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I am not accustomed thus to present my claim to acquaintanceship with writers.

I will believe this also, adding it to my "creed" the "I believes", of my religion which years ago I

I was certain my dear brother would not ask me to read a bad book.

That was my hour of triumph for my poet. For I had heard Mr.

If I were younger I would strive with all my to do something worthy of my worship of your genius, worthy

My Dearest Friend: Your welcome letter to hand.

Indeed all that sympathy and warm & true words of love & sorrow & highest admiration & esteem for my

Please give my love to your sister, and tell her that her good letter spoke the right words to me & that

MY DEAREST FRIEND: I have just been sauntering in our little but sunny garden which slopes to the South

My breath is so short I cannot walk, which is a privation.

I hope you received the little memoir of my husband all right.

Feb 16/81 My dearest friend, At last I am beginning to feel myself again after a four months spell of

I feel as if my usual good health has made me obtuse & unsympathetic towards the ailing.

It was very hard for us to be sundered during my illness—but was the right thing to do, she was so much

My letter seems all about myself but then I want you to know why I have been so long silent.

I send you a photo of my little grandson. Anne Gilchrist to Walt Whitman, 16 February 1881

reading it—suddenly remembered your birthday—that it was past & I had not written one word—not just put my

I was then (when I should have written—middle of May just preparing & starting on my journey to the north—first

I enjoyed everything—the being with Norah (who is like one of my own) & the dearest jolliest little man

wonderful colours & sweet odors of the sea—everything is best except the keenness of the wind which made my

treated me kindly, and the young people made a great deal of me, but, perhaps, that was on account of my

printing-house, and superintended everything, even the type in which the book was printed, and they made my

"I spent considerable time in New York," he adds, "and a number of weeks on Long Island, my native place

S o many of my good friends are here that I must call it my home."

I spent considerable time in New York and a number of weeks on Long Island, my native place.

So many of my good friends are here that I must call it my home.

There are men and women—not here though—who bear my intuition and understand by their hearts.

in his "den" surrounded by a litter of books and papers: "When Osgood wrote me, offering to publish my

I must overlook the work myself and you must humor me in letting me have things my way.'

At the marriage of a German prince with an English princess, when the bridegroom said, "With all my worldly

Me, master, years a hundred since from my parents sundered.

It will be the whole expression of the design which I had in my mind When I Began to Write.

Now, that is the way it has been with my book. It has been twenty-five years building.

My theory in making the book is to give A Recognition of All Elements compacted in one— e pluribus unum

"My poetry," continued Mr.

Many of my friends have no patience with my opinion on this matter.

Whitman recited "John Anderson, my Jo, John."

"My 'Leaves of Grass,'" said the old gentleman, "I will publish as I wrote it, minor revisions excepted

It still maintains: I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable; I sound my barbaric yawp over

describes himself well enough in the lines, I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable — , I sound my

He says (p. 31): Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.

His tribute to Abraham Lincoln (p. 262), beginning "O Captain! my Captain!"

I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air.

My special word to thee. Hear me illustrious!

woodedge, thy touching-distant beams enough, or man matured, or young or old, as now to thee I launch my

lengthening shadows, prepare my starry nights.

make the only growth by which I can be appreciated, I reject none, accept all, then reporduce all in my

For the great Idea, That, O my brethren, that is the mission of poets.

I, the Titan, the hard-mouthed mechanic, spending my life in the hurling of words.

communed to- gether together Mine too such wild arrays, for reasons of their own; Was't charged against my

Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,) Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance

That sport'st amid the lightning flash and thunder cloud, In them, in thy experiences, had'st thou my

There is a lawless saying, fit only for the wise, but full of meaning for poets and great captains,—

I loafe and invite my soul. I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of sum- mer summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from

stuck up, and am in my place.

Now comes a passage remarkable for its nobility: "With music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums

I beat and pound for the dead, I blow through my embouchures my loudest and gayest for them.

are famous everywhere; and, though later efforts have been less happy, the one exquisite song, "O, Captain

My Captain!" written on the death of Lincoln, would make him one of our honored poets forever.

future," "You do not understand me, you cannot understand me, but I can wait hundreds of years for my

— The words of my book nothing, the drift of it everything.

"Not objecting to special revelations, considering a curl of smoke or a hair on the back of my hand just

Whitman's poems, though possessing individuality of their own: "Primary chief bard am I to Elphin, And my

I was with my Lord in the highest sphere, On the fall of Lucifer into the depth of hell; I have borne

been in Asia with Noah in the ark; I have seen the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra; I have been with my

whole universe; I shall be until the day of doom on the face of the earth; And it is not known whether my

Echoes of camps, with all th[gap] Trooping tumultuous, all[gap] bending me powerless[gap] Entering my

Me, master, years a hundred since from my parents sundered.

Jany January 22 188 1 Walt Whitman Esq My Dear Sir: I take great pleasure acknowledging the receipt of

Jan 21 1881 Walt Whitman My dear Sir Permit me to thank you on behalf of the readers of the Review for

be able to afford to the readers of the Review frequent opportunity of being instructed by you I am my

Now my lectures are over I am spending the summer helping in the garden and any odd jobs about the place—and

—I can't keep my fingers off it—but still that takes only a small fraction of the week & leaves plenty

These friends that I have here and my more natural open air life seem to have made a difference to me

I used to read your "Leaves of Grass" to my children.

Once with my back to the door entering the parlor, in a large chair, my children before me on the sofa

25 Chesham Street S.W 31 January 1881 My good friend, It was a kind thought of yours sending me your

I will not trouble you with more of my views of this subject!

My Dear Whitman, On receipt of your card, to-day, stating the time of your intended start, I telegraphed

—And then I never in all my life had money that done me so much good. I have some of it yet.

I notice that is the way you always use me, but I will get square with you when I go off on my lecturing

May 24, 1881 My dear Mr.

MY DEAR WALT: You don't write me a letter nor take any notice of my magnificent offers concerning "Pond

My mother is away staying with Beatrice in Edinburgh city, recruiting her health, which has most sadly

advice or opinion of a drawing connected with my father's book.

My cousin Sidney Thomas is, or was, in America, a good deal lionized, I understand.

Interested in those Boston scraps you send my mother.

Dozens of pages of his rhythmic prose are not worth "My Captain," which among all his compositions comes

If Whitman, after the same length of time, proves more fortunate, it will be because he wrote "My Captain

"There spake my brother; (Lord Bacon) There my father's grave Did utter forth a voice!"

Dear W Whitman Your letter of May 8 reached here during my absence.

My notion would be that we should sell an Edition there, if possible, printed here from our own plates

It has been my plan to have you up here for the summer if I could pursuade persuade you to come, But

I have always had my opinion of him.

Wilkins, two students of Trinity College, Dublin, were the first to draw my attention to your poetical

Bless the Lord,O my soul!

my special word to thee. Who can be a companion of thy course!

lengthening shadows, prepare my starry nights.

my Captain! our fearful trip is done.

O,the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

Before the window where I do my morning work, there is an old lilac tree, dating from my grandmother's

Forgive my assurance, and, if possible give me that pleasure of that great recompense for being so unknown

Asylum for the Insane, London, 31 st Dec. 18 81 My dear Walt Just a line to tell you that we have another

It is postmarked: LONDON | AM | MY 23 | 81 | CANADA.

O'Grady | sent photos to him Dec 24 '81 11 Lr Lower Fitzwilliam St Dublin October 5, 1881 Dear Sir, My

My impressions regarding this literature I have published in various works.

poems & tales into a complete whole & so the student can never be exactly certain what is & what is not my

In the revolt of Islam he has a fine Panegyric on the future of America Fr For my own part I put him

I do not meet in you the expression of every changing ideal punctuating even the remotest parts of my

London Dec 6 th —81 To my Dear Friend M r Whitman, I sit now in my hall on duty, to write you these few

I gus guess I will bring my letter to a close, By sending the Love of all the asylum Employies Employees

Dear Friend and Master You see I am now back in my own country.

I am staying, with my wife (I have been married about 18 months) at my father's house.

You did not say anything about my translation of Epictetus which I sent you.

I want it as a present for a friend, so don't write my name in the beginning.

Indeed the friend is my wife—so on second thoughts I would be glad, & so would she, if you would write

Nov. 28 [1881] 29 Lange Strasse Dresden My dear Whitman Yesterday I received all your dispatches—viz,

Still I am very glad that I have it complete in my old .

This volume, with its new poems, etc. offered a field of "pleasant exploration" and renewed my sense

I have ordered my book to be sent to the American papers you mentioned.

You should have recd. received a copy of my Encheiridion by this. Thomas W. H.

Then my father got very ill & I had to go down & see him (he is all right now.)

Then business in London, tedious travelling half across Europe, & now my wife and I are fixed in a little

I send you some stanzas about my day's walk with O'Grady (I found out shortly that he was a lover and

In a letter to Horst Frenz of August 13, 1950, Captain C. H.

Rolleston wrote: "I do not think there can be any doubt that my Father's schoolmaster friend was H.

I have been trying, since my return to Germany, to find out that essay you allude to in the N.A.

My 'Encheiridion' ought to be out very soon as I have sent in the last proof sheets.

We have left Bad-Elster, the baths having perfectly restored my wife's health to our great joy.

invitation to write an article on Longfellow for the World —but I shall have to decline—I cannot get my

forthcoming number of the N A North American Review for February, in which I have ventilated some of my