Again a few lines to you. The past summer & fall have laid me up again, & I am now entering the sixth month of confinement in my big chair & sick room—commenced early in June—abt the sixth whack (as I call it) from my old obstinate war-paralysis—from the overstrain'd work & excitement of Secession years, 1863, 4 & 5. I am now staving it off and on, but it is a serious siege & I do not really look for it being raised anything like really—I am in good spirits & comfortable enough. Mr. Fry1 (of England bro't a note from you) call'd upon me yesterday—and I sent you by him my new little book November Boughs2 (but it will be a week before he sails home). I have also a big 900 page Vol. nearly ready, combining all my writings, last revisions,3 &c.—I will send you a copy—Do you see anything of Rolleston?4 If so I send him my affectionate remembrances—I am sitting by my oak-wood fire writing this (cold but sunny weather here)—Spend most of my time alone—a few visitors—get along better than you might suppose. Love & thanks to you, my friend, & best best regards to my Irish friends all.
Walt WhitmanCorrespondent:
Edward Dowden (1843–1913), professor of
English literature at the University of Dublin, was one of the first to
critically appreciate Whitman's poetry, particularly abroad, and was primarily
responsible for Whitman's popularity among students in Dublin. In July 1871,
Dowden penned a glowing review of Whitman's work in the Westminster Review entitled "The Poetry of Democracy: Walt Whitman," in which Dowden described
Whitman as "a man unlike any of his predecessors. . . . Bard of America, and
Bard of democracy." In 1888, Whitman observed to Traubel: "Dowden is a book-man:
but he is also and more particularly a man-man: I guess that is where we
connect" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden,
Sunday, June 10, 1888, 299). For more, see Philip W. Leon, "Dowden, Edward (1843–1913)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).