6 Nov [18]91
Your letter of 3d1 inst. came last evening and was heartily welcomed. [—]
Many thanks also for the Press2 of 3d containing "A Poets Greeting to a Poet."3
/fishy-fish enough4 / [—] I wish I could have been there and assisted in the good talk. [—]
So Wallace5 has gone6—I guess he will live a long time before he forgets his
visit to America—I am rejoiced that he came so that we could have the chance of showing him a little attention in return to the
the many kindnesses he has done us. He is a splendid fellow and I trust I may often see him and the other good Bolton fellows before
I finish my earthly pilgrimage—such chaps as they are make the world worth living in. All quiet here and nothing new. I have a 2
hour lecture tomorrow morning and have just been hard at work preparing it. I wish you had some of my physical strength, dear Walt, so that
Major Pond7 might take you on the lecture platform8—but I fear
that cannot be—worse luck!
Love to you
R M Bucke
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. See Whitman's letter to Bucke
of November 3, 1891, in which Whitman reports that he is
"in good spirits & well & after a wonderfully happy visit, in wh' you & Canada have big part." [back]
- 2. The Philadelphia Press was a newspaper that operated from 1857 to 1920; it was edited
by Charles Emory Smith (1842–1908) from 1880 until his death. [back]
- 3. Sir Edwin Arnold, the
British poet and journalist, paid a surprise visit to Whitman in Camden on
November 2, 1891. An account of the visit was published in the Philadelphia Press with the title "A Poet's Greetings to a Poet." See
Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, November 3, 1891 for more information. In his commentary,
Traubel described the account of Whitman's visit with Arnold as "almost
idiotic—certainly foolish." See also The Springfield
Republican article published on November 7, 1891, which further reported on what Whitman and Traubel
deemed an "interesting incident." [back]
- 4. The interpolation 'fishy-fish enough' is in
the hand of Whitman. [back]
- 5. James William Wallace
(1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of
Whitman. Wallace, along with Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician in
Bolton, 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 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]
- 6. Wallace traveled to the U.S.
in the fall of 1891, landing at Philadelphia on September 8, 1891 (Horace
Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, September 8, 1891). After spending a few days with Whitman,
Wallace traveled with Bucke to the physician's home in London, Ontario, Canada.
Wallace's accounts of his travels were later published with Dr. John Johnston's
account of his own visit with the poet in the summer of 1890 in Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–91 (London, England:
G. Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1917). [back]
- 7. James Burton Pond (1838–1903)
was a famous lecture-manager and printer. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor
for his services in the Civil War. In his 1900 autobiography Eccentricities of Genius (G. W. Dillingham Co: New York), he writes of
Whitman: "Whitman gave a few readings under my management during his life. They
were mostly testimonials from friends, and benefits given in the theatres of New
York City"; Pond concludes with an anecdote about the poet's meeting with Sir
Edwin Arnold (497–501). [back]
- 8. The
comment on Whitman's lack of physical strength to undertake lectures
repeats the poet's own opinion as given in a letter to Bucke of
November 3, 1891: "Major P wants to take me out on lecture
platform but of course it is out of question—." [back]