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Ellen M. O'Connor to Walt Whitman, 21 March 1889

About This Item

  • Title: Ellen M. O'Connor to Walt Whitman, 21 March 1889
  • Date: March 21, 1889
  • Creator(s): Ellen M. O'Connor
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.02971
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kirby Little Ian Faith Caterina Bernardini Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: O'Connor, Ellen M.. "Ellen M. O'Connor to Walt Whitman, 21 March 1889." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 08 October 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.02971.xml (TEI)
 loc_zs.00162.jpg March 21st 1889.1

Another bad night, vomiting, & very poor day to-day, weak & poorly. I did not sleep till after 3 A. M. Wm.2 not much till 2 A. M. At this moment he is taking a nap & I hope will wake up better. Your papers & Mary's.3 came. Very sorry Dr. Bucke's4 business fell through. We had great hopes for him & his scheme.5 Trust to send better news soon.

Love from Wm. & me. N.  loc.02971.001_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Ellen "Nelly" O'Connor, William O'Connor's wife, had a close personal relationship with Whitman. The correspondence between Whitman and Ellen O'Connor is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence with William. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors see O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889).

Notes

  • 1. This postal card is addressed: Walt Whitman, | Camden, | New Jersey. It is postmarked: Washington | Mar 21 | 11PM | 89 | D C.; Camden, N.J. | Mar | 22 | [illegible] | [illegible] | Rec'd. [back]
  • 2. 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). [back]
  • 3. Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe (1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." For more information about Costelloe, see Christina Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 4. 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). [back]
  • 5. Bucke and his brother-in-law William John Gurd were designing a gas and fluid meter to be patented in Canada and sold in England. [back]
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