Walt Whitman to Ellen M. O'Connor, 12 May 1889

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to Ellen M. O'Connor, 12 May 1889
Date: May 12, 1889
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00687
Source: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), . For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Ashland Caterina Bernardini Breanna Himschoot Stephanie Blalock
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Ellen M. O'Connor, 12 May 1889." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 20 September 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: nyp.00687.xml (TEI)

Camden1 May 12 '89

After a great trouble, or death, a sort of silence & not trying words or to depict y'r feelings come to me strongest—But I will send a word any how to you, dear friend, of sympathy & how the death of William,2 for all I have for some time anticipated, comes very bitterly—

I am somewhat better, & late yesterday afternoon I was taken out & jaunted around for an hour—my first experience of out door for most a year, & it was very refreshing—then when I came back & up to my room I spent the sunset & twilight hour thinking in silence of W and you & old times in Wash'n—

Best love to you, & send me word when you can—

Walt Whitman

Correspondent:
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).

Notes

1. This letter is addressed: Mrs: O'Connor | 1015 O Street N W | Washington | D C. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | May 12 | 5 PM | 89; Washington, Rec'd. | May 13 | 2 AM | 89 | 7. [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]