On the eve of sending the enclosed piece1 abroad, I have taken a notion to first offer it to the Atlantic—and, if not too great a liberty, to solicit your services for that purpose.
I would be much obliged if you would take it in to Mr. Fields2 the first time you go to Boston—show him this letter—If available at all, I propose it for about the February number of the magazine. The price is $100, & 30 copies of the number in which it may be printed—and I will ask Mr. Fields to do me the favor to send me an answer within a week from the time he receives the piece—or perhaps he can give his decision at once on receiving it.3
With best respect & love, Walt Whitman.The piece appears in printed form because I have had it put in type for my own convenience, and to insure greater correctness—I forgot to say, above, that I scrupulously reserve the right to print this piece in future in my book—(which, however, will not be for several months.)
W. W.
Walt Whitman sent "Proud Music of the Sea-Storm" (later called "Proud Music of the Storm"), which James T. Fields, editor of the Atlantic Monthly, promptly accepted for the magazine; the poem appeared in the February 1869 issue of the magazine.
In 1888 Horace Traubel asked Whitman why he had appealed "to Emerson as a mediator": "For several reasons, I may say. But the best reason I had was in his own suggestion that I should permit him to do such things for me when the moment seemed ripe for it" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden [1906–1996], 2:22).
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