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Whitman's review begins: "Herewith are presented, in advance of their publication, sufficiently copious extracts from Walt Whitman's new volume of poems, 'Two Rivulets,' to give a fair and pretty full summary of it. The book is an intertwining of the author's characteristic verse, alternated throughout with prose; and hence the name." In the article, Whitman, with considerable journalistic skill, excerpts significant passages from Two Rivulets. First he quotes from the Preface two paragraphs (pp. 5-6)[4] which explain his purpose in this miscellaneous collection of prose and poetry. Then he reprints his title poem "Two Rivulets" (p. 15) and the second poem "Or from that Sea of Time" (p. 16).[5] Next appear two more paragraphs from the Preface (pp. 12-13), with the deletion of a quotation from his poem "Eidólons" (pp. 17-20), which he reprints in entirety in the newspaper. Without comment he reprints a prose section entitled "Thoughts for the Centennial" (pp. 16-17), probably because of the topical interest in the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia later in the year. Then, abruptly returning to the biographical, he includes the first stanza of "Out from Behind this Mask" (p. 24). Once again rapidly changing subject matter, but always alternating prose and poetry, Whitman includes a prose section on "Freedom" (pp. 31-32), the poem "To a Locomotive in Winter" (pp. 25-26), and the prose "New Poetry —Prose Grander than Verse" (pp. 28-30, here entitled "New Poetry").
At this point in his review Whitman introduces descriptive material concerning his volume which the ordinary critic probably would have placed at the beginning:
The works quoted in Whitman's article mark first appearances in print which, I believe, have not been previously noted.
The third letter to Reid refers to the publication of Whitman's "A Death-Sonnet for Custer" (later entitled "From Far Dakota's Cañons"), in the Tribune on July 10, 1876.[7]
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