loc_no.00112.jpg
Camden1
PM Jan: 7 '91
Cold & sunny fine out—Ab't same with me as before—but as I just
came fm the bath room I wonder'd whether I did not feel stronger than ordinary—even than for two years—probably an accidental
evanescent whiff—but it was sort o' good even at that—
This is Stoddart's2 note3—I take it that they really intend to make that March L4 what they call
"a Whitman number"5—Horace6
is to offer a piece "anent of me"—his MS is to be ready to-morrow
Had buckwheat cakes & syrup for breakfast—they cannot be served better
than Mrs: D7 has them—I am still taking the little
capsules young Dr M8 prescribed for the bladder
botheration—wh' continues—the belly-ache & flashes of
left-breast-pain mostly departed or lulled. Am sitting here by the fire with a
quilt wrapper high up ab't neck, back & shoulders, ag't cold—
W W
Correspondent:
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Dr Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: Camd(?) | Jan 7
| 8 PM | 91. [back]
- 2. Joseph Marshall Stoddart
(1845–1921) published Stoddart's Encyclopaedia
America, established Stoddart's Review in 1880,
which was merged with The American in 1882, and became
the editor of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1886. On
January 11, 1882, Whitman received an
invitation from Stoddart through J. E. Wainer, one of his associates, to dine
with Oscar Wilde on January 14 (Clara Barrus, Whitman and
Burroughs—Comrades [Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1931],
235n). [back]
- 3. See Stoddart's January 5, 1891 letter to Whitman. [back]
- 4. Lippincott's Monthly Magazine was a literary magazine published in
Philadelphia from 1868 to 1915. Joseph Marshall Stoddart was the editor of the
magazine from 1886 to 1894, and he frequently published material by and about
Whitman. For more information on Whitman's numerous publications here, see Susan
Belasco, "Lippincott's Magazine." [back]
- 5. In March 1891, Lippincott's Magazine published "Old Age Echoes," a cycle of four poems including "Sounds of the
Winter," "The Unexpress'd," "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht," and "After
the Argument," accompanied by an extensive autobiographical note called "Some
Personal and Old-Age Memoranda." Also appearing in that issue was a piece on
Whitman entitled, "Walt Whitman: Poet and Philosopher and Man" by Horace
Traubel. [back]
- 6. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 7. Mary Oakes Davis (1837 or
1838–1908) was Whitman's housekeeper. For more, see Carol J. Singley,
"Davis, Mary Oakes (1837 or 1838–1908)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. During Dr. William
Osler's absence, beginning on July 8, Whitman was attended by Dr. J. K.
Mitchell, son of S. Weir Mitchell (Horace Traubel, With Walt
Whitman in Camden, Sunday, July 8, 1888). For Whitman's opinion of the young man, see
Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, July 12, 1888. [back]