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Camden as usual
Saturday P M Sept:14 '891
The sun shining this afternoon & pleasant after four or five days of
rain & gale, very bad around here and at sea but nothing specially alarming
here—I am much the same—not feeling at all easy & free f'm disturbance—Sir Edwin Arnold2 here
yesterday afternoon ab't an hour—a tann'd English
traveler—I liked him—an actor from Phila. theatre also here yesterday.3
I sit here in 2d story room, alone—rather expect to go out later in
wheel chair,4 first time in ab't a week.
Ed5 is well, went to see "Bohemian
Girl"6 Eng: opera—Horace7 comes regularly—you will see Mrs.
O'C's8 letter, just rec'd—y'rs come9 & welcomed always.
I will keep you posted when any new little pieces of mine come out—
Walt Whitman
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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 is addressed: Dr
Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | SEP
14 | 8 PM | 89; NY | 9-15-89 | [illegible] | [illegible]; London | PM | SP 18 |
89 | Canada. [back]
- 2. On September 12, 1889, Sir Edwin Arnold
(1832–1904) wrote from Washington, D. C. requesting permission to visit
Whitman. (The Boston Traveller on October 5, 1889,
however reprinted a purported letter from Arnold to Whitman dated September 12,
written from New York, in a flamboyant style not found in the actual letter.)
For an account of Arnold's visit, see Horace Traubel, With
Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, September 12, 1889 and Saturday, September 14, 1889: "My main objection to him, if objection
at all, would be, that he is too eulogistic—too flattering." Arnold
published his own version of the interview in Seas and
Lands (1891), in which he averred that the two read from Leaves of Grass, surrounded by Mrs. Davis, knitting, a
handsome young man (Wilkins), and "a big setter." There are at least two
additional accounts of Arnold's visit with Whitman; "Arnold and Whitman" was
published anonymously in The Times (Philadelphia, PA) on
September 15, 1889, and a different article, also titled "Arnold and
Whitman" was published anonymously in The Daily Picayune
(New Orleans, LA) on September 26, 1889. Arnold was best known for his long narrative
poem, The Light of Asia (1879), which tells the life
story and philosophy of Gautama Buddha and was largely responsible for
introducing Buddhism to Western audiences. [back]
- 3. The actor, Whitman
informed Traubel, was "a hearty fellow, too—Hanson, I think was his name"
(Horace Traubel With Walt Whitman in Camden, Friday, September 13, 1889). [back]
- 4. Horace Traubel and Ed
Wilkins, Whitman's nurse, went to Philadelphia to purchase a wheeled chair for
the poet that would allow him to be "pull'd or push'd" outdoors. See Whitman's
letter to William Sloane Kennedy of May 8,
1889. [back]
- 5. Edward "Ned" Wilkins
(1865–1936) was one of Whitman's nurses during his Camden years; he was
sent to Camden from London, Ontario, by Dr. Richard M. Bucke, and he began
caring for Whitman on November 5, 1888. He stayed for a year before returning to
Canada to attend the Ontario Veterinary School. Wilkins graduated on March 24,
1893, and then he returned to the United States to commence his practice in
Alexandria, Indiana. For more information, see Bert A. Thompson, "Edward
Wilkins: Male Nurse to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Review
15 (September 1969), 194–195. [back]
- 6. The
Bohemian Girl (1843) was a ballad opera by Irish composer Michael
William Balfe (1808–1870) that enjoyed many revivals in Europe and the
U.S. during the nineteenth century. [back]
- 7. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and
women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their
friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated
African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence
between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence
with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the
Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae
E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder),
Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. Whitman is referring to
Ellen O'Connor's letter of September 12, 1889 and
Bucke's letter of September 9, 1889. [back]