FEINBERG/WHITMAN LITERARY FILE POETRY FILE "To the Man-Of-War Bird" (1876). A.MS.S. drafts. (DCN64). Box 30 Folder 4 See also POETRY FILE "Penitenzia". A.MS.draft . Veil with the [their] lids thine yes, O Soul sentiment of the piece abstraction Meditation Penitence ?qu - three (or more) stanzas of interrogatory character Penitenzia for portrait with hat Behind Under that mask of shade ? heavy shade Veil with the lids Eyes, droop thy li [O penitence] [Repentance] Penitenzia (lt) ! The drooping of the eyelids generally accompanies humility —indicates penitence—see the Roman Catholic devotees —& specimen pictures of the saints, &c. [On the portrait] [On Mr. Tarisse's] photo by Mr. Tarisse as apostrophising the depths Look out from the shadows Thou who - ? qu Lookest out from the shadows on (leads[?] events of the day in America Europe/Spain & Cuba) --Advent of Grant abolition of Slavery Pacific Railroad [*Moral [events as] events & characterizations [well as] as will[?] as physical and political*] Thou who, [Gov?]] [from] in the shadows returning[?] Lookest [out on the] from thence out on the world Lookest out on the land - [*on my portrait on Tarisse's*] Thou, [there[?]] [?] forth from the shadows peering From shadows deep and dark I peer Tell, how [on my] (photograph'd [?] by Mr. Tarisse) From Shadows [deep,] deep & dark I to peer [Per[?]] 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, Thou: who, peering from shadows deep Can y Do you too [be] form a poem of this book Jelling[?] what?] [*2*] [*866*] [Penitenzia:] poem. Trial lines, notes, etc. A.MS. (24p. 20 x 12½, 25 x 19½ [1p.] cm.) Written in ink and pencil, with name of poem in red ink and a very few of the corrections in blue pencil, in two small notebooks made by folding sheets of lined stationery, one clipped together, the other glued & a sheet pasyed into each, with another larger sheet containing a rough draft of the entire poem, 347, 241, 132 words (720 total): [*[1]*] for } part in L of G [th] Collect the good portraits-- Kurtz's head with eyelids drooping _______ Tarisse's head _______ Make poems [*[over]*] [*867*] to match. Penitenzia. [Also on this page ,underneath and between writing in ink, are words and lines in pencil, barely legible:] O [life] sight of shame & poem O beautiful thought one - a comrst[*[?]*] [To] Hollow soul [*[?]*] destructive [*[?]*] despairingly O [*[?]*] O fear [*[?]*] disguise O live O fearful sight [*[?]*] court [*[?]*] soul [*[2]*] [Blank.] [*[3] [Page pasted in, reading upwards]*] ? Veil Mask with the lids thine eyes [*[more]*] 868 Penitenzia: 2 O soul! x x x Retire within thyself / [4] [Blank.] [5] Mask with the lids thine Eyes, O soul ------ Droop--droop thine eyes O Soul Be not abased ? Veil--veil thy strong perceptions Musing retire within thyself / [6] [Blank.] [7] I sing the un accomplished I sing the vast unknown dark [over] 869 --- As the night shows the myriads (Piece "The fire on the ground burns low,) / [8] [Blank.] -- [9] Let the piece "Droop-- droop thine eyes, O Soul"--convey the idea of a trance, yet with all the senses alert--only a state of high exalted musing-- --the tangible & material with all its shows, the objective world, suspended or surmounted, [or] / [more] [*870*] Penitenzia: 3 [*[10]*] [Blank.] [*[11]*] for a while, & the powers in exaltation, freedom, vision-- - yet the senses not lost contenaried [*[?]*] -- celebrate Then chant, the the unknown, the future hidden spiritual world the real reality / [*[12]*] [Blank.] [*[13]*] qu?- Whether to make a new Vol. of these pieces, including Whispers of Heavenly Death-- que?--Whether to finish up [t] Leaves of Grass in one Vol ---- Drum Taps in another Carol of Harvest for 1867 Ethiopia Saluting --- --Whispers &c. in another / [*[14]*] Blank. [*[15]*] good to bring in lecture or reading. [be] beauty series of comparison --- not the beautiful youth [*[over]*] [*871*] with features of bloom & brightness --- but the [searr] browned old farmer & father --- not the soldiers trim in handsome uniforms marching off to springhtly music with measured step --- but the remnant returning, thinn'd / [16] Not the [famed so] vaunted scenery of the tourest, picturesque, But the plain landscape, the bleak sea shore, or the barren plain, with the [*sideway] common sky & sun, or at night the moon & stars. / [17] out. --- not the beautifyl flag with stainless white, spangled with silver & gold But the old rug just adhering to the staff, in tatters-- the remnant of the many battle-fields. ------------- not the beautiful [g] girl or the elegant lady, with ? complexion But the mechanic's wife at work, or the mother of many children, middle-aged or old / [*[18.] [Blank.] [End of first notebook.]*] [*[more]*] [End of notebook} [more] [*872*] Penitenzia: 4 [*[1]*] Veil with the their lids thine eyes, O Soul sentiment of the piece abstraction Meditation Penitence ?qu--three (or more) stanzas of interrogatory character Pentenzia ---- for portrait with hat Behind Under that mask of shade ? heavy shade / [*[2]*] [Blank.] [*[3]*] Veil with the lids Eyes, droop thy li [O penitence Repentance] (It) Pentenzia ! The drooping of the eyelids generally accompanies humility -- indicates penitence -- see the Roman Catholic devotees -- & specimen pictures of the saints, &c. / [*[over]*] [*873*] [4] - [On the portrait] [On Mr. Tarisse's] photo by Mr. Tarisse As apostrophising the depths Look out form the shadows Thou who-- & ? qu Lookest out from the shadows On - (leading events of the day in America Europe (Spain & Cuba) --Advent of Grant ) abolition of Slavery) Pacific Railroad) Moral [events as] events & characterization [well as] as well as physical & political Thou who, [loo from] in the shadows returning Lookest [out on the] from thence out on the world Lookest out on the land - / [5] Thou [than] [there] there [on] (on my portrait Tarisse's forth from the shadows peering From shadows deep & dark I peer Tell how [*[more]*] Tell, how [more] [*874*] Pentenzia: 5 [on my] (photograph'd [bt] by Mr. Tarisse) [*to*] 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 s[?] notebook]*] [*[page:]*] [(The portrait Mask'[d] with their lids thine eyes, O Soul!] [Think of] [*[over]*] 1881 TO THE MAN-OF-WAR-BIRD; poem. A.MSS. (3p. and two notebooks: 4 and 10p. Various sizes) Apparently intended to be titled Penitenzia since the two notebooks contain the work in red ink on covers. The 10p. notebook includes in addition to ideas for the poem, notes on possible forms of publication of Leaves of Grass: "qu? - Whether to make a new Vol of these pieces, including Whispers of Heavenly Death - qu? - Whether to finish up Leaves of Grass in one Vol - Drum Taps in another . . . - Whispers &c. in another." The second notebook starts with the first verse of the completed poem on cover: "Veil with their lids thine eyes, O Soul . . . ? qu - three (or more) stanzas of interrogatory character." Two loose pages contain rough MS. draft of the poem and are accompanied by a label inscribed by Walt Whitman: "MS draft of Thou who hast slept all night upon the storm - (final copy printed in London Athenaeum Apr 1, 76 - W. W. Camden, March 1876.") This poem was included in Leaves of Grass, 1881, p. 204 {64} 1881 Sept. THE SOBBING OF THE BELLS; a poem. A.MS. on verso of discarded letter, (1p. 12 x 24 cm.) [Original manuscript draft of the poem composed upon President Garfield's death, dated by Walt Whitman: "Midnight Sept. 19-20,1881." Written in ink with many corrections on verso of letter from J. B. O'Reilly. This manuscript is referred to in With Walt Whitman in C., v. 2, p. 136.] [Also: Cancelled draft of the poem (A.MS. 1p. 20 x 12 cm.) as it was sent to the press. Framed together with Whitman's portrait, signed and dated 1879. The poem was rearranged and published in the Boston Daily Globe, Sept. 27, 1881. The clipping from the paper pasted to verso. Also a reproduction of another draft and photograph of Walt Whitman's room in Camden. {69}] 1882 ADVERTISEMENT FOR SPECIMEN DAYS AND COLLECT. A.MS. (1p. 23 x 16 cm.) part in[?] for} L of G [M] Collect the good portraits - Kurtz's[?] head with eyelids droop'g[?] ----- Tarisse's head ----- Make poems to Match. Penitenzia. [O [Cafe] Drift of shame & p[?] O fear for thought - a current[?] to follow soul[?] soul] ? Veil Mask with the lids thine eyes, O soul ! x x x Retire within thyself Mark with the lids thine Eyes, O soul Droop - droop thine eyes O Soul Be not abased Veil - veil thy strong perceptions [Musing?] retire within thyself I sing the unaccomplished —I sing the vast dark unknown - as the night shows the myriads (Piece "The fire on the ground burns low,) Let the piece " Droop - droop thine eyes, O Soul” - convey the idea of a trance, yet with all the senses alert - only a state of high exalted musing - - the tangible & Material with all its shows, the objective world, suspended or surmounted, [or] for a while, & the powers in exaltation, freedom, vision-- --yet the senses not lost or [?contained] -- Then chant, celebrate the the unknown, the future hidden spiritual world the real reality qu?--Whether to make a new Vol. of these pieces, including Whispers of Heavenly Death-- que?[?]--Whether to finish up [l] Leaves of Grass in one Vol ———— Drum Taps in another Carol of Harvest for 1867 Ethiopia saluting ————— --Whispers &c. in another [*good to bring in lecture or reading*] beauty series of comparison ———- not the beautiful youth with features of bloom & brightness but the [scarr?] brown[?] old farmer & father ------------ not the soldiers trim in handsome uniforms marching off to sprightly music with measured step —- but the remnant returning, thinn'd[?] Not the [famed so[?]] vaunted scenery of the tourist, picturesque, But the plain landscape, the bleak sea shore, or the barren plain, with the common sky & sun, - or at night the moon and stars, out, ---- not the beautiful flag with stainless white, spangled with silver & gold But the old rag just adhering to the staff, in tatters - the remnant of many battle-fields ------- Not the beautiful [g] girl or elegant lady with ? complexion But the mechanic's wife at work or the mother of many children, middle-aged or old M E 3 1 31 - 78 - 411#8 [Thou ship of space that never furl'st thy sails; Fitted to cope with sea and night and hurricane] ([[?]] Bursts the wild [storm] [tempest] storm? above it thou ascendedst And rested[st] [in] on the sky thy slave thus? cradlest[dst] there,) [There,] Now, a [f] blue point, far, far, in heaven floating, [Myself a speck a point, [on] [on] the world's floating vast,] As [from the night] to the light emerging, here on Deck I watch thee, (Myself a speck, a point on the world's floating vast) [For now] Far, far a sea [after the of [?] now[ [?] space that never furlst thy sails From ships of [After] [a vast] [terrible storm] [night hurricane] [wrecking ships] [with death] after the [the] nights howling [?] storm drift has [Strewn the shores] [With] Strewn [Hast] strewn the shores with wrecks [wrecks and death's debris.] In [D[?] reappearing] [reappears] day[?] so [so] happy & serene The rosy & elastic [day] dawn, the flashing sun, [appp.] The limpid spread of air cerulean Thou, [thou too] also reappearest. Thou, born to fully match the gale! (thou art all wings;) To [fully] cope with night and cloud and sea & hurricane! Thou ship of space that never furl'st thy sails At dusk, that look'st on Senegal, at morn America, That play'st amid the lightning flash and thunder-roll Days, even weeks, untired and onward - [those] through spaces, [storms] realms, gyration [?]ing, swirling, earth & sea - days, even weeks, untiring [?,] In [?] [?] [thy life] in [the[?]] thy experiences, hadst thou my soul, What joys - what joys were thine! [*Originally printed in London Athenaeum April 1, '76*] MS MS. draft of Thou who hast slept all night upon the storm rough MS. proof & (final copy as printed in London Athenaeum April 1 '76) W. W. Camden, March, 1876 Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.