Camerado: The Birth of a Word

I mentioned in a previous post that one of my earliest formative poetic moments was reading Whitman for the first time, specifically, the section of "Starting From Paumanok" pictured below. The Whitman Archive has made available "The Blue Book" or Whitman's annotated copy of the 1860 Leaves of Grass. The page presented below shows, in Whitman's hand, his coining of the term: "Camerado".

I realize that I am a bit of a Whitman-nerd, but I find it quite exciting to have access to the development of what is certainly one of the most important books of American (World?) poetry. In addition, as a writer, poet, teacher, editor (ha!), this digital copy of that ever-evolving (and devolving) book provides a window into how creation happens and continues through revision. It seems we could all learn something about the power of re-seeing by perusing Uncle Walt's epic task of revising a behemoth.

Enjoy!