Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 24 May [1885]

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 24 May [1885]
Date: May 24, 1885
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00540
Source: 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), 390. 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 Kyle Barton
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to John Burroughs, 24 May [1885]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 23 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: nyp.00540.xml (TEI)

328 Mickle Street1 Camden N J May 242 Dear J B—

I am ab't in my usual general health, but lameness bad—had a fall a month ago, & turned my ankle in—don't think I will be able to come up to West Park—

W W

Correspondent:
The naturalist John Burroughs (1837–1921) met Whitman on the streets of Washington, D.C., in 1864. After returning to Brooklyn in 1864, Whitman commenced what was to become a decades-long correspondence with Burroughs. Burroughs was magnetically drawn to Whitman. However, the correspondence between the two men is, as Burroughs acknowledged, curiously "matter-of-fact." Burroughs would write several books involving or devoted to Whitman's work: Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and Person (1867), Birds and Poets (1877), Whitman, A Study (1896), and Accepting the Universe (1924). For more on Whitman's relationship with Burroughs, see Carmine Sarracino, "Burroughs, John [1837–1921] and Ursula [1836–1917]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

1. This letter is addressed: John Burroughs | West Park | Ulster Co: | New York. It is postmarked: Camden | May | 2(?) | 188(?) | N.J.; Philadelphia, Pa. | May | 24 | 7 PM | Transit. [back]
2. The year is established by the reference to the sprained left leg which Whitman complained of from April 28 to June 8 (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.); see also the letter from Whitman to Richard W. Gilder of May 24, 1885. [back]