FEINBERG/WHITMAN      LITERARY FILE      POETRY FILE   "Penitenzia."   A.MS. draft. 
Box 28 Folder 36

Includes transcript from Walt Whitman's Workshop, 
by Clifton Joseph Furness, pp. 190-191.

See also
POETRY FILE
"To the Man-of-War Bird" (1881). A.MS.S. draft. 
Box 30[*874*]
Penitenzia: 5
[[on my](photograph'd
[[bt] by Mr. Tarisse)
[From Shadows [deep,] deep & dark I peer
[[Pen] Out
[[Forth on the world, my race, my comrades dear]
[On Nature, [man,] on my comrades dear
[Curious
[[Tell] Peering from
[Tell, how, forth from those shadows peering,
[*[6]* Thou, who, peering from shadows deep
[Can y
[Do you too [be] form a poem
[of this book
[Telling what]
[*[End of [????d] notebook]*]
[*[page 1]*]
(The portrait
Mask['d] with their lids thine eyes, O
Soul.
[Think of]
[*[over]*]
[*875*]
[Pass to the un accomplish'd hover [*[?]*]
[Pass to the vast unknown.
[The objective world behind thee leave left afar
[Droop, droop thine eyes, O Soul!
[Exalt thyself to musing—speed thy
[flight! (thy slough dropt from
[thee,)
[The objective world behind thee leave.]
[Drooping thy] The standards of the light
[Droop, droop thine eyes!] & sense shut off
[veil'd, shut off,]
[Light & the senses abdicated,]
To darkness now retiring, [aloof in] [aloof]
   [to] from thy
   thy inward abysms.
How curious, looking thence, [aloof] aloof appears the
   [appear] appear thy comrades
   Appears aloof [appears,] thy
   world, [thy comrades,] [own] life, each
   this [the] visage [of thyself visage] Passion, each event.
And thy [own life, passions, and body.]

The objective world behind thee left,
[*[End of page]*]
[*[move]*][*876*]

Penitenzia: 6

Clifton Joseph Furness, Walt Whitman's Workshop, pp. 190-191,
says: "Veil thy strong perception. Musing, retire within thyself."

This entry is from a notebook filled with material showing
the complete genesis of a poem, when studied in connection with 
a second notebook devoted to the same theme, and a final rough 
drafting of the poem entire. These three MSS., taken together,
show so strikingly the mysterious and devious ways by which
ideas reached final fruition in Whitman's workshop, and also
exemplify the uncanny mixture of subconscious with self-conscious
elements in his creative processes, in such a graphic way,
that selections from each MS. Are here reproduced from examination.

The title for the projected poem was to be PENITENZIA. This
is written in red ink on the covers of both notebooks. Then the
unworked raw material follows.... ¶A second notebook, probably merely
a collateral or alternative place for jotting fragments, which
he may have reserved for the more detailed formulation of the material 
for this poem, contains several directions for the composition
of the piece, and its first tentative draft.... ¶Then appears the
poem itself, on a single sheet of MS., emerging, like its subject,

[*over*]877
from behind the welter of appearances, with infinite painstaking 
revisions, the emendations standing sometimes three or four deep.
Hardly a single word of the original writing remains unaltered![* (The Portrait *]

Mask['d] with their lids thine eyes. O
 Soul!
[Think of] [Pass to] [Pass to the unaccomplish'd - hover]
[the vast unknown.]
[The objective world behind thee [left] leave afar]

[Droop. Droop thine eyes, O Soul!]
Exalt thyself to musing - speed thy
flight! (thy slough dropt from thee.)]

[The objective world behind thee leave,
[Drooping they] 
[Droop, droop thine eyes] ! The standards of the light & sense shut off
[Light & the senses abdicated]. [veil'd, shut off.]

To darkness now retiring, aloof in
thy from abysms. [*mired to this*]

The objective world behind thee left.

How curious, looking thence, [*[?]*] appears the
world appear thy comrades appear thy comrades, —¶Appears aloof appears, thy [own] life each
passion, each 
event
And this thy [own life] [the] visage [of thyself], [visage.] [passion], [and body.] 

From Walt Whitman's Workshop
By Clifton Joseph Furness
Pages 190-191
"Veil thy strong perceptions. Musing, retire within thyself."
This entry is from a notebook filled with material showing 
the complete genesis of a poem, when studied in connection with 
a second notebook devoted to the same theme, and a final rough 
drafting of the poem entire. These three MSS., taken together, 
show so strikingly the mysterious and devious ways by which 
ideas reached final fruition in Whitman's workshop, and also 
exemplify the uncanny mixture of subconscious with self-conscious 
elements in his creative processes, in such a graphic way, 
that selections from each MS. are here reproduced for examination.

The title for the projected poem was to be PENITENZIA. This 
is written in red ink on the covers of both notebooks. Then 
the unworked raw material follows. "For part in L of G. 
Collect the good portraits. Kurtz's head with eyelids drooping. 
Tarisse's head. Make poems to match. Veil (?) Mask with the 
lids thine eyes, O soul! ***Retire within thyself. Mask with 
the lids thine eyes, O soul. Droop--droop thine eyes O soul. 
Be not abased. I sing the unaccomplished--I sing the vast 
dark unknown. . . . Then chant (celebrate) the unknown, the 
future hidden spiritual world the real reality."

A second notebook, probable merely a collateral or alternative 
place for jotting fragments, which he may have reserved 
for the more detailed formulation of the material for this 
poem, contains general directions for the composition of the 
piece, and its first tentative draft. "Sentiment of the piece: 
Abstraction, Meditation, Penitence.? qu.--three (or more) 
stanzas of interrogatory character. For portrait with hat. 
Behind (Under) that mask of shade? heavy shade. Veil with 
the lids. Eyes, droop thy lids. O penitence. Repentance. 
(It.) Penitenzia? The drooping of the eyelids generally 
accompanies humility--indicates penitence--see the Roman Catholic 
devotees--& specimen pictures of the saints &c. On the portrait. 
Photo by Mr. Tarisse. As apostrophising the depths. Look 
out from the shadows. Thou who--(?qu) Lookest out from the 
shadows on--(leader: events of the day in America, Europe 
(Spain & Cuba)--advent of Grant, abolition of Slavery, Pacific 
Railroad) moral events & characterization as well as physical 
& political. Thou who, in the shadows retiring Lookest from 
thence out on the world, Lookest out on the land--(on my 
portrait Tarisse's) Thou forth from the shadows peering. 
From shadows deep & dark I peer Forth on the world, my race 
my comrades dear, Curious--Peering. Tell how from birth 
from these shadows peering. Thou who peering from shadows 
deep. Do you too form a poem of this book Telling what"

[*COPY*]Then appears the poem itself, on a single sheet of MS., emerging, like its subject, from behind the welter of appearances, with infinite painstaking revisions, the emendations standing sometimes three and four deep. Hardly a single word of the original writing remains unaltered!

Mask with their lids thine eyes, O soul
Pass to the unaccomplished, over the vast
unknown
Droop, droop thine eyes O Soul
Exalt thyself to musing--speed thy flight
--thy slough dropt from thee
The objective world behind thee leave
The standards of the light and sense
shut off
To darkness now retiring
Aloof inward to the abysms (?)
How curious then appears the world,
Thy comrades, life and this thy visage,
passive each
The objective world behind thee left.

From the Whitman Manuscript Collection of Charles E. Feinberg