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Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 10 June 1891

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 10 June 1891
  • Date: June 10, 1891
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.08062
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.

    Notes for this letter were created by Whitman Archive staff and/or were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
  • Contributors to digital file: Cristin Noonan Jason McCormick Stephanie Blalock Brandon James O'Neil
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 10 June 1891." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 25 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.08062.xml (TEI)
 loc_jm.00193.jpg Camden1 June 10 P M '91

A bad day—but I hold the fort—perturbed bowel & water works regions—partial evacuation (impacted) this mn'g—comforted to get y'r letter to day2 & Horace's3 last evn'g4—no visitors to-day—toast & tea for breakfast—am expecting one of Mary Davis's5 nice rice puddings (baked in old red tile dish) for my supper—am looking out for some good prunes—the huge banditti financial inside exposé in Phila continues6—the deeper it probed the worse it appears—is a significant item of business & social life, rottening the whole city, community—no, perhaps that is too far, but it is general enough—fine steady sunny day, cool, some breeze—Warry7 groans at my refusal to go out—but I have hardly power to raise my hand to my head—& this letter is mostly automatic—

Walt Whitman  loc_jm.00194.jpg  loc_jm.00195.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. | Jun 10 | 8 PM | 91; London | PM | JU 12 | 91 | Canada. Whitman wrote this letter on stationery printed with the following notice from the Boston Evening Transcript: "From the Boston Eve'g Transcript, May 7, '91.—The Epictetus saying, as given by Walt Whitman in his own quite utterly dilapidated physical case is, a 'little spark of soul dragging a great lummux of corpse-body clumsily to and fro around.'" [back]
  • 2. Whitman may be referring to Bucke's letter of June 8, 1891, which he had misdated May 8, 1891. [back]
  • 3. 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]
  • 4. This letter has not been located. [back]
  • 5. 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]
  • 6. Whitman is referring to a financial scandal involving the City Treasurer of Philadelphia, John Bardsley. Bardsley was accused of misappropriating and embezzlement of city funds. He was eventually convicted of loaning, speculating, and receiving interest on public funds and was sentenced to a lengthy prison term in July 1891. [back]
  • 7. 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]
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