The Late Life Writings of Walt Whitman

FAIN: RQ-292606-23

University of Nebraska, Lincoln (Lincoln, NE 68503-2427)
Kenneth Price (Project Director: November 2022 to present)

Preparation for online publication of Walt Whitman’s (1819-1892) late-life writings and poems including November Boughs and Good-Bye My Fancy. (36 months) 

We seek support from NEH to edit the late-life writings of Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and to make them freely available on The Walt Whitman Archive. Our work will feature two experimental mixtures of prose and verse from Whitman's late-life period, November Boughs (1888) and Good-Bye My Fancy (1891), along with approximately 315 manuscripts (1425 surfaces) that contribute to their genetic development. In his late-life phase, the poet of the body had become the poet of the aging body, and the poet of perfect health had become the poet of disability. Through Whitman we encounter aging and disability without illusions, without apology, without embarrassment.