Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 31 October–1 November 1891
loc_jm.00388.jpg
Camden New Jersey1
Saturday afternoon
Oct: 31 '91
Wallace2 is down stairs taking a lunch,3 & photoing Warry,4 (at my request)—nothing very new or distinctive—the N Y. papers are (I believe every evn'g) telegraphing questions here wh' are answer'd "Walt Whitman is not dead yet"—my disease is now call'd progressive paralysis with a more or less rapid tendency (or eligibility) to the heart—formidable isn't it?—the worst is there may be something in it—fine bright sunny day—am sitting here ab't as usual—head bad—water w'ks trouble bad—frequent visitors—Harrison Morris5 and Miss A Repplier6 yestdy
Nov: 1—noon—Still the same—J W W is going off in City of Berlin7 f'm N Y Wednesday mn'g—good slip enc'd ab't Schleimann's (almost) funny discoveries8—cloudy half-raw day—
Walt Whitman
loc_jm.00389.jpg
loc_jm.00390.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. | Nov 1 | 5 PM | 91; Philadelphia, PA. | Nov | 1 | [illegible] PM | 91 | [illegible]; Buffalo, N.Y. | Nov 2 | [illegible] AM | 91 | Transit.; London | PM | NO 2 | 91 | Canada. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. Wallace visited Whitman in Camden, New Jersey, and the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke at Bucke's home in London, Ontario, Canada, in the fall of 1891. He also spent time in New York during the trip. Accounts of Wallace's visit can be found in Dr. John Johnston and Wallace's Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–91 (London, England: G. Allen & Unwin, ltd., 1917). [back]
- 4. 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]
- 5. Harrison Smith Morris (1856–1948) was a businessman and man of letters. Horace Traubel published Morris's translation of French critic Gabriel Sarrazin's essay "Walt Whitman" in the tribute collection In Re Walt Whitman, eds. Horace Traubel, Richard Maurice Bucke, and Thomas B. Harned [Philadelphia: McKay, 1893], 159–194. Morris also wrote a biography of the poet, Walt Whitman: A Brief Biography with Reminiscences (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1929). [back]
- 6. Agnes Repplier (1855–1950) was an essayist and biographer. She was a founding member of the Cosmopolitan Club of Philadelphia and the first female president of the Contemporary Club. Her essays were published in Atlantic Monthly, Catholic World, and Century Magazine, among many other periodicals. As her literary recognition increased, she traveled and accepted speaking engagements. For more on Repplier, see "Agnes Repplier Papers," MS. Coll. 18, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania. [back]
- 7. The SS City of Berlin was a British ocean liner which began transatlantic operation in 1875 and for a while was the fastest liner on the Atlantic; it stayed in passenger service until 1898. [back]
- 8. Whitman enclosed with this letter a lengthy review of C. Schuchhardt's Schliemann's Excavations, with the following annotation: "excavations &c. anent of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey—good essay—Phil Press Nov 1 '91." This enclosure has not yet been located. [back]