The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Document
Title: Walt Whitman to Peter Doyle, 31 July [1874]
Date: July 31, 1874
Source: The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman,The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 2:310. For a detailed description of discrepancies between this electronic edition and the print source, see our statement of editorial policy.
Location: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00350
431 Stevens st.
Camden,
N. Jersey
July 31.
Address: Pete Doyle, M street South bet 4½ & 6th Washington, D. C.
Postmarks: Philadelphia Jul 31(?)12 M Pa.; Carrier Aug 18 AM.
The dating of this postcard as well as the notes and letters to Doyle on August 7,
14, 21, and 28, 1874,
depends in part on Whitman's habit of writing on Fridays. However, as evidenced in Whitman's
August 5, [1874], letter to Ellen O'Connor and his
August 18, [1874], letter to John and Ursula Burroughs, both of which were
conclusively written in 1874, Whitman's "alternations" were especially marked during the summer of this year,
and despite his "natural buoyancy" he was frequently depressed by the inability of his once healthy body
to triumph over his ailments.
Though some bad spells still, things decidedly more favorable in my condition. I shall get up yet.
W