Published Works Manuscripts Biography & Correspondence Criticism Resources Pictures & Sound About the Archive

Poetry Manuscripts

Table of Contents

leaf 1 recto

Decoration Day May 30

Ashes of Roses

The dust & debris below

in all the cemeteries

not only in Virginia &

Tennessee but all through

the land

———

The names of the flowers.

lilacs

roses

early lilies

the colors,

purple & white

& red & yellow

& red—

—the graves—

Ashes of Armies

The Unknown ☜

? Army‑Ashes

The dust of each mingling

fused all with in the dust

of each—(i.e. the rebel & the Union)

[Begin pasted-on section]

Are we to have a National Hy[mn by] Centennial time?

[End pasted-on section]

leaf 2 recto

? Ashes of Roses

Dust of the dead—

ashes of blue & gray,

—ashes of battle-pits,

———

solemn & strange cement—

———

not a field crop grows hence in

the field, of north or south

—Not Nor moisture of the river, nor

falling rain

Date: This manuscript was likely composed around 1870-1871, when Whitman was revising and expanding the poem "Hymn of Dead Soldiers," originally published in Drum-Taps (1865), for republication as "Ashes of Soldiers."

Editorial note: This manuscript appears to be draft material for the two linegroups Whitman added in 1871. The added lines, along with the title change, introduce the new imagery of ashes. Decoration Day was first proclaimed in 1868.; The verso of leaf #1 is blank.; The verso of leaf #2 is blank.

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

Whitman Archive ID: loc.00050

Comments?

Support the Archive | About the Archive

The Walt Whitman Archive

Poetry Manuscripts

Ashes of Roses