Walt Whitman's Wonderfully Witty Work

At first glance, there is writing scratched everywhere with no clear indication of what in particular is being addressed. Immediately is see “Brochure” scrawled followed by what appears to say “two characters as of a dialogue between A. L..” I assume this to be Abraham Lincoln based on the time period. However, my favorite part of the journal was the page talking about the different ships, followed by the sketches. “Ship of the World-Ship of Humanity-Ship of the Ages. Ship that circles the World” and my personal favorite “Ship of the Hope of the World-Ship of Promise.” Whitman seems to be exploring different titles, or even ending, and their different interpretations for a poem titled “Ship of Libert__” (I cannot read that). The next three drawings seem to show the same man just different facial expressions. At the end there is that creepy floaty skull thing with a heart pierced by a sword. The observations of messy writing and excessive use of scrawling very messily across the page give the impression that Whitman rushes to get everything in his head onto parchment. He incorporates many question marks, and scribbles out words. He seems to be searching for the perfect combination of words by his repeated use of similar phrases (like the ship example, same basic phrase just altered to create more options.)
The initial spotting of “Brochure” holds some significance as “he is apparently trying out prospective titles for a never-published “brochure” of dialogues with Lincoln, probably in verse form.” What was interesting about the drawings was that “It is unlikely that any are by Whitman himself: according to Alice Birney, who curates the poet’s papers in the manuscript division at the Library of Congress, he never drew or even doodled.” So why incorporate them into his journal? Regardless, the last page that contains the strange drawn figure is called an “Allegory of America”. They say that “This may be the most mysterious page in the notebook.” Behind it is a vast, flat sea with a rising (or setting?) sun. “Could this be an allegory of America itself, poised in a strange halfway state, suspended between day and night, life and death?”. Also, I didn't pick up on the idea of  liberty and that freedom is separate from democracy altogether, but I do think it shows Walt’s concern with the future of the nation, and of humanity, which in a sense, seems to be very poetic, or at least an excellent source of inspiration.