Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 12 March 1883

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 12 March 1883
Date: March 12, 1883
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: med.00656
Source: The location of the manuscript is unknown. Miller's transcription is based on a partial transcript in Clara Barrus, Whitman and Burroughs—Comrades (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1931), 240–241. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 331. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Stefan Schoeberlein Kirsten Clawson Nima Najafi Kianfar Nicole Gray
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 12 March 1883." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 04 December 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: med.00656.xml (TEI)

March 12, 1883

[Walt Whitman promised to read the Century proof when it arrived and to return it with suggestions.]

Chew on what I said in my last1—the position you occupy in your printed books is just what it should be to last—the paragraph or two of let-up or disclaimer in "Signs and Seasons" is right, too, "for reasons"—let it stand—but nothing further of apology—not a word.

Notes

1. See the letter from Whitman to Burroughs of February 26, 1883. Burroughs commented on this letter: "In the essay I had overhauled the poets. When I came to put it in book form I modified and excised a little" (Clara Barrus, Whitman and Burroughs—Comrades [Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1931], 241). [back]