LIVE OAK, WITH MOSS
Reconstructing the Early Calamus Sequence
Reconstructing the Early Calamus Sequence
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dc5bddce007ba31bb9812d821a3af6e12ee5d4173139f7a37c1ba4d389c28272/oak-1.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3e6a8611c2765457cc47194937912f5413e74d63419092694e734c77282cb08/oak-2.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/73121318a7145a9fe9ec3d02dcd924ac5773ec818efd1b4d5a0b73e73330429f/oak-3.jpg)
Fredson Bowers, who first discovered the early Calamus cluster, described the topical poems as “narrating an unhappy love affair … having special autobiographical significance for Whitman.”
Later, 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:
Poems
A cluster of poems, sonnets expressing the thoughts,
pictures, aspirations, &c
Fit to be perused during the days of the approach of Death.
(that I have prepared myself for that purpose.—
(Remember now—
Remember the[n]
“Live Oak, with Moss” is published here as a stand-alone collection, separated from the larger sequence and reconstructed as originally written and ordered by Whitman. Photos of the manuscript are accompanied by transcriptions, including edits, on facing pages.
Author: Walt Whitman
Editor: Anthony Opal
Booklet, 48pp, 7 x 5.25 in
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-7356630-7-4
Published: December 8, 2020