Title: Richard Maurice Bucke to Walt Whitman, 17 February [188]9
Date: February 17, [188]9
Whitman Archive ID: syr.00038
Source: Walt Whitman Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, N.Y. The transcription presented here is derived from Richard Maurice Bucke, The Letters of Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke to Walt Whitman, ed. Artem Lozynsky (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1977), 108–109. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Ashland, Caterina Bernardini, Stefan Schöberlein, and Stephanie Blalock
[London, Ont.,]1
17 Feb [188]92
Just been out for a long sleigh ride and had dinner—roast turkey, bread sauce, a boiled onion and apple pie—mighty good. Sorry to say it is thawing here, likely to lose our snow unless it mercury drops between now and midnight.
All quiet, we are getting ready to start—hope to get off wednesday morning (am pretty sure we shall not get off tuesday) & see you thursday. Nothing new in any direction, I shall probably not write again (before leaving)
Affectionately
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).
1. Horace Traubel's note, "see | notes | Feb 19 | 1889," appears in the upper right-hand corner of the recto. The reference is to Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, February 19, 1889. The note "TO HT" is written in an unidentified hand. [back]
2. This letter has been misclassified as being from Bucke to Traubel. It is, in fact, from Bucke to Whitman. According to Loyzynsky, there is both internal and external evidence for his attribution; see Artem Loyzynsky, ed., The Letters of Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke to Walt Whitman (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1977), 108–109. [back]