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Camden1
Aug: 14 '90
the noon whistle is just blowing
Continue pretty well considering—had a good breakfast, a bit of
mutton chop, bread, raspberry jam & coffee—now the fourth day of fine
weather, pleasantly cool—go out in wheel chair2 every day a little—am
pottering at my "annex"3—have a little piece in (probably) the forthcoming
Critic (16th Aug:)4 anent of Symonds'5 Essay "Democratic Art"6 & me
—Shall send you a copy probably in a slip—Suppose you got what I sent
ab't that ridiculous Prof: Woodberry7—("the foe dies hard—& dying
fights, or living fights")—
—Havn't yet written the O'C8 preface,9
but feel to, & will, & likely
soon. Logan Smith10 has bo't twelve copies of the pocket-b'k-b'd L of G.11 &
sent the money—the dear, good, loving faithful young man—I sell occasionally
a big book (complete works)12—likely they have nearly repaid the
expense of their printing & binding, & I have 3/5ths left. A letter this mn'g
f'm W S K13 —he is well—letter f'm Mr
Wallace,14 Eng:—photo
enc—good fellow—friend of Dr Johnston15 (no
word of him, since he left
here, Camden)
Harry Stafford16 was here yesterday—he is pretty well—is on
the farm—am sitting here as usual alone all day—fair condition as c'd be expected
I guess—fair bodily secretive & excretive affairs considering—dawdle on
writing or reading—the summer will soon be through—Love to Mrs: B17
and W G18— & God bless you all
Walt Whitman
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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: CA[illegible] | AUG 14 | 6 PM | 90;LONDON |
AU [illegible] 5 | O | CANADA;
PHILADELPHIA, PA. | 1890 | TRANSIT; BUFFALO, N.Y. | AUG | 15 | 11AM | 1890 |
TRANSIT. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. Whitman's book Good-Bye My Fancy (1891) was his last miscellany, and it
included both poetry and short prose works commenting on poetry, aging, and
death, among other topics. Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as
"Good-Bye my Fancy" in Leaves of Grass
(1891–1892), the last edition of Leaves of Grass
published before Whitman's death in March 1892. For more information see, Donald
Barlow Stauffer, "'Good-Bye my Fancy' (Second Annex) (1891)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. "An Old Man's Rejoinder" was
published in The Critic 17 (August 16, 1890),
85–86. The "Rejoinder" was later reprinted in Good-Bye
My Fancy (1891) (see Prose Works 1892, Volume 2:
Collect and Other Prose, ed. Floyd Stovall [New York: New York
University Press, 1964], 655–658). [back]
- 5. John Addington Symonds
(1840–1893), a prominent biographer, literary critic, and poet in
Victorian England, was author of the seven-volume history Renaissance in Italy, as well as Walt
Whitman—A Study (1893), and a translator of Michelangelo's
sonnets. But in the smaller circles of the emerging upper-class English
homosexual community, he was also well known as a writer of homoerotic poetry
and a pioneer in the study of homosexuality, or sexual inversion as it was then
known. See Andrew C. Higgins, "Symonds, John Addington [1840–1893]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Whitman is referring to John
Addington Symonds's Essays Speculative and Suggestive
(London: Chapman and Hall, 1890). The chapter on "Democratic Art" is mainly
inspired by Whitman. In his August 20–22,
1890, letter, Bucke remarked: "The whole article is 'flat, stale and
unprofitable'—a saw dust chewing business—dealing with the hull, the
shell, the superfices, never for one line, one flash of insight penetrating to
the heart of the business." On August 24, 1890,
Whitman observed: "you are a little more severe on Symonds than I sh'd
be." [back]
- 7. Charles J. Woodbury
published "Emerson's Talks with a College Boy" in the Century in February 1890 (621–627) and his book Talks with Ralph Waldo Emerson later in the same year. In
the latter he averred that Emerson told him Whitman appeared coatless at a
dinner party (128). The poet denied the accusation in an unsigned article in the
Camden Post on August 12, which he reprinted, again
anonymously, in Lippincott's in March, 1891; see Complete Poems & Prose (1888), 774–775. Bucke
commented on the matter on August 17: "These
foolish, would be visions, lies, & liars will one day come to an
end—in the meantime I do not know but they do more good than
harm—Keep things stirred up." Woodbury also praised Whitman both in the
Century (625) and in his book (62–63). On February 21, 1866, Woodbury, then twenty-one years
old, wrote an exuberant letter to Whitman in which he averred that "Emmerson did
not say the best things." For his retraction, see Whitman's letter to Bucke of
July 5–6, 1891, n.43. [back]
- 8. William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. On May 29, 1890, Ellen O'Connor asked Whitman to write
a preface for a collection of tales by her husband, the late William Douglas
O'Connor, which she hoped to publish—The Brazen Android
and Other Tales (later entitled Three Tales).
After the poet's approval was conveyed to her through Bucke, Mrs. O'Connor wrote
on June 1, 1890: "Your name & William's will
be associated in many ways, & this loving word from you will be a comfort to
me for all time." Not having heard directly from him, she wrote about the
preface once more on June 30, 1890. [back]
- 10. Logan Pearsall Smith
(1865–1946) was an essayist and literary critic. He was the son of Robert
Pearsall Smith, a minister and writer who befriended Whitman, and he was the
brother of Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, one of Whitman's most avid followers.
For more information on Logan, see Christina Davey, "Smith, Logan Pearsall (1865–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 11. Whitman had a limited and
pocket-book edition of Leaves of Grass printed in honor
of his 70th birthday, on May 31, 1889, through special arrangement with
Frederick Oldach. Only 300 copies were printed, and Whitman signed the title
page of each one. The volume also included the annex Sands at
Seventy and his essay A Backward Glance O'er Traveled
Roads. For more information on the book see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 12. Whitman often referred to Complete Poems & Prose (1888) as his "big book." The
volume was published by the poet himself in an arrangement with publisher David
McKay, who allowed Whitman to use the plates for both Leaves
of Grass and Specimen Days—in December
1888. With the help of Horace Traubel, Whitman made the presswork and binding
decisions, and Frederick Oldach bound the volume, which included a profile photo
of the poet on the title page. For more information on the book, see Ed Folsom,
Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 13. William Sloane Kennedy
(1850–1929) was on the staff of the Philadelphia American and the Boston Transcript; he also
published biographies of Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier (Dictionary of American Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933], 336–337). Apparently Kennedy called on
the poet for the first time on November 21, 1880 (William Sloane Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman [London: Alexander
Gardener, 1896], 1). Though Kennedy was to become a fierce defender of Whitman,
in his first published article he admitted reservations about the "coarse
indecencies of language" and protested that Whitman's ideal of democracy was
"too coarse and crude"; see The Californian, 3 (February
1881), 149–158. For more about Kennedy, see Katherine Reagan, "Kennedy, William Sloane (1850–1929)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 14. James William Wallace
(1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of
Whitman. For more information on Wallace, see Larry D. Griffin, "Wallace, James William (1853–1926)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 15. Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927)
of Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, was a physician, photographer, and avid
cyclist. Johnston was trained in Edinburgh and served as a hospital surgeon in
West Bromwich for two years before moving to Bolton, England, in 1876. Johnston
worked as a general practitioner in Bolton and as an instructor of ambulance
classes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. He served at Whalley Military
Hospital during World War I and became Medical Superintendent of Townley's
Hospital in 1917 (John Anson, "Bolton's Illustrious Doctor Johnston—a man
of many talents," Bolton News [March 28, 2021]; Paul
Salveson, Moorlands, Memories, and Reflections: A Centenary
Celebration of Allen Clarke's Moorlands and Memories [Lancashire
Loominary, 2020]). Johnston, along with the architect James W. Wallace, founded
the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. Johnston and Wallace
corresponded with Whitman and with Horace Traubel and other members of the
Whitman circle in the United States, and they separately visited the poet and
published memoirs of their trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire
Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). For more information on
Johnston, see Larry D. Griffin, "Johnston, Dr. John (1852–1927)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 16. Walt Whitman met the 18-year-old Harry Lamb Stafford
(1858–1918) in 1876, beginning a relationship which was almost entirely
overlooked by early Whitman scholarship, in part because Stafford's name appears
nowhere in the first six volumes of Horace Traubel's With Walt
Whitman in Camden—though it does appear frequently in the last
three volumes, which were published only in the 1990s. Whitman occasionally
referred to Stafford as "My (adopted) son" (as in a December 13, 1876, letter to John H. Johnston), but the relationship
between the two also had a romantic, erotic charge to it. In 1883, Harry married
Eva Westcott. For further discussion of Stafford, see Arnie Kantrowitz, "Stafford, Harry L. (b.1858)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 17. Jessie Maria Gurd Bucke
(1839–1926) grew up in Mooretown, Upper Canada. She was the daughter of
William Gurd, an army officer from Ireland. Gurd married Richard Maurice Bucke
in 1865. The couple had eight children. [back]
- 18. William John Gurd (1845–1903)
was Richard Maurice Bucke's brother-in-law, with whom he was designing a gas and
fluid meter to be patented in Canada and sold in England. Bucke believed the
meter would be worth "millions of dollars," while Whitman remained skeptical,
sometimes to Bucke's annoyance. In a March 18,
1888, letter to William D. O'Connor, Whitman wrote, "The practical
outset of the meter enterprise collapsed at the last moment for the want of
capital investors." For additional information, see Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Sunday, March 17, 1889, Monday, March 18, 1889, Friday, March 22, 1889, and Wednesday, April 3, 1889. [back]