Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 16 January 1877

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 16 January 1877
Date: January 16, 1877
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: med.00665
Source: Miller's transcription of this letter is based on a printing in Clara Barrus, Whitman and Burroughs—Comrades (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1931), 139. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 74. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Kevin McMullen Anthony Dreesen Alicia Bones Grace Thomas Nicole Gray Kenneth Price
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 16 January 1877." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 05 November 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: med.00665.xml (TEI)

January 16, 1877

I have been over here with the Gilchrists for a week1—go back to Camden this afternoon or tomorrow—I have a nice room here with a stove and oak wood—everything very comfortable and sunny—most of all the spirit (which is so entirely lacking over there in Camden, and has been for more than three years)—

We often speak of you—I received your letter of the 7th. . . .2

Love to you and 'Sula. Walt Whitman.

Notes

1. Walt Whitman's increasing dissatisfaction with life in his brother George's home (see Walt Whitman's letter to Mannahatta and Jessie Louisa Whitman on December 20, 1876) is apparent in the frequency of his absences. He was with the Staffords from January 6 to 10 and January 18 to 23 (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.), and he stayed with the Gilchrists from January 10 to 16 and January 25 to February 2. [back]
2. This letter is not known. [back]