{"product_id":"live-oak-with-moss","title":"Live Oak, With Moss","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAmong Walt Whitman’s papers in the Valentine-Barrett collection at the University of Virginia is a handwritten manuscript titled “Live Oak, with Moss.” A dozen poems, the short collection is the first known iteration of what Whitman would develop into the longer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eCalamus\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003esequence, published in the 1860 version of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eLeaves of Grass\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFredson Bowers, who first discovered the early \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eCalamus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e cluster, described the topical poems as “narrating an unhappy love affair … having special autobiographical significance for Whitman.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLater, while visiting the Berg Collection in New York, Bowers came across a note in Whitman’s handwriting on the back of a separate ms. that contained parts of the first “Live Oak” poem and spoke to the general vision of the early sequence:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e                                        Poems\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA cluster of poems, sonnets expressing the thoughts,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e        pictures, aspirations, \u0026amp;c\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFit to be perused during the days of the approach of Death.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e        (that I have prepared myself for that purpose.—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e        (Remember now—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e        Remember the[n]\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Economy Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51855820456212,"sku":null,"price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0781\/7327\/4388\/files\/moss.png?v=1767986747","url":"https:\/\/sheepcultcomics.shop\/products\/live-oak-with-moss","provider":"SHEEP CULT COMICS","version":"1.0","type":"link"}