Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 12–13 December 1890
loc_zs.00145.jpg
Camden1
1890
Dec: 12 early P M
—Bright & coolish—pleasant—Warren2 has gone over to Dr Mitchell's3 with urinary specimen4—have the belly ache plain enough early in the morning in bed—& then during the day subsides or is quite gone—a bit of chop & some bread & tea for my breakfast—dull heavy head—yr letters rec'd5 & welcomed—sit here in den as usual
Dec 13—got out yesterday 1½ P M in wheelchair6 but was too chill'd & made it short—cold weather here—Keep good fire—just my breakfast bit of broil'd chicken, cranberries & bread & tea—eat light—appetite middling (to poor)—mark'd symptoms of cold in the head to-day—write this early in forenoon
P M—bad day—neglected here badly—cold—probably chill'd (badly) f'm sitting here in cold room—am feeling sick & cross & unattended to here & probably feel ugly enough—sun shining out
Walt Whitman
loc_zs.00146.jpg
loc_zs.00147.jpg
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 14 | 5 PM | 90; London | DE 15 | [illegible]0 | Canada, Buff[illegible]. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. Dr. John Kearsley Mitchell II (1859–1935) was the son of S. Weir Mitchell, the noted American physician and writer of historical fiction; the young Mitchell looked in on Whitman when his regular physician, William Osler, was unavailable. Whitman was not overly impressed with the Mitchells: "The young man Mitchell did not take me by storm—he did not impress me. I start off with a prejudice against doctors anyway. I know J. K.'s father somewhat—Weir: he is of the intellectual type—a scholar, writer, and all that: very good—an adept: very important in his sphere—a little bitter I should say—a little bitter—touched just a touch by the frosts of culture, society, worldliness—as how few are not!" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, July 12, 1888). [back]
- 4. See Whitman's December 24, 1890, letter to Bucke, where the poet responds to Bucke's relief about "the catheter &c." [back]
- 5. See Bucke's letter of December 7, 1890. [back]
- 6. 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]