Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 14 December 1890
loc_zs.00201.jpg
Camden1
early P M Dec: 14 '90
Sitting here as usual—nothing very new or different—sunny weather—quiet & dull enough—Jeweler J of N Y.2 sent me the 103 (by Horace4) bowel action this forenoon—a little afraid I got a chill yesterday (worse for my grip)—The great general "intestinal agitation"5 going on over the U S (& perhaps the civilized world) but nothing heroic or historic in the old sense (special-individualistic) I guess—as I sit here & read the paper, & simmer
W W
loc_zs.00200.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 | PM | De 15 | 90 | Canada. [back]
- 2. John H. Johnston (1837–1919) was a New York jeweler and close friend of Whitman. Johnston was also a friend of Joaquin Miller (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, August 14, 1888). Whitman visited the Johnstons for the first time early in 1877. In 1888 he observed to Horace Traubel: "I count [Johnston] as in our inner circle, among the chosen few" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, October 3, 1888). See also Johnston's letter about Whitman, printed in Charles N. Elliot, Walt Whitman as Man, Poet and Friend (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1915), 149–174. For more on Johnston, see Susan L. Roberson, "Johnston, John H. (1837–1919) and Alma Calder," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Bucke explained the matter in his letter of December 12: a man named Beers gave Johnston $10 for tickets on the day of the Robert Ingersoll Philadelphia lecture. [back]
- 4. 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]
- 5. The last great pandemic of the nineteenth century—the 1889–1890 flu pandemic (also referred to as the "Russian flu" or "Asiatic flu")—killed around a million people worldwide. There were recurrences of the illness in the spring and early summer of 1891 (March to June), and in the following winter, spring, and early summer (November 1891 to June 1892). [back]