431 Stevens st.
cor West.
Camden, New
Jersey, March 4, 1874.
Dear Rudolf Schmidt1,
The Danish edition Demokratiske Fremblik, of my Democratic
Vistas2, has reached me to–day, (one copy, complete,
paper–bound, and two instalments of loose sheets)—makes a handsome little book,
very neatly & appropriately printed & bound—It is a great, deep, joy to me to
be thus in communion with thoughtful & democratic men & women in the Scandinavian
countries—I think much, much of it—& of you as the medium of it.
I suppose you rec'd my letter from here of Jan. 25—about my illness, paralysis—(& the
papers I sent giving some details of it.) I am still unwell—Cannot work any—To–day I send you Harper's Magazine3 for
February, with a piece4 I have written to idealize our great
Pacific half of America5, (the future better
half)—also a N. Y. Tribune, with a poem, (my latest,) Prayer of Columbus.6 So you will see I
cannot desist from writing, sick or well.
Clemens Petersen I see his pieces occasionally in the magazines—I have sent you one
or two, formerly—I only met him that time, over two years ago, I mentioned7—have not seen any thing of his lately in print. You speak of
a jaunt or tour in Germany—O how I should like to be with you & go around with
you, in some of those quaint old cities & spots—the motherhood, (or rather
grandmotherhood) of so much in this New World. Don't fail, my dear friend, to write me at
least as soon as you return. Mention whether you have rec'd the paper, (N. Y. Graphic) with acc't of my illness8—also February Harper's, and the Tribune, by this mail—I like to hear
specifically whether the papers and letters I send, reach you all right—address me
here, Camden, N. Jersey, until further notice. (On papers, printed matter, &c. don't
write any thing on wrappers, but only address, as our post office law strictly prohibits
it.)
As I am laid up here, very lonesome, your letters will be doubly welcome. I am saving up
for you some pieces on American humor, which I will send, when ready.
About Demokratiske Fremblik I shall next time have something further
to say. I enclose in Harper's, two copies, proof of my portrait—wood engraving,9 rough but good, lately made—looks quite like me—(for
all my sickness, which is pretty serious, I keep much the same in flesh & face.) It is
mild & pleasant here to–day as I write, middle of the day—I am sitting here
with open doors, the bright sun shining—Don't fail to write me—try to take some
time of an hour's leisure—I like to hear about your people there—about the
lady10 you spoke of who was interested in Democratic Vistas—& the Professor11 you once
wrote of also—about Bjornsen also.
Walt Whitman
Notes
- 1. Rudolf Schmidt, a Dane and
editor of For Idé og Virkelighed, is credited with
introducing Walt Whitman to Scandinavia by quoting translated passages from Leaves of Grass in an 1872 essay in his magazine. He
wrote to Walt Whitman on October 19, 1871:
"I intend to write
an article about yourself and your writings in the above named periodical which
is very much read in all the Scandinavian countries. ... I therefore take the
liberty to ask you, if you should not be willing to afford some new
communications of yourself and your poetry to this purpose" (The Library of
Congress). [back]
- 2. Rudolph Schmidt translated Whitman's Democratic Vistas into Danish in 1874. [back]
- 3. Harper's Monthly
Magazine (sometimes Harper's New Monthly
Magazine or simply Harper's) was established in
1850 by Henry J. Raymond and Fletcher Harper. The magazine published several of
Walt Whitman's poems, including "Song of the Redwood-Tree" and "Prayer of Columbus." In 1857, Fletcher Harper founded Harper's Weekly (subtitled "A Journal of Civilization"),
which gained its fame for its coverage of the Civil War and its publication of
cartoonist Thomas Nast's (1840–1902) work. For Whitman's relationship with
these two publications, see "Harper's Monthly Magazine" and "Harper's Weekly Magazine." [back]
- 4. "Song of the Redwood-Tree." [back]
- 5. In a November 2, 1873,
letter, Walt Whitman offered "Song of the Redwood-Tree" to Henry M. Alden,
editor of Harper's Monthly Magazine. Of "Song of the
Redwood-Tree" Rudolf Schmidt observed: "It is your old great theme in a simple
and powerful stile, embracing the holy and original nation of the far West"
(Syracuse University; Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in
Camden [1906–1996], 4:464). For digital images of the poem as it
appeared in Harper's Monthly Magazine, see "Song
of the Redwood-Tree." [back]
- 6. In reprinting the poem on February 24,
1874, the Tribune commented that it "shows the brawny
vigor, but not the reckless audacity, by which the name of that wild poet has
become best known to the public." [back]
- 7. Whitman mentioned this meeting in his April 4, 1872 letter to Schmidt. Schmidt pressed
Walt Whitman for his opinion of Petersen, as in his letter of February 28, 1874: "I have asked you at least two
times how you did like Clemens Petersen; you have not replied and most probably
you wont speak of this matter. If that is the case, I shall repeat the question
no more." [back]
- 8. Walt Whitman referred to an article in the
Daily Graphic of January 23, 1874, in which C. F.
presented "A Biographical Sketch—An American Poet Graduating from a
Printer's 'Case.' " [back]
- 9. Linton's engraving appeared in the 1876
edition of Leaves of Grass. [back]
- 10. Roos suggests the reference is perhaps to
Nathalie Zahle, a reformer of Danish female schools; see Orbis
Litterarum, 7 (1949), 49n. [back]
- 11. Roos proposes two
possibilities—Falbe Hansen and Rasmus Nielsen. [back]