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Camden1
March 10 '91
Splendid sunny day—beautiful bunch of spring (hot house)
roses on my table—poorly yet, but suspicion of
shade of improvement—am taking medicine,
the calomel powders2 & Fred
water3—sit here in chair—make my meals
of Graham br'd, stew'd mutton, roast apples,
& such—proof of 2d annex4 getting along.
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. |
Mar 10 | 4 30 PM | 91; London | AM | MR 12 | 91 | Canada. [back]
- 2. In the nineteenth century,
calomel was used as a purgative agent to treat numerous illnesses, especially
gastrointestinal symptoms like constipation, dysentery, and vomiting. In high
doses, calomel could lead to mercury poisoning. [back]
- 3. Friedrichshall water is a
purgative mineral water from springs located near Heidelberg, Germany. It was
one of several mineral waters commonly used in the late nineteenth century to
treat constipation. (See C. R. C. Tichborne, The Mineral
Waters of Europe [London: Baillière, Tindall & Cox, 1883],
Chapter 3, "Chemistry of the Purgative Waters.") [back]
- 4. Whitman is referring to the
proofs for his book Good-Bye My Fancy (1891). In his
letter to Bucke of May 14, 1891, the poet writes
that Horace Traubel has also just sent Bucke "a full set (66p) 'Good-Bye' annex." Good-Bye My
Fancy (1891) was Whitman's last miscellany, and it included both poetry
and short prose works commenting on poetry, aging, and death, among other
topics. Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy
2d Annex" to Leaves of Grass (1891–1892), the last
edition of Leaves of Grass published before Whitman's
death in March 1892. For more information see, Donald Barlow Stauffer, "'Good-Bye my Fancy' (Second Annex) (1891)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]