In Whitman's Hand

Manuscripts

About this Item

Title: As in a Swoon

Creator: Walt Whitman

Date: Between 1872 and 1876

Whitman Archive ID: yal.00004

Source: Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Transcribed from digital images of the original. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of manuscripts, see our statement of editorial policy.

Editorial note: "As in a Swoon" was published first in the 1876 printing of Leaves of Grass. Though the poem was not included in any subsequent editions of Leaves, Whitman did include it in the 1891 volume Good-Bye My Fancy and as one of the few poems in the 1892 volume Complete Prose Works. Whitman likely wrote this manuscript between 1872 and 1876, after the publication of the 1872 edition of Leaves of Grass and before the poem's publication in the 1876 edition.

Notes written on manuscript: On leaf 1 recto, in Horace Traubel's hand: "see notes April 9 1891"

Contributors to digital file: Nicole Gray, Nick Krauter, Andrew Jewell, Jennifer R. Overkamp, Kenneth M. Price, and Brett Barney



[begin leaf 1 recto] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Page image: https://whitmanarchive.org/manuscripts/figures/yal.00004.001.jpg]

As in a Swoon.

As in a swoon, one instant,

Another sun, ineffable, full-dazzles
me,

And all the orbs I knew, with
brighter, unknown orbs, ^ten thousand fold,

One instant of the future land—
Heeaven's land.


———

Is this [pub'd?]? is it in L of G—or annex?


[begin leaf 1 verso] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Page image: https://whitmanarchive.org/manuscripts/figures/yal.00004.002.jpg]




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