rivulets, the companion volume to the 1876 Author's edition of Leaves of Grass.
Item: 36
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00009
Title: "[I cross'd the Nevadas]"
Date: about 1865
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
These six lines make up a draft of "Rise O Days from Your Fathomless Deeps," which was published in Drum-Taps in 1865.
Item: 37
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00007
Title: "To the Year 1889"
Date: about 1889
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a late draft of "To the Year 1889," published first on January 5, 1889, in the Critic. The poem was later retitled, "To the Pending Year," and appeared in Good-Bye My Fancy in 1891.
Item: 38
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00012
Title: "The Unexpress'd"
Date: 1890
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a draft of "The Unexpress'd," which was published in Lippincott's Magazine in March 1891. A note on the manuscript in Whitman's hand indicates that the poem was sent for publication in 1890 to W. H. Alden but was rejected.
Item: 39
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00060
Title: "A Voice from Death"
Date: June 1889
Physical Description: 5 leaves, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
This is a signed manuscript of "A Voice from Death," a poem written in response to the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood in the spring of 1889 in which 2,000 people died after a dam collapsed following the torrential rains. This poem was published on June 7, 1889, in the New York World. The manuscript is the printer's copy and each page is mounted separately and bound in a volume with a lettered title page and a portrait frontispiece by E. Whittlesey Kotz.
Item: 40
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00002
Title: "with husky-haughty lips, O sea"
Date: 1884
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a draft of "With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!" , first published in Harper's Monthly Magazine in March 1884, written on the verso of a discarded review of John Burrough's Notes on Walt Whitman. This poem was reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass in 1888.
Item: 41
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00001
Title: "with husky-haughty lips, O Sea!"
Date: 1884
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a signed and revised draft of "With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!," which was published first in Harper's Monthly Magazine in March 1884. This poem was reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass in 1888.
Item: 42
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00034
Title: "With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!"
Date: 1884
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a printed draft of the poem, "With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!," with corrections in Whitman's hand. The poem was published first in Harper's Monthly Magazine in March 1884, and was reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass in 1888.
Item: 43
Box: box 3
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00036
Title: "With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!"
Date: 1884
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a printed draft of the poem, "With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!," with corrections in Whitman's hand. The poem was published first in Harper's Monthly Magazine in March 1884, and was reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass in 1888.
Item: 44
Box: unknown
Whitman Archive ID: yal.00150
Title: "[While I so deeply loved]"
Date: 1864
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
This is a manuscript with poem notes relating to Whitman's experience as a nurse during the Civil War. The verso contains notes about a call Whitman received from a mother, dated December 23, 1864, regarding her son Frank Lester, an imprisoned soldier. The relationship of these notes to Whitman's published work is unknown.
Restrictions on Original Materials: Please consult with the repository.
Preferred Citation: To identify this finding aid as a source, see the Archive's "Conditions of Use" page.
Repository Contact Information:
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8240