blew book

            I have been looking at the progression of lines from “This is the grass that grows wherever the land is, and the water is; This is the common air that bathes the globe” and onward. In the blue book version, W.W. has marked the area to death. He crossed out whole stanzas with possible new stanzas or revisions of what was already there. On page 56, he crosses many lines out and revises certain sentences, yet none of this appears in the 1867 version. What takes place of these half a dozen lines, is a line or two that has no evidence in his notes. He extracts lines that catalogue all type of people, while preserving the line “I play not marches for accepted victors only—I play great marches for conquer'd and slain persons.” Further down the page, Whitman rewrites “I beat triumphant drums for the dead” which is noted for revision and actually revised just as he marked- “I beat AND POUND drums for the dead.” It is such a minute change, yet it was made, like many of his notes prove.

            He altered lines, deleted, added – gave his poem a facelift- all to mirror how he felt about what he had written. It is interesting to compare these versions because it provides insight to the spirit of Whitman. Whitman (like all) was changing as a person, so why couldn’t his creations? The capricious nature of creation is not to be preserved, but observed - allowed time to grow.