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Poetry Manuscripts

Table of Contents

leaf 1 recto

No Homer, Shakspere, Voltaire

No palaces, Kings' palaces nor courts,

No r armies, navies on the land, nor navies on the sea,

But countless living equal men

Average free

Date: This manuscript was likely composed in the last two decades of Whitman's career (roughly 1870-1892) when he was more apt to mention other writers explicitly in his poetry.

Editorial note: The poem drafted on this manuscript was not published in Whitman's lifetime. Despite its title, this manuscript does not appear to be a draft of the published poem entitled "America."; The verso of the manuscript leaf is blank.

Location: America | The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

The Walt Whitman Archive