Life & Letters

Correspondence

About this Item

Title: Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 11 January 1884

Date: January 11, 1884

Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00533

Source: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 3:362–363. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.

Contributors to digital file: Stefan Schöberlein and Kyle Barton



I am about as usual1—Havn't heard from you in quite a while2—How are you getting along? Terrible weather here—I still go out to Germantown frequently—Did you get any "Eminent Visitors" article in Critic of Nov. 17 last? If not I will send you one.


Correspondent:
William Douglas O'Connor (1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866. For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes:

1. This letter is endorsed: "Answ'd Jan 13/84." This letter is addressed: Wm D O'Connor | Life Saving Service Treasury | Washington | D C. It is postmarked: Philadelphia | Pa. | Jan 11 84 | 5 30 PM; Washington, D.C. | Jan 12 | 4 AM | 1884 | Recd. [back]

2. O'Connor's last letter was evidently written on September 24. Whitman wrote this note on an offprint of "A Backward Glance on My Own Road." O'Connor's reply on January 13 is not known. [back]


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