Poem—a perfect school | Whitman Archive

Whitman Archive Title: Poem—a perfect school
Whitman Archive ID: tul.00011
Repository: Catalog of the Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts in the Walt Whitman Ephemera Collection, University of Tulsa
Box: 1
Folder: 2
Date: Before or early in 1855
Genre: poetry, prose
Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
View Images: 1 | 2
Content: This manuscript was probably written in about 1855. The proposed poem about "a perfect school" is not known to have been published, although words and sentiments that appear in this manuscript also appeared in the poem that was eventually titled "Song of Myself." This manuscript's reference to "manly exercises" may also relate to a line in the poem eventually titled "A Song for Occupations."" On the back of this leaf (tul.00002) are draft lines that were used in the third poem in the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass , eventually titled "To Think of Time."