What's in Whitman's Head?

"Brochure
Two characters as of a Dialogue between A. ..."
"Lessons for a President elect Dialogue between ... and 'President elect'"
"Why now I shall know whether there is anything in you, Libertad.  I shall see how much you can stand"
"Perhaps I shall see the crash - is all then lost?
"What then? Have those thrones there stood so ...?  Does the Queen of England represent a thousand years? And the Queen of Spain a thousand years? And you"
"Why now I should see what the old ship is made of"
"Any body can sail a fair wind, a smooth sea"
"Ship of Libertad
Blow mad winds!
...
Crash away
..."

3 pictures of men with full beards, progressing into a man with a hat and a man in a jacket with a hat.
A picture of a skeleton with a sword through its heart.

I think a good amount of the things found in this notebook are significant when attempting to interpret Whitman's writing.  Many of the passages of words found in this were the starts of poems. The transformation of thoughts and ideas to poetry was evident in this notebook, and it is my assumption that he had many more and they all contained the "rough drafts" of his poems throughout the years.  I believe the sketches he drew helped him create the ideas in his head in a visible form. This notebook could be the revelation of what might have been his primary creative process, though it is likely that that may have altered throughout the many years he created poetry.

After reading the analyses of this notebook, many things I did not see became more clear.  When I read the presidential section I was not aware that this specifically had to do with Lincoln.  Now that I am aware that it was, it seems plausible that Whitman did carry this notebook around with him and seeing Lincoln inspired some of his writing.  I was also unaware of the writings about religion as I could not read them very clearly.  He took his views of religion and created his own version of a religion which he wrote about in his works.  He uses this notebook as a place for him to write down his views of the world and then creates poetry from his interpretations.  It is very interesting to see the process written down, despite the difficulty of reading it.