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Camden
March 18
Yes—I have rec'd such a letter from T1—& do not object to
your itemizing it—though it must be done carefully—Some such way as the following?
—Walt Whitman
Tennyson has written an affectionate and thankful letter to Walt Whitman on the comments of the
latter—see Critic of Jan. 1st upon the supplementary 'Locksley
Hall.' Is not this the only instance known of the English Laureate formally 'noticing a notice'?2
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Correspondent:
Joseph Benson Gilder
(1858–1936) was, with his siblings Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909)
and Jeannette Leonard Gilder (1849–1916), editor of Scribner's Monthly and the Critic.
Notes
- 1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) succeeded
William Wordsworth as poet laureate of Great Britain in 1850. The intense male
friendship described in In Memoriam, which Tennyson wrote
after the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, possibly influenced Whitman's
poetry. Whitman wrote to Tennyson in 1871 or late 1870, probably shortly after the
visit of Cyril Flower in December, 1870, but the letter is not extant (see Thomas Donaldson,
Walt Whitman the Man [New York: F. P.
Harper, 1896], 223). Tennyson's first letter to Whitman is dated July
12, 1871. Although Tennyson extended an invitation for Whitman
to visit England, Whitman never acted on the offer. [back]
- 2. Whitman's letter is
written on the verso of a letter from Gilder of March
17, 1887, in which Gilder requested permission to mention the Tennyson
letter of January 15, 1887. On March 26, under
"Notes," The Critic printed Whitman's suggested paragraph
almost verbatim. [back]