collage of myself Walt Whitman and the Making of Leaves of Grass matt miller University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London © 2010 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America An abbreviated version of chapter 1, “How Whitman Used His Early Notebooks,” appeared as “Composing the First Leaves of Grass: How Whitman Used His Early Notebooks” in Book History 11 (2007). Brief excerpts from chapter 2, “Packing and Unpacking the First Leaves of Grass,” and from chapter 3, “Kosmos Poets and Spinal Ideas,” appeared in Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 24 (Fall 2006–Winter 2007): 85–97. Various typographic transcriptions herein originally appeared in “Selections from the Talbot Wilson Notebook of Walt Whitman,” Double Room 3 (Fall–Winter 2003). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Miller, Matt (Matthew Ward) Collage of myself: Walt Whitman and the making of Leaves of grass / Matt Miller. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8032-2534-3 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Whitman, Walt, 1819–1892 — Technique. 2. Whitman, Walt, 1819–1892. Leaves of grass. 3. Whitman, Walt, 1819–1892 — Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc. 4. Whitman, Walt, 1819–1892 — Manuscripts. 5. Collage. I. Title. ps3241.m55 2010 811'.3 — dc22 2010020826 Set in Minion by Bob Reitz. Designed by Nathan Putens. For Mona Jorgensen and Lana Miller Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii List of Abbreviations xix 1 How Whitman Used His 1 Early Notebooks 2 Packing and Unpacking the 48 First Leaves of Grass 3 Kosmos Poets and Spinal Ideas 104 4 Poems of Materials 161 5 Whitman aft er Collage / 215 Collage aft er Whitman Notes 251 Bibliography 275 Index 283 Illustrations 1 A cut-away leaf showing 4 Whitman’s fi scal ledgers 2 Left over material from 1847 5 3 Whitman contemplates genres 15 for a major early work 4 Probable source manuscript for 16 title phrase “leaf of grass” 5 Whitman revises from third- to 21 fi rst-person address 6 Whitman revises from third- to 23 fi rst-person address 7 Prose notations in verse-like form 27 8 Comparison of “Med Copho΅sis” 30–31 leaf with “wood drake” leaf 9 Emphatic comments on 44 Whitman’s aesthetic theory 10 Whitman among his manuscripts 50 11 “Light and Air!” manuscript 60