Minnie Vincent to Walt Whitman, 11 December 1873

 loc.00251.003.jpg City of Utica N. York Dec. 11, 1873 Mr W. Whitman Dear Sir

I have poems by Thos​ Moore,1 letters and poems by Bryant,2 Longfellow,3 Whittier,4 Sir W. Scott,5 Thackeray,6 Campbell,7 Montgomery,8 Bulwer Lytton,9 Kotzebue,10 Beranger,11 Lamartine12 and many, many more written and signed by their own hands, but I have nothing in the autograph of that author whose name is written Walt Whitman—Is it asking too much, if you are sufficiently recovered from illness,13 to request a few lines with your signature to be placed in such good company?

With respects Truly Minnie Vincent Care of M.M. Jones  P1010275.jpg

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Notes

• 1. Thomas Moore (1779–1852) was an Irish poet, satirist, composer, and political propagandist. The son of a Roman Catholic wine merchant, Moore graduated from Trinity College in 1799 and then studied law in London. At Trinity, he was introduced to members of the United Irish Society. Moore authored many long poems and volumes of poetry and prose, including Irish Melodies (1807–1834) and a biography of Lord Byron. [back]
• 2. William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) was famous both as a poet and as the editor-in-chief of the New York Evening Post from 1828 to 1878. [back]
• 3. In his time, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was both a highly popular and highly respected American poet. His The Song of Hiawatha, published the same year as Leaves of Grass, enjoyed sales never reached by Whitman's poetry. When Whitman met Longfellow in June 1876, he was unimpressed: "His manners were stately, conventional—all right but all careful . . . he did not branch out or attract" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, May 10, 1888, 130). [back]
• 4. John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) earned fame as a staunch advocate for the abolition of slavery. As a poet, he employed traditional forms and meters, and, not surprisingly, he was not an admirer of Whitman's unconventional prosody. For Whitman's view of Whittier, see the poet's numerous comments throughout the nine volumes of Horace Traubel's With Walt Whitman in Camden (various publishers: 1906–1996) and Whitman's "My Tribute to Four Poets," in Specimen Days (Philadelphia: Rees Welsh & Co., 1882–'83), 180–181. [back]
• 5. Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) was a Scottish statesman, historical novelist, playwright, and poet, best known for Ivanhoe (1820), The Lady of the Lake (1810), and Waverly (1814). For Whitman's view of Scott, see Vickie L. Taft, "Scott, Sir Walter (1771–1832)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
• 6. William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) was an English novelist most celebrated for his novels, Vanity Fair (1847–1848), a novel of the Napoleonic period in England, and The History of Henry Esmond (1852), which was set in the early 18th century. His father, Richard, was an administrator in the East India Company, and passed away when William was a young boy. [back]
• 7. William Wilfred Campbell (1860–1918) was a Canadian poet and a clergyman, who served as rector for several parishes in New Brunswick. He published numerous books of poetry and was considered an unofficial poet laureate of Canada by the end of the nineteenth century. [back]
• 8. Widely known as a writer of hymns, James Montgomery (1771–1854), of Ayrshire, Scotland, was a poet and editor. He later moved to Sheffield, England, where he worked as the assistant to the publisher of the Sheffield Register. He went on to edit the paper for more than thirty years, after changing its name to the Sheffield Iris. [back]
• 9. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) was an English writer and politician, who served as the Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1858 to 1859. He wrote poetry and historical fiction, and he coined the phrase "The pen is mightier than the sword" in his play Richelieu (1839). [back]
• 10. August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (1761–1819) was a German author who wrote sentimental plays and a diplomat, who served as a consul in both Russia and Germany. [back]
• 11. Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780–1857) was a French lyric poet, as well as a prolific and influential songwriter. [back]
• 12. Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) was a French Romantic poet and statesman. He is best known for his book of poetry titled Méditations poétiques (1820) and for his role in the Revolution of 1848, when he briefly served as the leader of the Second Republic following the revolts that ended the rule of King Louis-Philippe of France. [back]
• 13. Whitman suffered a stroke in 1873 that left him partially paralyzed and recovering for several years. [back]