Song of Myself 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [I say the stars are not echoes] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.00042 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Series: Literary File 
 
 Box: 29 
 
 Folder: Song of Myself (1855). A.MS. draft. 
 
 Date: undated 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A draft of a poem that resembles section 23 of the final version of "Song of Myself" but whose specific relationship to Whitman's published work is unknown. The draft, though not identical, has many lines similar to the posthumously published manuscript titled "[I Am the Poet]." On the verso is a draft of an unidentified prose work. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Of this broad and majestic 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00549 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Oscar Lion Collection of Walt Whitman 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Two phrases and images from this manuscript appear, slightly altered, in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, in the poem that would later be titled "Song of Myself." The manuscript was therefore probably written before or early in 1855. In the manuscript Whitman has added the phrase "the timothy and the clover" to a description of plants growing in a field. On page 18 of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass Whitman describes jumping from the crossbeams of a barn into the hay says he will "seize the clover and timothy." Later in the manuscript he writes of "the buckwheat and its white tops and the bees that hum there all day," and on page 36 of the 1855 Leaves he writes of the "white and brown buckwheat, a hummer and a buzzer there with the rest." A similar line concerning buckwheat and bees appeared in the poem "Come Up From the Fields Father," and a reference to "clover and timothy" appeared in "Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun." Both poems were first published in Drum-Taps in 1865. "Clover and timothy" also appears in the poem "The Return of the Heroes," which was first published in the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass. On the reverse of this manuscript (nyp.00085) are poetic lines, one of which appeared in the poem ultimately titled "I Sing the Body Electric." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: to enjoy the Panorama 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: amh.00008 
 
 Repository: Amherst College Archives and Special Collections 
 
 Date: about 1850 
 
 Genre: prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The handwriting on this draft fragment indicates that it was written fairly early, probably before the publication of Leaves of Grass in 1855. Most of the fragment describes a moving panorama, a popular form of entertainment during the antebellum period. The juxtaposition Whitman sets up in this manuscript (of painted panorama to actual landscape) appears in a line published in the 1855 and 1856 editions of Leaves of Grass, from the poem that would later be titled "Song of Myself": "The panorama of the sea . . . . but the sea itself?" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: A man of gigantic 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00293 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 32 
 
 Date: before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Prose fragment contemplating the combination in one man of power and compassion, probably related to lines from the opening poem of the 1855 Leaves of Grass—what would later become "Song of Myself." Edward F. Grier notes that the "heroic male" described here is "a favorite image" in the first edition (1855) of Leaves of Grass (Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:178). On the reverse is another prose fragment (duk.00888) dealing with the importance of independent thinking amid social forces of law and custom, as well as describing the attributes of a "perfect" man. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: It is the endless delusion 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00800 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS q 6 
 
 Date: 1855 or before 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: This prose manuscript contains a line similar to one from the poem that would eventually be entitled "Song of Myself." Near the bottom of the recto, Whitman writes that "The noble soul steadily rejects any liberty or privilege or wealth that is not open on the same terms to every other man and every other woman..." Compare this to the line from the first poem in the 1855 edition of Leaves: "By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms." The reverse (duk.00261) contains ideas and language related to what eventually became section 41 of "Song of Myself." This would suggest a date in or before 1855. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: is wider than the west 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00510 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A draft fragment including phrases and poetic lines that were revised and used in different poems of Leaves of Grass. "The orbed opening of whose mouth," struck through on this manuscript, is suggestive of a line that appeared in the poem ultimately called "Song of Myself": "The orbic flex of his mouth is pouring and filling me full." The line "Nature is rude at first—but once begun never tires" was used slightly altered in the 1856 edition of Leaves of Grass, under the title "Poem of the Road" (Whitman revised the title to "Song of the Open Road" in the 1867 edition). On the reverse of this manuscript is a prose fragment on the subject of knowledge and learning (nyp.00024). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: The most perfect wonders 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00057 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature 
 
 Repository Title: The most perfect wonders... 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Some of the language in this manuscript is similar to wording in the poem that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself." See, for instance: "What is commonest and cheapest and nearest and easiest is Me," (1855, p. 21); "I take my place among you as much as among any," (1855, p. 48); "Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself" (1855, p. 54); "It is for you whoever you are . . . . it is no farther from you than your hearing and sight are from you, / It is hinted by nearest and commonest and readiest . . . . it is not them, though it is endlessly provoked by them" (1855, p. 59). Based on the handwriting, Edward Grier dates this manuscript to 1855 or earlier (Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:186). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Enter into the thoughts 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00112 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Oscar Lion Collection of Walt Whitman 
 
 Repository Title: Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths 
 
 Date: before 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 
 
 Content: A manuscript containing lines about "enter[ing] into the thoughts of the different theological faiths." Edward Grier credits R. M. Bucke with pointing out the similarity of the text with a portion of "Song of Myself" (specifically, the portion that would become section 43 in the Deathbed edition). Once part of a larger scrap that began with "For example, whisper." Edward F. Grier credits R. M. Bucke with pointing out the "similarity of the text to "Song of Myself" (1855), sec. 43, ll. 1096-1110. The date is undoubtedly before 1855." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [I can tell of the long besieged city] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00511 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Oscar Lion Collection of Walt Whitman 
 
 Repository Title: I can tell of the long besieged city 
 
 Date: 1845–1855 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A scrap of paper with poetic lines that were used in revised form in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. The lines contained in this manuscript were eventually used in the poem ultimately titled "Song of Myself." On the verso of this scrap is a prose fragment with no known connection to Whitman's published work. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: ground where you may 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: rut.00025 
 
 Repository: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: Special Collections and University Archives 
 
 Repository ID: Ac.605 
 
 Date: 1845–1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The recto is a manuscript fragment containing several lines of prose that were included, with slightly-revised wording, as lines of poetry in the initial poem of the 1855 Leaves of Grass (ultimately titled "Song of Myself"). The lines that appear in the poem begin with "Sit awhile wayfarer" and continue through the end of the manuscript, ending with "and open the gate for your egress hence." These lines would remain, with minor revisions, through all the various versions of "Song of Myself." The verso (rut.00024) contains a prose note that does not seem to have any link to Whitman's published work. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [And to me each minute of the night] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: tex.00057 
 
 Repository: The University of Texas at Austin: The Walt Whitman Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center 
 
 Box: 2 
 
 Folder: 1 
 
 Repository Title: Song of Myself 
 
 Date: Before 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: About ten draft lines of the opening poem of the 1855 Leaves of Grass, ultimately titled "Song of Myself." This manuscript passage is made up of versions of lines that appeared in the first published version of the poem, as well as in the 1855 preface. Various lines from this one passage appear in widely scattered places: in the final version of "Song of Myself," they appear in sections 5, 13, 16, 31, 36, and 43, while others appear in the poem eventually entitled "To Think of Time" and in the pre-1855 manuscript poem "Pictures." The verso (tex.00001) shows a tentative arrangement of the poems for the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, with working titles. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [The wild gander leads] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.00507 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Series: Literary File 
 
 Box: 20 
 
 Folder: L of G (1855). Manuscript Page. 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A one-page handwritten draft of a portion of "Song of Myself," which was published first in 1855. These lines eventually became section 14 and the beginning of section 15 in the final version of Leaves of Grass. On the reverse side (loc.07428) is a long list of words, many of which are found in the poem eventually "Song of the Broad-Axe." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: For remember that 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.05334 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Thomas Biggs Harned Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Date: Between 1845 and 1860 
 
 Genre: prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Edward Grier notes that this scrap contains ideas similar to those found in what would become section 4 of the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." Both this manuscript and the section of the poem discuss the idea that a person's true self is not defined by exterior trappings or social protocols. But Grier also indicates that this manuscript could be notes for a lecture that Whitman was planning (Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 6:2047). In either case, the manuscript likely dates to the 1850s. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [You villain, Touch!] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: tex.00002 
 
 Repository: The University of Texas at Austin: The Walt Whitman Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center 
 
 Box: 2 
 
 Folder: 1 
 
 Repository Title: Song of Myself, 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: One side of this manuscript features about eleven lines, heavily revised, for the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself," beginning with You villain, Touch! The poem was first published in the 1855 first edition of Leaves of Grass. The notes on the other side, regarding prehistoric human life, are not known to be related to any of Whitman's published work. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: How gladly we leave 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00296 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS q 32 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Prose fragment that characterizes social interactions with the "learned and refined" as stifling in comparison with experiences shared with "real men and women." The description of "boatmen" with "trowsers tucked in their boots" may be related to a similar description in the poem that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself" ("The boatmen and clamdiggers arose early and stopped for me, / I tucked my trowser-ends in my boots and went and had a good time"). The phrase "real men and women refreshing, hearty, and wicked" probably led to the following line, which occurs later in the same poem: "Ever myself and my neighbors, refreshing and wicked and real." These connections suggest a date before or early in 1855. Edward Grier notes that this manuscript was, at one time, pinned together with another manuscript (Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:169; see duk.00297). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [Fa]bles, traditions, and 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00261 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 6 
 
 Date: Between 1850 and 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A manuscript draft with ideas and language related to what eventually became section 41 of "Song of Myself" and to the untitled fourteenth poem of the 1860 cluster "Debris." "Song of Myself" first appeared, untitled, in Leaves of Grass (1855); it was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. The reverse (duk.00800) contains unrelated prose writing, including a line similar to one found in "Song of Myself." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: To be at all 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00001 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 2 
 
 Date: 1855 or before 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: This manuscript contains draft lines for what became section 27 of "Song of Myself," which was first published as the opening poem in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. In 1897, after Whitman's death, a poem entitled "To Be at All," based on this manuscript, was published in "Old Age Echoes." On the reverse side (duk.00883) are notes, trial lines, and lists of words and phrases related to what eventually became sections 24 and 49 of "Song of Myself" and to lines included in "The Sleepers." Both poems were first published in the 1855 first edition of Leaves of Grass. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Outdoors is the best 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00297 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 32 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: This prose fragment extols the virtues of outdoor living and the appeal of physical laborers who work outdoors. Similar ideas are found throughout Leaves of Grass. Edward Grier notes that this manuscript was, at one time, pinned together with another manuscript (Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:169; see duk.00296). The reference to clamdiggers in both this scrap and the related scrap may anticipate a line in the poem that was eventually titled "Song of Myself" ("The boatmen and clamdiggers arose early and stopped for me, / I tucked my trowser-ends in my boots and went and had a good time"). This suggests a date before or early in 1855. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Remember that the clock 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00298 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 32 
 
 Date: before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A prose manuscript dealing mainly with conceptions of time and which may have contributed to the following line in the first poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass (eventually titled "Song of Myself"): "The clock indicates the moment . . . . but what does eternity indicate?" The last few lines of the manuscript contain ideas and phrases similar to another passage of the same poem. The manuscript's likening of "God" or "the soul" to an "Elder Brother" is reminescent of lines "And I know that the hand of God is the elderhand of my own, / And I know that the spirit of God is the eldest brother of my own." These correspondences suggest a date of before or early in 1855. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: The most superb beauties 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00304 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 33 
 
 Date: before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Notes, or possibly trial lines, expressing the idea that the highest beauty is found in what is "cheapest" and "commonest," probably connected to a passage in section 14 of "Song of Myself," first published untitled in Leaves of Grass (1855). The poem was first titled "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was first used in the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. This scrap has been attached by a collector or archivist to a backing sheet, together with "It seems to me," "What shall the great poet be then?" and "Make no quotations." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: In metaphysical points 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00159 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 67 
 
 Date: 1855 or before 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Manuscript about the roles of science and "the soul" in the apprehension of truth. The fragmentary paragraph at the bottom of the leaf seems to be the germ of certain lines of what eventually became "Song of Myself," section 23, first published untitled in Leaves of Grass (1855). The poem was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: myself to celebrate 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00787 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Date: Between 1850 and 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A manuscript containing lines included in the poem ultimately titled "Song of Myself," including the poem's famous opening, "I celebrate myself." "Song of Myself" first appeared untitled in Leaves of Grass (1855). The poem was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 Leaves, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. On the reverse is a prose manuscript (duk.00879) with an unknown connection to Whitman's published work. In the repository, this manuscript is bound, seemingly by a collector, with a printer's copy of the 1881-82 edition of Leaves of Grass that contains numerous handwritten corrections by Whitman (duk.00098). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: It were unworthy a live man to pray 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00162 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS q 203 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: An early scrap of prose material similar to parts of "Song of Myself," which first appeared untitled in Leaves of Grass (1855). The poem was first titled "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. The manuscript's final three lines may have contributed to what became section 32, in which Whitman describes wanting to "live awhile with animals" because "[t]hey do not sweat and whine about their condition, / They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins." These lines were present in the first version of the poem in 1855, suggesting a date of before or early in that year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Sweet flag 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00883 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository Title: Song of Myself (Autograph MS, draft portions) To be at all... 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 2 
 
 Date: Between 1850 and 1855 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Whitman likely drafted this manuscript in the early 1850s as he was composing the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass. This manuscript, filled with suggestive words and phrases, appears to have contributed to the first and fourth poems in the volume, both titled "Leaves of Grass" and now more commonly known by their final titles, "Song of Myself" and "The Sleepers," respectively. The phrase "Bulbs of life-lilies, polished melons" prefigures "polished breasts of melons" in "Song of Myself," and the list in this manuscript may relate to the following line: "Root of washed sweet-flag, timorous pond-snipe, nest of guarded duplicate eggs, it shall be you." Other elements of this manuscript appear to have contributed to "The Sleepers." The jotting "I am a look / mystic / in a trance/ exaltation" may have led to the line "I am a dance . . . . Play up there! the fit is whirling me fast." Further, the reference to the soothing hand is perhaps an early version of the passage in which the narrator, who stands "with drooping eyes by the worstsuffering and restless," passes his "hands soothingly to and fro a few inches from them." Finally, the passage about "Sap that flows from the end of the manly maple" (associated in the manuscript with the "tooth of delight" and "tooth prong") probably contributed to the following passage in the same poem: "The white teeth stay, and the boss-tooth advances in darkness, / And liquor is spilled on lips and bosoms by touching glasses, and the best liquor afterward." These lines were removed from the final edition of the poem. The writing on the reverse side of the leaf (duk.00001) contributed to a different part of the poem that became "Song of Myself." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [from the tips of his fingers] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.05705 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Series: Notes and Notebooks 
 
 Box: 38 
 
 Folder: Notes & Nbks Brooklyniana Fulton St 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Cancelled and fragmentary lines that were revised and used in what became section 39 of the final version of "Song of Myself," a poem first published in Leaves of Grass (1855). The prose note on the other side of the leaf concerns Brooklyn history, though no connection between it and Whitman's published work on that subject has been established. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Superb and infinitely manifold 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00063 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature 
 
 Repository Title: Holograph notes for lectures and poems; 12 notes written on 14 pieces of paper, unsigned, undated. 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: This manuscript's discussion of the vastness of time and space is similar to a passage from the poem that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself." The manuscript includes the phrase "countless octillions of the cubic leagues of space," while a phrase from the version of the poem in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass reads "a few octillions of cubic leagues, do not hazard the span" (51). Whether or not this manuscript contributed directly to the poem, the similarity suggests that the manuscript was written before or early in 1855. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Night of south winds 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00078 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Oscar Lion Collection of Walt Whitman 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, approximately 19.5 x 19 cm., handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A manuscript that includes language that appeared in the first poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, in what later became section 21 of "Song of Myself." On the verso are lines that eventually found their way into section 31 of the same poem. The manuscript was bound by the collector. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: vain the mastodon 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00079 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Oscar Lion Collection of Walt Whitman 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 18.5 by 19.7 cm. (irregular), handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The recto contains draft lines for the first poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, eventually titled "Song of Myself." These lines are from sections 31 and 32, as numbered in the 1891-92 edition. On the verso are two prose notes, the first (nyp.00523) about the frequent meanness of men of high social standing and the second (nyp.00524) about the wisdom of keeping "clean outside and inside." The leaf was formerly cut between the verso-side notes, probably by Whitman, and has been rejoined. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Loveblows 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00122 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Oscar Lion Collection of Walt Whitman 
 
 Repository Title: Loveblows Loveblossoms 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 
 
 Content: A list of words starting with "Love-" (e.g. "Loveroot"), many of them plant metaphors that could be read as referring to parts of the body, in particular to the genitals. Several of the words were included in line 14 of the 1855 version of the poem that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself." Another section of the manuscript became several lines from the opening stanza of "Broad-Axe Poem" in the 1856 edition of Leaves of Grass. The poem would later be titled "Song of the Broad-Axe." The word "loveclimber" (found in the manuscript) appeared in "Bunch Poem" in the 1856 edition of Leaves, later retitled "Spontaneous Me." The manuscript is pasted to a backing sheet, making the verso inaccessible. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Poem—a perfect school 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: tul.00011 
 
 Repository: University of Tulsa: Walt Whitman Ephemera 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 2 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Whitman's notes for a poem about "a perfect school." The proposed poem is not known to have been published, although words and sentiments that appear in this manuscript also appeared in the poem that would later be titled "Song of Myself." The lines on the reverse (tul.00002) contributed to Whitman's poem "To Think of Time," first published untitled in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: In the gymnasium 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: yal.00452 
 
 Repository: Yale University: Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library 
 
 Box: 3 
 
 Folder: 140 
 
 Date: 1850–1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Two poetic fragments, written on the front and back of one leaf. The lines on one side, describing an imagined scene in a Greek gymnasium, are not identifiably related to any of Whitman's published works. Those on the other side were used in the poem ultimately titled "Song of Myself." which was first published in Leaves of Grass (1855). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: The test 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: med.00727 
 
 Repository: Unlocated Manuscripts 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: prose 
 
 Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten 
 
 Images: currently unavailable 
 
 Content: The lines in this manuscript likely contributed to lines of the poem that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself." The date of the manuscript is therefore probably before or early in 1855. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Breathjuice 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: med.00728 
 
 Repository: Unlocated Manuscripts 
 
 Date: Before or early in 1855 
 
 Genre: prose 
 
 Physical Description: number of leaves unknown, handwritten 
 
 Images: currently unavailable 
 
 Content: This list may have contributed indirectly to the ideas found in what became the second section of the poem eventually titled "Song of Myself." Those lines deal with breath, scents, and sexuality, all of which are suggested by the terms in this manuscript. Because the manuscript has not been located it is difficult to speculate on the circumstances or date of its composition, but it seems likely that it was written before or early in 1855. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Rule in all addresses 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.00163 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Series: Notes and Notebooks 
 
 Box: 39 
 
 Folder: Literary, Rule in All Addresses. 
 
 Date: Before 1856 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Lines and phrases on both the recto and verso of this manuscript contributed to portions of the poem that would eventually be titled "Song of Myself". Some lines on the verso contributed to the poem that would eventually be titled "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." Other lines on the verso may have contributed to the Preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. On the recto, the phrase "mate and companion" found its way into "Song of Myself." The manuscript line that reads "A mother as well as father, a child as well as a man" becomes, in the poem, the line "Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man." And several manuscript lines, beginning with "Not only an American..." become, in the poem, the lines beginning "Not merely of the New World..." Edward Grier speculates that Whitman's note to not "forget the bombardment" is in reference to the "bombardment" of the "old artillerist" in "Song of Myself" (Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 1:165). On the verso, several phrases of prose were later used, in somewhat revised form, in a line for "Sun-down Poem" in the 1856 edition of Leaves of Grass. In 1860, the poem was retitled "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." A portion of the manuscript reads: "I doubt whether my greatest thoughts, as I had supposed them, are not shallow.—and people will most likely laugh at me." The line in the poem reads: "My great thoughts, as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre? Would not people laugh at me?" It is possible that some of the poetic lines on the verso contributed to the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. The idea of common people being greater than Presidents or Major Generals (from the manuscript) may be related to the sentence from the Preface that reads: "Other states indicate themselves in their deputies....but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors...but always most in the common people." Other words and phrases in this manuscript may have contributed to other parts of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: it is no miracle now that 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00007 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 3 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A manuscript draft of ideas about touch related to sections 28–30 in the final version of "Song of Myself," which first appeared, untitled, in Leaves of Grass (1855). In the 1856 edition it was titled "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. The reverse side of the leaf (duk.00797 contains prose writing related to a different section of the same poem. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Light and air! 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00260 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 4 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A manuscript draft of ideas related to section 31 in the final version of "Song of Myself," which first appeared, untitled, in Leaves of Grass (1855); it was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: I know as well as you that Bibles are divine revelation 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00051 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 5 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A manuscript draft treating ideas about divine revelation related to section 41 in the final version of "Song of Myself," which first appeared, untitled, in Leaves of Grass (1855); it was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. The reverse (duk.00887) contains notes, dated March 20th '54, about the characters and physical traits of several men that Whitman met in his travels. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: There is no word in any tongue 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00018 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: Trent II-7, 201 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 
 
 Content: A manuscript draft of ideas about God and man related to what eventually became sections 48-49 of the final version of "Song of Myself," which first appeared, untitled, in Leaves of Grass (1855); it was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. This manuscript has been mounted and framed with a prose fragment, dealing with the soul and nature, and a photograph of Whitman. An image of the verso is unavailable. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: My Spirit sped back to the 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00262 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 7 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A manuscript draft related in general to ideas expressed in "Song of Myself," which first appeared, untitled, in Leaves of Grass (1855); it was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. The reverse contains one cancelled line: "Not one of the heroic guests." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: And when once they went far enough to see 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00003 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 1 
 
 Date: between 1850 and 1860 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 
 
 Content: On one side of these manuscript leaves are drafts of lines for the opening poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, ultimately titled "Song of Myself," sections six and seven. The poem was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title, "Song of Myself," was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. On the reverse are fragments of an unpublished prose piece that appears to represent an early draft of "Unnamed Lands," a poem published first in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. The material on the second leaf shares with that poem not only a close thematic similarity but also several of the same phrases. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: And I have discovered them by night and by 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00006 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 1 
 
 Date: between 1850 and 1860 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The draft lines on one side of the manuscript leaf contributed to the opening poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. In the poem's final version, "Song of Myself," these lines are found in section 48. The poem was first titled, "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American," in the 1856 edition, and Whitman shortened the title to "Walt Whitman" in 1860–1861. The final title was not introduced until the 1881–1882 edition of Leaves. It is not known whether the prose on the leaf's reverse is related to any of Whitman's published work; however, physical and thematic similarities with "And I have discovered them by night and by," above, and "My tongue can never be content with harness," below, make a connection with the 1860 poem "Unnamed Lands" likely. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: My tongue can never be content with harness 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: duk.00008 
 
 Repository: Duke University: The Trent Collection of Whitmaniana 
 
 Repository ID: MS 4to 1 
 
 Date: between 1850 and 1860 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: On one side of the manuscript leaf are draft poetic lines with an unknown relation to Whitman's published work. However, physical and thematic similarities with "And when once they went far enough to see" and "And I have discovered them by night and by," above, suggest that the lines were possibly drafted for the 1855 poem that eventually became "Song of Myself." These similarities also suggest that the prose on the leaf's reverse is likely related to "Unnamed Lands," first published in Leaves of Grass (1860). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [How can there be immortality] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00014 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 49 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 4.5 x 14.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: These lines, appearing on a very small section of white laid paper cut and cropped irregularly, bear a strong resemblance to the (eventual) second verse paragraph in section 6 of "Starting from Paumanok," first published in 1860 as "Proto-Leaf." The fragmentary lines on the verso (beginning "Downward, buoyant, swif[t]"), represent a different version of a line incorporated in the pre-1855 notebook poem "Pictures" and of one inscribed in the 1854 notebook [I know a rich capitalist...], currently housed at the New York Public Library. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [I am a student] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00238 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 9.5 x 15 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The themes expressed in this early fragment would inform the lines that eventually became section 2 of "Song of Myself;" Whitman never used it verbatim. On the verso appears an undeleted but heavily revised early draft of famous lines, beginning "The spotted hawk swoops by...," incorporated in what would constitute the final canto of the poem in the 1867 and later editions of Leaves of Grass.--> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [I call back blunderers] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00250 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 4.5 x 19.5 cm pasted to 7 x 19.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The first few lines were never used, but the last two verses (beginning "I offer men no painted saucers...") share similarities with the final verse paragraph (beginning "Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,") of what would eventually become section 2 of "Song of Myself." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [Do I not prove myself] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00251 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 8 x 18.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: On the verso appear two undeleted lines beginning "Whatever I say of myself, you shall apply to yourself..." that eventually formed part of section 20 of "Song of Myself." The deleted pencil lines beginning "I think there will never be any more heaven or hell / than there is now," were revised to form what would eventually become the second verse paragraph of section 3 of "Song of Myself." After heavy revision the lines appearing on the recto of the manuscript were used in what would be section 41 of "Song of Myself." These lines also bear relation to the untitled 14th poem of the "Debris" cluster (1860). The lines were not among the various passages of "Debris" that survived in the final poems of Leaves of Grass. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [My hand will not hurt what it holds] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00254 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 19 x 15.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The numbers 195 and 196 are inscribed on the verso and recto, respectively; these numbers, along with remnants of paste and binding tape along the left margin of the recto, suggest that the pages came from a notebook. The lines on the recto are deleted and appear to have been revised to form what is now section 28 of "Song of Myself." The verso contains undeleted notes that begin with a list of animals and plants ("cottonwood—mulberry—/chickadee—large brown water-dog"), followed by a verse ("The suicide / went to a lonesome place...") that Whitman revised for use ("The suicide sprawls on the bloody floor of the bedroom,") in what would eventually constitute section 8 of "Song of Myself." This verse is followed by another section of the natural "catalogue" ("locust, birch / cypress..."), below which appears a pair of verses (beginning "O dirt, you corpse—I reckon you are good manure—") used in what would be section 48 of the "Song of Myself." The list of flora and fauna could anticipate any number of similar lists in Whitman, but bears the strongest resemblance to section 29 of "Poem of Joys" (final title: "A Song of Joys"), which first appeared in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [I am a curse] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00256 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 18.5 x 17.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: One leaf inscribed and revised on both sides in pencil. The trial lines on the verso (beginning "His very aches are exstasy") seem to have been revised for inclusion in what is now section 29 of "Song of Myself." Whitman's unusual spelling of "ecstasy" indicates not only that the lines came very early in the process of writing Leaves of Grass, but that these lines may have originally been part of the proto-"Song of Myself" before being transferred to what would become "The Sleepers." The verso lines and the words "I am a curse" link this leaf to two sections of draft verses in the earliest Library of Congress notebook (#80) beginning "Fierce wrestler!" and "I am a curse." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [The sores on my shoulders are from his] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00260 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 8 x 15 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Inscribed, revised, and deleted in pencil. On the verso appear the undeleted lines "Hear my fife! —I am a recruiter / Come, who will join my troop?" Scholars have recorded these lines as a version of the lines ("And now a merry recruiter passes, with fife and drum, seeking who will / join his troop...") in the pre-1855 notebook poem "Pictures." The image of the musician recruiting attention equally for the problems of all connects these lines with section 18 of "Song of Myself." Although the manuscript contains the phrase "iron necklace," which appears in the poem eventually titled "To A Foil'd European Revolutionaire", the image of the steamboat carrying away the woman and the first person narrative style seem to connect this manuscript most clearly to the development of what would eventually become section 4 of "The Sleepers" first appearing in print with this title in 1871. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [Where the little musk ox carries his] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00261 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 6 x 19 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Inscribed and revised on both sides in pencil. The only line used from the recto ("Where the life car is drawn on the slip-noose") is deleted here; it became part of what would eventually form section 33 of "Song of Myself." The deleted verso lines (beginning "Who knows that I shall not myself / [...] time be a God, as pure and prodigious/ as any?") constitute a poetic revision of prose notes in Library of Congress notebook #85, and seem to have led up to what would eventually become section 48 of "Song of Myself." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [You there] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00263 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 12.5 x 20 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The left side of the manuscript is torn as if the page had been removed from a notebook. This page was apparently inscribed very close to the publication of the 1855 Leaves of Grass; with a few revisions it became part of what would eventually be section 40 of "Song of Myself." On the verso appear undeleted notes defining and illustrating such verse forms as "hexameters," "dactyl," "Spondee," "Iambus," and "Trochee." These notes represent an incomplete version of notes on a manuscript currently housed at Rutgers University. Scholars have commented that the Rutgers manuscript probably dates to 1856 or afterwards, when Whitman was pursuing a self-education in poetry, suggesting that the verso notes of this manuscript also date to that period. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [And their voices] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00264 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 4.5 x 19.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A pencil question mark appears above a very faint line linking "valved" and "cornet." These half-prose, half-poetic notes were revised and incorporated in two separate verses of what would become "Song of Myself": the eventual verse 597, in section 26 ("I hear...the keyed cornet") and verse 1067 in section 42 ("Ever the vexer's hoot! hoot! till we find where the sly one hides and bring him/ forth..."). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [The smell of the salt marsh] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00265 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 8.5 x 20 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The first line originally read "Odor of the salt marsh, and of the mud and sea-weed[.]" An earlier version of these lines is also associated with proto-"Song of Myself" verses in Library of Congress Notebook #80 ("And the salt marsh and creek have/ delicious odors..."). The "unearthly laugh of the laughing-gull" reappears in what would eventually become line 763 (section 33) of "Song of Myself." Most of the lines were incorporated, however (after further revision), into the tenth poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. This poem was titled "Poem of The Child That Went Forth, and Always Goes Forth, Forever and Forever" in the 1856 edition, after which it became number 9 in the 1860 group "Leaves of Grass," number 1 of a different "Leaves of Grass" group in 1867, and, finally, "There Was a Child Went Forth" in the 1872 edition. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [I am become the poet of babes and] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00269 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 4 x 14.5 cm pasted to 4.5 x 15 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The verso lines beginning "I think I could dash the girder of the earth / away" and "Surely I am out of my head!" are deleted with several pencil strokes. The deleted number 209 appears in the top right corner of the lower section. After much revision the recto lines, which are related to lines in Library of Congress Notebook #80, seem to have become part of what would be section 44 of "Song of Myself." The verso contains an early draft of lines eventually incorporated in section 27 of the poem. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [Can ? make me so exuberant yet so faintish] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00273 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 6 x 19.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The recto verses bear some similarity to what would eventually form section 28 of "Song of Myself," while the deleted lines on the verso (beginning "This mouth is pulled by some sexton for his dismalest fee,") represent a fragment of draft lines eventually incorporated in the sixth poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, a poem permanently retitled "Faces" in the 1872 edition. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [You woman, mother of children] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00137 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 2 
 
 Folder: 2 
 
 Date: 1850-1860 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 24.5 cm x 24.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: This manuscript contains images of women as mother and wife. The husband and wife together at night appears consistently as one of the images used in the poem ultimately titled "Song of Myself" throughout all of the editions of Leaves of Grass. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: The Whale-boat 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00117 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 2 
 
 Folder: 23 
 
 Repository ID: #3829-i 
 
 Date: late 1850s 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 21 cm x 12 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: This manuscript contains notes about whales that mirror a passage about whales published in "Song of Myself". A direct relationship between this manuscript and Whitman's published work is unknown, although a possible relationship also exists with drafts of the poem "The Sleepers" in which Whitman was working with the idea of a whale being harpooned. These notes may be a continuation of notes written on two separate scraps and held at Duke University (The Trent Collection of Walt Whitman Manuscripts, Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library), "The Whale," MS 4to 88. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [med Cophósis] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.00005 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Series: Notes and Notebooks 
 
 Box: 39 
 
 Folder: Literary, Before 1855, Women 
 
 Date: Between 1852 and 1854 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 
 
 Content: These pages were written by Whitman in the early to mid-1850s. William White, in his edition of Whitman's Daybooks and Notebooks, 3 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1978), noted a relationship between these pages and the poems "Who Learns My Lesson Complete?," "By Blue Ontario's Shore," "Song of the Answerer," and "There Was a Child Went Forth." Some of the ideas and language being worked out here also appear in the poem that would be titled "Song of Myself." For a discussion of the dating and importance of this notebook, see Matt Miller, Collage of Myself: Walt Whitman and the Making of Leaves of Grass (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010), 11–16. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Summer Duck 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.00158 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Series: Notes and Notebooks 
 
 Box: 39 
 
 Folder: Literary, Before 1855, Wood Drake 
 
 Date: Between 1852 and 1855 
 
 Genre: poetry, prose 
 
 Physical Description: 2 leaves, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 
 
 Content: An early manuscript. William White, in his edition of Whitman's Daybooks and Notebooks, 3 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1978), noted a relationship between the material at the beginning of this manuscript and what eventually became section 13, lines 237–243 of "Song of Myself." The lines at the bottom of the back side of the second leaf contributed to what became section 22 of that poem, lines 464–469. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: The fester of defeat sharper than the 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00023 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature 
 
 Date: 1854—1855 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: Poetic lines, some of which appeared slightly revised in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. These lines comprise part of the poem Whitman eventually titled "Song of Myself." On the verso of this scrap of paper is a prose fragment in which Whitman quotes Voltaire. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Autobiographical Data 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.05935 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Thomas Biggs Harned Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Box: 6 
 
 Folder: Notebooks [before 1855] 
 
 Date: Between 1848 and 1856 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 10 leaves, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 
 
 Content: Photostats, made for William L. Finkel sometime "prior to 1942," of a notebook then in the collection but lost during World War II. Partial transcriptions, done by Emory Holloway and Clifton Furness in the 1920s, indicate that the photostats, which show sixteen full pages and portions of four others, are an incomplete representation of the original. Neither the photostats nor extant transcriptions bear any definitive evidence for dating the notebook, but scholars have generally agreed that Whitman must have written its contents around the time of the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855. Ed Folsom has noted a connection between a passage shown on the right side of the fourth image and the account of the "mash'd fireman" in "Song of Myself." See Folsom, "Erasing Race: The Lost Black Presence in Whitman's Manuscripts," in Whitman Noir: Black America and the Good Gray Poet (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2014), 3–31. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: I know a rich capitalist 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00129 
 
 Repository: New York Public Library: The Oscar Lion Collection of Walt Whitman 
 
 Date: between 1854 and 1860 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 14 leaves, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 
 
 Content: A notebook of twelve leaves, plus covers, which Whitman seems to have used between 1854 and about 1860. Andrew C. Higgins has argued that, in the months prior to the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855, the poet used separate notebooks to work out various themes. This one, he says, Whitman used "to develop his cosmology and theory of love" (see Higgins, "Wage Slavery and the Composition of Leaves of Grass: The 'Talbot Wilson' Notebook," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 20, no. 2 [2002]: 74n14). The notebook contains at least eight passages that appear to have contributed to published works. Of these, the majority are early articulations of images and phrases that appeared in the first poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, eventually titled "Song of Myself." These include two different drafts (one in prose, on surface 11, and one in verse, on surface 14) beginning "Love is the cause of causes." Surfaces 4, 7, and 15 also bear passages that possibly contributed to this poem. The passage on surface 4 might also be related to the 1855 poems eventually titled "A Song for Occupations" and "Great Are the Myths." On surface 22 is a passage possibly connected to the 1855 Preface. Another passage, on surface 26, clearly contributed to the 1856 poem "Poem of the Road" (later titled "Song of the Open Road"), and another, on surface 15, seems to have contributed to the 1860–1861 poem "Chants Democratic. 4" (later titled "Our Old Feuillage"). Emory Holloway has pointed out that Whitman's reference to the sinking of the San Francisco indicates that this notebook, "or at least part of it, is later than 1853." He writes that "it was probably begun in 1854" because the "marble church" mentioned on the first page presumably refers to the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, "which was not completed until then" (see Holloway, "A Whitman Manuscript," American Mercury 3 [December 1924], 475–480). No image of the outside back cover is available because the notebook has been stitched into a larger volume. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [Remember if you are dying] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00278 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: 1855-1859 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 8 x 15.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The verso lines (beginning "[sl]ueing,/...[be]nding,/...halt in the shade,") represent a fragment of a polished pre-1855-publication draft of lines that would eventually belong in section 13 of "Song of Myself." Whitman used this leaf at some point after 1855 to jot down the recto verses perpendicular to the ruled lines. These seem to constitute a complete but very early draft of the poem "To One Shortly To Die," first published in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass in the cluster "Messenger Leaves." In the upper right corner of the recto appear the words "note / last page of 'Ghost-seers'" in Whitman's hand, suggesting that he had considered forming a cluster under this title, never published, in Leaves of Grass, perhaps in the 1860 edition. The phrase "Ghost-seers" recalls a statement regarding Emerson in "Leaves-Droppings," a section of correspondence and commentary Whitman appended to the 1856 edition: "[Emerson] sees the future of truths as our Spirit-seers discern the future of man..." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [The genuine miracles of Christ] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: loc.01019 
 
 Repository: Library of Congress: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman 
 
 Series: Literary File 
 
 Box: 36 
 
 Folder: Undated, "The Genuine Miracles of Christ," draft 
 
 Date: about 1855 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: A cancelled prose manuscript containing lines which contributed to Whitman's published poetry. The line which reads, "the vast elemental sympathy which, only the human soul is capable of generating and emitting in steady and limitless floods," was used, slightly revised, in "A Song of Joys," which first appeared in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass, as "Poem of Joys." The line which reads, "descend from the tips of his fingers from the smell of his body from the vapor of his lungs" was revised and used in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, and eventually was included in what ultimately came to be the 39th stanza of "Song of Myself." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: [I must not deceive you—you are to die] 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00280 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 88 
 
 Date: 1855-1860 
 
 Genre: poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, 4 x 14.5 cm, handwritten 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: The verso lines (beginning "[I] and nobody else am the greatest traitor,") represent a later draft than similar verses in Library of Congress Notebook #80 of what would eventually become part of section 28 of "Song of Myself." The recto lines were revised to form part of the 1860 poem "To One Shortly To Die." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whitman Archive Title: Brutish human beings 
 
 Whitman Archive ID: uva.00085 
 
 Repository: University of Virginia: Papers of Walt Whitman, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library 
 
 Box: 1 
 
 Folder: 12 
 
 Repository Title: Brutish human beings - wild men - the 'koboo' 
 
 Repository ID: #3829-i 
 
 Date: 1857-1859 
 
 Genre: prose, poetry 
 
 Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten, printed 
 
 View images: 1 | 2 
 
 Content: This manuscript contains notes by Whitman about what he calls "a very low kind of human beings," "wild men," the "koboo," apparently described to Whitman by Elias Pierson in June 1857. Pierson had been to China in the rebel army of Canton, and had seen the aboriginal "koboo" people, as reported in the manuscript, in the Ladrone islands, in the South China Sea off Canton. To reinforce the truthfulness of Pierson's stories about the "koboo," Whitman mentions the fact that Captain Walter Murray Gibson, who had also talked about the "koboo" people (possibly in the book Report, American Geographical and Statistical Society. Monthly Meeting. March, 1854. Captain Walter M. Gibson on the East Indian Archipelago: a Description of Its Wild Races of Men, published in 1854, and/or in The Prison of Weltevredin, and a Glance at the East Indian Archipelago, published in 1855), had affirmed that all his statements in the book were true and made in good faith. Since the term "koboo" is used by Whitman in "Song of Myself" (the term already appeared in the first published version of the poem, in the 1855 edition, and was retained in all the subsequent editions) and in "Salut au Monde!" (the term appeared in the first published version of the poem in the 1856 edition and was retained in all the subsequent editions), it is probable that Whitman first learned about the "koboo" by reading Gibson, and then heard again about them from Pierson. The manuscript also contains a clipping of a short newspaper column entitled "The Wild Men of Borneo," and a short comment on it. 
 
 
 
 
 
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 achary Turpin, a University of Houston graduate student, talks about the poet Walt Whitman at his home, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, in Houston. Turpin recently discovered a previously unknown novella by Whitman. 
 
 Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle ||||| A “rollicking” anti-lawyer revenge fantasy by Walt Whitman, which challenges previously held ideas about the American poet’s transition from prose to poetry, has been found in the archives of a Victorian New York Sunday newspaper. Though published anonymously, the book matches a detailed synopsis in the poet’s notebook for a project academics had thought abandoned. 
 
 Walt Whitman revealed as author of 'Manly Health' guide Read more 
 
 Entitled The Life and Adventures of Jack Engle, the book has just been published free online by the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. Announcing the discovery unearthed in Whitman materials held at the Library of Congress, Ed Folsom, editor of the journal, said the discovery would change everything previously known about the author’s early writing career. “Now we see that the fiction and poetry were mingling in ways we never before knew,” he said. 
 
 Zachary Turpin of the University of Houston discovered the novel in Manhattan-based newspaper the Sunday Dispatch. Set in New York, it was serialised in 1852 and written at the same time as the poet began work on his landmark epic poem Leaves of Grass, published three years later. 
 
 Described by Turpin as “a fun, rollicking, creative, twisty, bizarre little book”, Jack Engle is a classic rags-to-riches orphan’s story about a corrupt lawyer, Mr Covert, who tries to trick his ward Martha out of her inheritance. Jack, who works for Covert, sets out to save his fellow orphan and in the process discovers his fate is tied up with hers. In true Dickensian style, Whitman appears to settle old scores in the book: the writer’s father was also swindled by a New York lawyer. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The announcement of Whitman’s novel 
 
 Turpin found the 36,000-word novel as he ploughed through the prolific author’s “odds and ends” in the Integrated Catalog of Walt Whitman’s Literary Manuscripts, a comprehensive list of the poet’s surviving papers, jottings, manuscript drafts, scraps and notebooks. Among the scraps, a series of character names appeared: Covert, Jack Engle, Wigglesworth and Smytthe. Painstaking detective work led him to a tiny notice from 1852 in the New York Daily Times (now the New York Times) advertising the serialisation in the Sunday Dispatch of an autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Jack Engle. 
 
 “Something about it just seemed right,” the academic said. “The name Jack Engle. The year. The newspaper (to which we know Whitman had contributed before).” The clincher came when he matched the character names from Whitman’s notebook with those in the published story. “I couldn’t believe that, for a few minutes, I was the only person on Earth who knew about this book.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The opening of The Life and Adventures of Jack Engle. Photograph: Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 
 
 The discovery is significant not only for its rarity. The extent of Whitman’s prose fiction was previously unknown. The book reveals he grappled with a desire to find the right form in which to express his ideas. “The Whitman we see in Jack Engle is not yet the confident, committed poet we now take him to have always been,” Turpin explained. “It is during this vital time that he’s experimenting, trying on different genres and modes of writing, looking for one that’s ample and expansive enough to express what [Ralph Waldo] Emerson would call ‘the infinitude of the private man’.” 
 
 Folsom agreed the novel revealed Whitman’s struggle with form and that it gives a precise time for his move into poetry. In chapter 19, the plot comes to an abrupt end as Jack wanders through a graveyard and the plots of the buried merge into endless lost life stories. As he contemplates these lost plots, Jack feel the grass covering his own face. Folsom said: “I sense at this moment Whitman is discovering why conventional plots will no longer serve for the kind of writing he feels he has to accomplish, and this novel thus lets us experience the moment in the process of Whitman’s development when he realises fiction simply will not serve the kind of creative work he will devote the rest of his life to.” 
 
 A revival in Whitman’s work may be due. Prized for his originality, compassion, idealism and democratic patriotism, the poet saw himself as a prophet for what the US might become. “The Whitman of the early 1850s is absolutely ablaze,” said Turpin, who has form in finding unusual lost works by Whitman. Last year, he discovered a book-length guide to “manly health” by the poet, which tackled everything from virility to foot care and exercise. Hinting that more may be mined from the archives, Turpin added: “This new novel may also indicate that he didn’t give up prose. God knows – he could have, and probably did, write several more novels, if not many more than that. For all we know, they could be hiding in plain sight. Exciting, isn’t it?”
– A University of Houston grad student poking around in the Library of Congress' archives stumbled across a long-lost novel from the mid-19th century—and it's a discovery the editor of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review tells the Houston Chronicle is "going to change everything we thought we knew" about the American poetry legend his publication is named for. English PhD candidate Zachary Turpin's find: Whitman's Life and Adventures of Jack Engle, originally offered to readers in 1852 as a six-piece series in New York's Sunday Dispatch. The New York Times describes the then-anonymously written 36,000-word piece as a "quasi-Dickensian tale" (which it notes shows hints of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, published in 1855) about an orphan, with a bevy of compelling characters and "more than a few unlikely plot twists and jarring narrative shifts." Turpin, who hit Whitman gold in 2015 when he found a lost Whitman advice series, told the Times last year that his obsession with searching for unattributed Whitman works is "kind of a sickness I have in off-hours." This time around, his quest had him plumbing an archive that contained various Whitman notes, drafts, and other miscellaneous records, per the Guardian. One set of scraps featured a bunch of character names, including "Jack Engle," and when Turpin plugged those names into databases of Victorian-era newspapers, up popped a tiny Times ad for the upcoming Engle serial set to appear in the Dispatch, which Whitman was known to have written for. "I couldn't believe that, for a few minutes, I was the only person on Earth who knew about this book," Turpin says. Read the story at the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. (A husband-and-wife team identified a Whitman poem in 2014.)