Camden
Dec: 9 '891
9 P M—Rather dull & stupid but all the organs, secretions &c: fairly
condition'd I guess. The enclosed is f'm Rolleston2 who is or
has been in Germany, (seems to have a magnetic draw thither)—My poemet
greeting Brazil U S is bo't by McClure's newspaper syndicate & will be printed
in them at Christmas3—he has sent the pay for it (I
told you it was rejected by Harper's Weekly)—you must have just rec'd my adv:
circulars,4 I sent four—(you can have any more
you want)—damp & dark, & very mild here—I have had a bath, &
am sitting here alone—Warren5 my nurse has gone off
to get a violin lesson—Horace6 has been here this
evn'g—I have rec'd the 10th & concluding Vol. of Stedman's "American
Literature" collect7—good I fancy—
Tuesday, 1 P M—Fine sunny day—just had a good currying &
pummeling—fair bowel action this forenoon—so far so good—am going
out in the wheel-chair8—I believe nothing more this time—
God bless you all—
Walt Whitman
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: Camden, N.J. |
Dec 11 | 6 AM | 89. [back]
- 2. Thomas William Hazen Rolleston
(1857–1920) was an Irish poet and journalist. After attending college in
Dublin, he moved to Germany for a period of time. He wrote to Whitman
frequently, beginning in 1880, and later produced with Karl Knortz the first
book-length translation of Whitman's poetry into German. In 1889, the collection
Grashalme: Gedichte [Leaves of
Grass: Poems] was published by Verlags-Magazin in Zurich, Switzerland.
See Walter Grünzweig, Constructing the German Walt Whitman (Iowa
City: University of Iowa Press, 1995). For more information on Rolleston, see
Walter Grünzweig, "Rolleston, Thomas William Hazen (1857–1920)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Whitman is referring to
the poem ultimately titled "A
Christmas Greeting." In his December 3,
1889, letter to Richard Maurice Bucke the poet refers to the poem as
"the little 'Northern Star-Group to a Southern' (welcome to Brazilian
Republic)." This would become the poem's subtitle: "From a Northern Star-Group
to a Southern. 1889–'90." See also "[A North
Star]," a manuscript draft of this poem, in the Catalog of the Walt
Whitman Literary Manuscripts in The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers
of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. The poem
was likely published on December 25, 1889, in various newspapers in the
syndicate established by the investigative journalist Samuel Sidney McClure
(1857–1949). McClure's Magazine began publication
in 1893, and posthumously published some of Whitman's poetry (in 1897). [back]
- 4. The circular advertised
Complete Poems & Prose ($6), Leaves of Grass ($5), and Portraits
from Life ($3). The advertisement appeared in Camden's Compliment to Walt Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1889);
a facsimile of Walt Whitman's draft of the circular appears in Horace Traubel,
With Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, May 30, 1889. [back]
- 5. Frank Warren Fritzinger
(1867–1899), known as "Warry," took Edward Wilkins's place as Whitman's
nurse, beginning in October 1889. Fritzinger and his brother Harry were the sons
of Henry Whireman Fritzinger (about 1828–1881), a former sea captain who
went blind, and Almira E. Fritzinger. Following Henry Sr.'s death, Warren and
his brother—having lost both parents—became wards of Mary O. Davis,
Whitman's housekeeper, who had also taken care of the sea captain and who
inherited part of his estate. A picture of Warry is displayed in the May 1891
New England Magazine (278). See Joann P. Krieg, "Fritzinger, Frederick Warren (1866–1899),"
Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 240. [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. A Library
of Great American Literature: From the Earliest Settlement to the Present
Time was an eleven-volume set compiled and edited by Stedman and Ellen
MacKay Hutchinson and released from 1889–1890. [back]
- 8. Horace Traubel and Ed
Wilkins, Whitman's nurse, went to Philadelphia to purchase a wheeled chair for
the poet that would allow him to be "pull'd or push'd" outdoors. See Whitman's
letter to William Sloane Kennedy of May 8,
1889. [back]