Evolution of Leaves of Grass (1855, 1860, & 1867)

Wow, the 1860 volume of Leaves of Grass got a lot more Whitman into it. I feel like "Proto-leaf" -- like a prototype of "Leaves of Grass" -- served really well as an introduction into "Walt Whitman" ("Song of Myself") as it, in a way, summarizes and introduces what lies ahead in the adventures of his poetry. There's plenty of mentions of "Earth-based" elements -- soil, space, specific places, prairies, and just overall geographical features. Grass can be found just about everywhere, evenly spreading around to all places. O definitely Whitman, and a way to build up from the roots of what message he wants to get across and into the surface -- "to the leaves of grass".

I can't help but not notice the overall format change of "Walt Whitman" ("Song of Myself") -- the line arrangement, actually. The 1855 version seems to have sentences and phrases run off until they are complete or have complete thoughts and ideas (based on the pieces of sentences that can stand alone or are a complete fragment). Looking at it at first seemed almost overwhelming -- such long lines, I thought, that seemed similar in format to reading a book. Cue the 1860 version, however, and then the poem comes more alive. To me, Whitman changes the lines so that, not only do they seem "short", but his rhyme and rhythm come out at you and I was able to see what sort of musicality Whitman had in mind for the poem. While punctuation serves as the main "musical notes" in poetry as they tell you where and how to pause (and Whitman really does change from the long, drawn-out yawns of ellipses to the sort of curled but surely smooth commas and semicolons and the staccato snaps of hyphens), there's also the subtle pauses found at the ends of lines as you bring your eyes along to the next line down. Through the new arrangement of lines, Whitman brings out these new subtle breaks of silence that bring out a new meaning from the text. For example, from the passage that I read for the Youtube video assignment, I noticed that, from reading the 1860 version, that there are entirely different meanings just from small changes in line arrangement. It feels more breathy, as if one really is taking the time to slow down and take in the air, as opposed to long winded-ness that may have come from me not recognizing these subtle tones and pitches from the more extended lines.

From the blue notes etchings, I couldn't help but notice the seemingly small edits of some words. One small change original in the 1867 version is noted in the words "cool-breath'd", "elbow'd", and "apple-blossom'd". In his notes, Whitman marked of the "e"'s and kept them off in the newer remake of the poem. Why did Whitman opt for the "-'d" edit over the traditional "-ed"? There are many, many instances of this throughout the more recent version. The first conclusion that I reach is that the "-'d" is so much more "dude-ranch cowboy" like -- rugged. It breaks from the formal way of spelling and pronunciation and introduces the casual, loafer's colloquial dialect. I wonder why Whitman didn't go with this a lot sooner, especially since there's the play of the "German-French-Latin" distinction of language through his diction.