1855 vs. 1860

The most notable difference is that there is no more "Song of Myself" or at least there is no mention of it.

The opening stanzas themselves mark the drastic shift between the 1855 version and the 1860 version. In the 1860 version:

Elemental drifts!
O I wish I could impress others as you and the waves have just been impressing me.

versus the first stanza of the 1855 edition:

I celebrate myself
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

Whitman is no longer the one who will impart knowledge upon his readers. Instead, in his 1860 stanza, Whitman is the one who takes on the role of the student instead of the teacher. Where did Whitman's egotistic narcissism go? In the span of five years, Whitman seemed to have taken a slice of humble pie with his poetry.

The most noticeable change is that the countless descriptions of people that were evident in "Song of Myself" have now been replaced by scenes of nature. In "Song of Myself" Whitman describes himself as being one with every other person in the world and the shift from man to nature would make one assume that he is now "one with nature", but that is not the case. In the first stanza of the 1860, Whitman says "Oh I wish I could impress others as you and the waves have just been impressing me." This marks a definite distinction between Whitman, the reader, and the natural world.

A motif that appears in the 1860 version is Whitman's "eternal self". Like in "Song of Myself", Whitman says "I am deathless" in "Song of Myself. He is apparently talking about himself existing in the poetry as well as in the making of other human beings. But in the 1860 version, the "eternal self" seems to represent something similar to that of a soul. "Alone, held by the eternal self of me that threatens to get the better of me, and stifle me" does not seem to be representing the self as part of the collective other, but an entity that is separate and individual. Ironically, it is precisely because of this "eternal self" that agitates Whitman and reminds him of his own mortal limitations.

O baffled, balked,

Bent to the very earth, here preceeding what follows,

Oppressed with myself that I have dared to open my mouth,

Aware now, that, amid all the blab whose echoes recoil upon me, I have not once had the least idea who or what I am,

But that before all my insolent poems the real ME still stands untouched, untold, altogether unreached,

Withdrawn far, mocking me with mock-congratulatory signs and bows,

With peals of distant ironical laughter at every word I have written or shall write,

Stirking me with insults till I fall helpless upon the sand.

O I percieve I have not understood anything -not a single object - and that no man ever can

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If one was not convinced that Whitman took a slice of humble pie, and a particularly large one (maybe even the entire pie itself), then these lines say it all. Whitman's shaken confidence in himself might be a result tensions that led up to the Civil War, which started in 1861. His hopes in "fixing" the world through poetry was undoubtedly naive to begin with and Whitman, by 1860, understood this very well.

The notes from the Blue Book also show other interesting changes to Whitman's style. In the 1855 version, Whitman was very much for the common man, such as his earthy author portrait expressed. However, in 1860, the change is bewilderingly different. The pictures pretty much speak for itself.

vs.

In 1860 Whitman has taken on a more "refined" look more appropriate to the poet while in 1855, he looks nothing like a poet. The notes found in the 1860 version also reflect this sentimentality. Along with notes on the classical literature such as the Aeneid and Paradise, there is also mention of the old and new testament from the Bible. No longer is the poem for the common man, but those who are well educated, a.k.a the wealthy elite.