Richard Maurice Bucke to Walt Whitman, 1 March 1891
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Medical Superintendent's
Office.
INSANE ASYLUM
LONDON ONTARIO1
1 March 1891
Well—here we are still—what is left of us—election excitement rising higher and higher—have never seen the parallel of it—however Thursday (5th) will settle it—heaven be praised!2
I have yours of 26th3—Yes, I have the Lippencotts4—So the proof of the little book begins to come in? When you get all of "Good-Bye"5 in a revise I want you to send me a copy.6
Love to you. R M Bucke
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see notes March 12 1891
Walt Whitman | Mary O Davis | 328 Mickle St Camden NJ | 328 Mickle St | Camden New Jersey | U.S.A.
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: Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle Street | Camden | New Jersey | U.S.A. It is postmarked: LONDON | AM | MR 2 | 91 | CANADA; Camden, N.J. | [illegible] | [illegible] | 1PM | 1891 | REC'D. There are two additional illegible postmarks on the verso of the envelope. [back]
- 2. The main issue of the Canadian national election of 1891 was tariffs, with the Conservative Party, led by John A. Macdonald (1815–1891), wanting protective tariffs while the Liberal Party, led by Wilfred Laurier (1841–1919), wanted free trade with the U.S. The Conservatives won the election. [back]
- 3. Bucke is referring to Whitmans's letter dated February 26, 1891. [back]
- 4. In March 1891, Lippincott's Magazine published "Old Age Echoes," a cycle of four poems including "Sounds of the Winter," "The Unexpress'd," "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht," and "After the Argument." Also appearing in that issue was an autobiographical prose essay by Whitman ("Some Personal and Old-Age Memoranda") and another piece on Whitman by Traubel. In his January 7, 1891, letter to Bucke, Whitman referred to the March issue of Lippincott's as "a Whitman number." See also Whitman's January 20–21, 1891, letter to William Sloane Kennedy. [back]
- 5. 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]
- 6. Whitman would have Horace Traubel send Bucke a set of proofs—"a full set (66p) 'Good-Bye' annex" in May 1891. See Whitman's letter to Bucke of May 14, 1891. [back]