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Poetical

About This Item

  • Title: Poetical
  • Date: 1 October 1858
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.00873
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 1 October 1858: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kaylen Michaelis Samantha Gilmore Brandi Faulkner Stefan Schöberlein Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Poetical." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 17 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.00873.xml (TEI)
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POETICAL.—

The following is from an obituary notice in a recent issue of the New York Herald1. There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Lines written by the deceased, months previous to his death: “Weep not for me, my Charlotte dear, for I am better off; For I am sure you knew my sufferings here, and what a dreadful cough; But God has taken me home with him to dwell in Paradise, And when you reach that happy place, we will still be man and wife.”

Notes:

1. The New York Herald was one of the leading New York City papers during Whitman’s lifetime. It was run by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., and his son and leaned Democrat, while loudly proclaiming its political independence. It was published from 1835 to 1924. See also The New York Herald (Poems in Periodicals)." [back]

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