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Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 7–8 November 1891

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 7–8 November 1891
  • Date: November 7–8, 1891; November 6, 1891
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman | Unknown
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.08219
  • 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.
  • Contributors to digital file: Cristin Noonan Amanda J. Axley Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt and Unknown. "Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 7–8 November 1891." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 19 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.08219.xml (TEI)
 loc_zs.00562.jpg Camden NJ1— 1891

Nov: 7—4 pm—Bad physical cond'n enough—last half of the night now generally very bad.—still have my massage2 soon after 9 pm—still take two meals every day eat but no gt appetite—bowel movement day before yestd'y—sit here in the g't chair with frequent reclinings on the bed all day—frequent letters—some vistors—

Here is an item f'm yestdays Boston Trans3—Kennedy4 seems to be there yet & hard at work5—Johnston6 NY has been quite sick, but is now out I believe—Baker7 (with Ingersoll8) is getting well

Sunday, Nov: 8—Fine sunny day—quiet. Dr L9 here yesterday—no particular change in situation—have seen O'C's "Three Tales"10—most interesting coll'n—well printed—suppose Mrs: O'C11 must be in Newport RI but have not heard f'm her—O how beautiful the sun & weather look out

God bless you & all W W

Mr. J. E. Roe,12 of the Rochester Bar, N. Y., has just brought out a new work, touching the life and life aims of Lord Bacon.13 The work shows remarkable developments, and presents Lord Bacon, not merely as the author of the Shakespeare writings, but of the literary drama of an entire age, and yet to be known as Bacon's Poetic Commonwealth of the Defoe Period, under the title "The Moral Moon, or Bacon and His Masks. The Defoe Period Unmasked." The sonnets of Shakespeare are all called into relation with his life and aims and to the dusty manuscripts of his pen through a knot of men high in official position; and particulary through the noted so-called manuscript collector of the Defoe period, Sir Robert Harley, is traced largely the English Revolution of 168814 and the overthrow of the Scotch line from the English throne. (New York: C. T. Dillingham.)

 loc_zs.00563.jpg  loc_zs.00564.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. | NOV8 | 5 PM | 91; PHILADELPHIA, P.A. | NOV | 3 | 630PM | 1891 | TRANSIT; BUFFALO, N.Y. | NOV 9 | [illegible]M | 91 | TRANTSIT; LONDON | PM | NOV 9 | 91 | [illegible] [back]
  • 2. Whitman's nurse at the time, Warren Fritizinger, regularly gave the poet massages. [back]
  • 3. This enclosure is transcribed at the end of the letter. [back]
  • 4. 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]
  • 5. Kennedy frequently sent Whitman copies of the Boston Transcript, where he worked as a proofreader. [back]
  • 6. 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]
  • 7. Frank Baker (1841–1918) was an American anatomist from New York. Before his illustrious medical career, he served in the 37th New York Volunteers (1861–1863) and then transferred to Washington, D.C., for government service, where he became intimately familiar with Walt Whitman and John Burroughs. After receiving a medical degree from Columbia University, he served as professor of anatomy at Georgetown University, assistant superintendent of the United States Life Saving Service, and president of numerous biological and medical societies, among them the Anthropological Society of Washington. He also edited American Anthopologist and authored several medical monographs, including two papers on President Garfield's assassination and several articles on the history of medicine and anatomy. For more on Baker, see Howard Atwood Kelly and Walter L. Burrage, A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography (Baltimore: The Norman Remington Company, 1920). [back]
  • 8. Robert "Bob" Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) was a Civil War veteran and an orator of the post-Civil War era, known for his support of agnosticism. Ingersoll was a friend of Whitman, who considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time. Whitman said to Horace Traubel, "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is Leaves of Grass. He lives, embodies, the individuality I preach. I see in Bob the noblest specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving, demanding light" (Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, March 25, 1891). The feeling was mutual. Upon Whitman's death in 1892, Ingersoll delivered the eulogy at the poet's funeral. The eulogy was published to great acclaim and is considered a classic panegyric (see Phyllis Theroux, The Book of Eulogies [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997], 30). [back]
  • 9. Daniel Longaker (1858–1949) was a Philadelphia physician who specialized in obstetrics. He became Whitman's doctor in early 1891 and provided treatment during the poet's final illness. For more information, see Carol J. Singley, "Longaker, Dr. Daniel [1858–1949]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R.LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 10. Three of O'Connor's stories with a preface by Whitman were published in Three Tales: The Ghost, The Brazen Android, The Carpenter (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1892). The preface was included in Good-Bye My Fancy (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1891), 51–53. [back]
  • 11. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder), Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 12. John Elisha (J. E.) Row's The Mortal Moon; Or, Bacon and His Masks, was published in 1891. [back]
  • 13. Francis Bacon (1561–1626) was an English philosopher, scientist, statesman, and author. Bacon's personal notebooks and works came under scrutiny during the nineteenth-century because of suspicions that he had written plays under the pen-name William Shakespeare in order to protect his political office from material some might find objectionable. For more on the Baconian theory, see Henry William Smith, Was Lord Bacon The Author of Shakespeare's Plays?: A Letter to Lord Ellesmere (London: William Skeffington, 1856). [back]
  • 14. King James II and VII (1633–1701, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland) was deposed. [back]
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