14. Notebook of Whitman

Before 
When first viewing the cover of Whitman's notebook, it is apparent that the notebook is extremely worn and old. We can conclude that Walt Whitman did not take very good care of it and possibly take it with him everywhere he went. The cover is plain and black with multiple scratches and tears visible. When viewing the first page, I noticed that his handwritten is very messy and difficult to read. This could also be due to the fading that occurs over time. Also there is no definite order and neatness to any of his pages. They all seem to be simple notes and ideas that he quickly scribbled into his notebook. Although I cannot decipher the words, I have noticed that many of his phrases end in question marks. He may do this when bouncing ideas around in order to create the perfect story. Lastly, I noticed his drawings towards the end of his notebook. These drawings are extremely detailed. They vary from drawings of characters to the creation of title pages.

After 
After seeing the story behind his notebook, i was correct that he did take it with him everywhere. More specifically though, he kept it in his coat pocket. This explains the wear and tear that i noticed on the front cover. I find it extremely fascinating that Whitman glanced upon his hero, Abraham Lincoln, and created a fake conversation with him. The possibility that he even may of started this conversation in his journal while watching him makes it even more fascinating in my opinion. I was also correct in my first assumptions that he bounced around with ideas in his book, toying with different titles and dialogues. Many may wonder why he was so fond of Lincoln but we see in his notebook that they both shared the same ideologies. Like Lincoln, Walt Whitman also despised slavery and wanted to see it come to an end. Earlier i believed that the drawings in his book were created by Whitman himself, but this is not true. Whitman never drew or even doodled so these drawings must have been created by someone else. The first portrait in the notebook is a drawing of Whitman himself which leads me to wonder why Whitman would have someone draw a picture of himself in his notebook that was meant for ideas.