Richard Maurice Bucke to Walt Whitman, 9 September 1883
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Asylum for the Insane,1
London,
9th
Sept 1883
Dear Walt
I have your card of Aug. 30. Yes, all right—I am satisfied with "Walt Whitman" except that it
does not express one tenth what it ought to do justice to the subject, but I believe
it is the best I can do after all and so it must go—as for the paying part of
the business I am quite easy abt. that—I think it will pay in the long run and if it does not I am
equally satisfied except that I would like it to have some circulation on the chance
of its doing some good.
Yes, I saw the Santa Fé letter too (thanks
for it),2 and I also saw the N.Y. Times of Aug. 8th on it—did
you see it? was it not shamefull ? The man glories in his want of sympathy, and laughs consumedly that
any
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one else should have any. I saw Tommy Nicholson3 down town yesterday and he showed me your letter to
him.4 I was well pleased to see that you really have
some notion of paying us another visit—I hope to see you next month and then
perhaps we can arrange something—perhaps you will return with me, who knows,
there may be luck in store for me yet! And you think of "breaking up where you
are living"? But you must tell me all about it when I see you, please goodness
that will be soon—but I cannot tell yet when I can get away East, there are
many things to do first and a great deal to think of—will let you know all
about it when I know myself—
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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).
Notes
- 1. This letter bears the address: Walt Whitman | 431 Stevens Street | Camden | New Jersey | U.S.A. It is postmarked: LONDON | AM | SP 1[?] | 83 | CANADA; CAMDEN, N.J. | SEP | 12 | AM | RECD.; NEW YORK | SEP 11 | 330 M | 83 | TRANSIT. [back]
- 2. On July 20, 1883, Whitman had sent the citizens of Santa Fé, New Mexico, a letter of congratulations on the "anniversary of the 333d year of the settlement of their city by the Spanish." The letter was published in the Philadelphia Press on August 5, 1883. On August 8, the New York Times quoted excerpts from the piece. [back]
- 3. Thomas Nicholson was one of the young men whom Whitman met at Bucke's asylum (see the letter from Whitman to Nicholson of October 14, 1880). [back]
- 4. See the letter from Whitman to Nicholson of September 5, 1883. [back]