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Further publication of Walt Whitman's collected poems having been interdicted in Boston, the plates were

Rees Welsh & Co., of Philadelphia, whose advance orders exceeded their first edition, a copy of which

chance it affords to ventilate the real account & true inwardness of that Emerson talk on the Common in 1860

What were Emersons Emerson's relations to Walt Whitman?

And my arriere and citadel positions—such as I have indicated in my June North American Review memorandum

—were not only not attacked, they were not even alluded to.

Certain am I that he too finally came to clearly feel that the "Children of Adam" pieces were inevitable

The contents are brief essays or sketches, mostly fragmentary, many of them dated as if they were leaves

The several prefaces to , 1855, 1872, 1876, succeed; then the North American Review paper on "Poetry

Daniel Webster (1782-1852), the American orator and politician.

William Walker (1824-1860) was an American adventurer and soldier who attempted to conquer several Latin

American countries.

.; Daniel Webster (1782-1852), the American orator and politician.; Henry Clay (1777-1852) was an American

He was also Secretary of State from 1861-1869.; William Walker (1824-1860) was an American adventurer

and soldier who attempted to conquer several Latin American countries.

president of the Republic of Nicaragua from 1856-1857 and was executed by the government of Honduras in 1860

political reformer Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894)led Hungary's struggle for independence from Austria.; The American

Whitman is an American Naturalist, quite as reckless as Zola or Maupassant, but withal infinitely less

The chief difference between the American Naturalist and his ultra-Atlantic brethren, is that he does

Whitman has fully equalled, if not exceeded the extant writers of antiquity, and has used phraseology

. & 155th Street | New York City. It is postmarked: Camden | Nov | 14 | 2 PM | N.J.; P.

Leaves of Grass Imprints (Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, 1860).

Bryant, Lowell, and a host of others, but it must be admitted that little or nothing distinctively American

Each though is, as it were, a leaf or blade therof which he offers to the reader.

Far from looking upon this immeasurable universe as the stakes, as it were, of an eternal game of Whist

I DREAMED IN A DREAM I dreamed in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the

It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city And in all their looks and words.

The great cities reek with respectable as much as non-respectable robbery and scoundrelism.

the spirit of civilized communism and socialism is not far enough removed from the minds of our American

But his greatest grievance is that there is no American literature, as such.

But Artemus Ward is as redolent of the American soil as Walt Whitman, and while he is not, in any sense

But granted that we have no distinctive American literature, with the exception of Walt Whitman himself

Dowden, for instance, associates him with Shakespeare, and a recent commentator of American literature

It contains many of those brief, sketchily written notes on nature which were, it is apparent, jotted

of our Western world; and it includes, above all, those widely discussed prefaces, touching upon American

poetry to-day, and especially upon the future of American poetry, as this is viewed by Whitman.

, upon four American poets—Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier, and Emerson.

.; The American poet and critic Richard Henry Stoddard (1825-1903) was part of a circle of genteel writers

Aug 12 188 2 My dear Walt— Nine years ago, I delivered before a German Society of New York City a lecture

on American literature, in which a great deal was said about you.

I have been staying here for a week, and shall leave in two or three days: but back in the city about

Half-Paralytic"—these and other titles for his bundle of jottings, made during and after the war, were

Whitman's liking; and in his criticism of modern society, although at bottom he believes that the American

—these, with a few inevitable reserves, were all acceptable to, and accepted by, the author of Leaves

There were two or three I shall probably never forget.

Elsewhere there is eloquent recognition of the work done for American literature by Longfellow, Bryant

When Mr Whitman was in Boston in 1860 Emerson was his frequent & cordial visitor.

evidently thinks that if the author of Leaves of Grass had any case to state, that walk on the common in 1860

Though Emerson's points were of the highest and keenest order, they sprang exclusively from conventional

Boston, 1881), 233–234; but it was obvious that Cooke's remarks about the relations between the two men were

article A Memorandum at a Venture 5 or 6 pages signed by my name in the forthcoming June number North American

own price given) —the newspapers specially like to have something up at the moment —this N A North American

Osgood & Co. wrote to me last May ('81) asking about a new & complete edition & suggesting that they were

was intended to be left out or expurgated—that the book must be printed in its entirety & that those were

me that the pieces the District Attorney specially & absolutely required to be entirely expurgated were

. ∗ ∗ ∗ The successive growth-stages of my infancy, childhood, youth and manhood were all pass'd on Long

He has visited Boston and the principal cities in Canada and in the West.

The hospital notes are printed in the slovenly shape in which they were written in his diary.

in his assertion of it he has imitated the owner of a forest who assured a lumberman that his trees were

Freeman to use in his essay on the peculiarities of American speech.

As I wrote you before, the betes noir were To a common prostitute and A woman waits for me .

Unless those were left out he was instructed to indict and arrest to the law's extremity.

told you that Osgood & Co. formally notified me that they would continue the publication if those were

Marston is the target for you —If I learn more I will notify you— WW Have you seen my N A North American

Portions of this manuscript were revised and used in A Memorandum at a Venture, first published in the

June 1882 issue of the North American Review.

the list, not merely because of my esteem for you personally, but because of your importance in American

reviews & magazines, &c, &c, & will doubtless embrace a number of the working men of letters in other cities

writings—and we do not hesitate to say that it is a volume admirably calculated to convince those who were

that the book is not amenable to the laws against sending obscene literature through the mails; and were

and there, With ranging hills on the banks, with many a line against the sky, and shadows, And the city

He could not have been bred anywhere but in a certain part of New York city a generation ago—in any other

And American letters were in a peculiar transition state when he made his first appearance in print,

So much for his Americanism, which has an inherent meaning and a power, in spite of all that is said

There is certainly a thing which may be called Americanism.

The following verses were admiringly quoted by Prof.

country, and they were often in the habit of displaying their pugilistic accomplishments."

Quoted in Dictionary of Americanisms (1848).

Sidgwick and William Clifford were both members of "The Apostles," the famous elite literary society

gives this account of the origin of the term "Hoosier": "Throughout all the early Western settlements were

The boatmen of Indiana were formerly as rude and as primitive a set as could well belong to a civilized

country, and they were often in the habit of displaying their pugilistic accomplishments."

Quoted in Dictionary of Americanisms (1848).

The envelope is addressed: J L & J B Gilder | Critic | office | 30 Lafayette Place | New York City.

With additions he republished it as "Robert Burns as Poet and Person" in The North American Review, 143

I am glad you are to have an article in the North American , and only wish it were to be longer.

I only wish I were not tied up as I am with this weary office, and work monstrous and endless, as it

The first writings of Carlyle and Emerson were despised and rejected; and yet these very writings have

had so profound an influence in forming the thought of our period, that it were impossible to imagine

It seems as if, so far, there were some natural repugnance between a literary and professional life,

A large part of the volume is occupied by Whitman's diary during the American War.

Some of the sketches were written as letters to friends during the war and afterwards.

We were to celebrate the occasion on the 31 st of this month, but college harness held some of us too

Willson, Box Dep't Gen'l P.O., New York City. John G. Willson to Walt Whitman, 29 May 1882

He was the author of many books and articles on German-American affairs and was superintendent of German

See The American-German Review, 8 (December, 1946), 27–30.

In 1883, Knortz was living in New York City.

putting in identity of the wayside itemizings, memoranda and personal notes of 50 years under modern American

(To city man, or some sweet parlor lady, I now talk.)

The others surrender'd; the odds were too great.)

The rebels were driven out in a very short time.

You Russians and we Americans!

'81, (herewith enclosed) you tallied all my several copyrights for " Leaves of Grass "— except the 1860

is endorsed: "Aug 1 '82 | sent to Librarian of Congress | ans'd—see note | copyright entrance of | 1860

On August 2, 1882, Spofford, the Librarian of Congress, acknowledged that the 1860 edition had been entered

Every young man ought to explore something of the outside world,—especially of our American country &

write to you again— —I got a letter from Ruth four days ago, & saw Muller yesterday—all your folks were

hun.00034xxx.00828HM 138Carlyle from American points of ViewCarlyle from American points of view1882prose37

leaveshandwritten; A draft of Whitman's essay Carlyle from American Points of View, first published

the draft, Whitman indicates that the piece was originally submitted for publication in the North American

Carlyle from American points of View

these are all here as we had heard them sweetly sung or said by the Orphic seer himself, only they were

Here were scorn of the conventions of society by one who never knew them, and who was as ignorant of

It would be a thousand pities were the author judged by the few passages, perhaps not two pages in all

He is neither a true American nor a Greek.

Were he the former, he would have a sense of humor; were he the latter, he would have a sense of art.

It is time, however, that an attempt were made to arrive at a sober estimate of his real value; and to

Nor does it mean that the merit of the author was quite unrecognized: on the contrary, by some who were

But the mass of his countrymen were not and are not strong enough to accept him; they have perhaps too

If we were asked for justification of the high estimate of this poet, which has been implied, if not

They themselves were fully at rest, they suffered not; The living remained and suffer'd.

Hanscom | Police Inspector | City Hall."

themselves (O & Co) had some hand in the Marston-Stevens proceeding & rather egged it on—that they were

Winter, the drama critic of the New York Tribune, and Stoddard, a writer and reviewer, were old enemies

The famous 1860 stroll in the Boston Common (see the letter from Whitman to Abby M.

Price of March 29, 1860).

On the Cumberland Street house, see the letter from Whitman to Frederick Baker of April 24, 1860.

BOX 370 IOWA CITY, IOWA. Iowa City, Ia. 4/23, 1882.

While answering freely, Walt wound up this part of the conversation by saying that those were problems

As for American poets, Mr.

The others present were Mrs.

WHAT HE HAS TO SAY—ESTHETIC TAFFY FOR THE AMERICANS—THEY LOVE THE TRUE AND THE BEAUTIFUL—MR.

AMERICANS SHOULD NOT COPY. "Would the standard be the same for all countries?" "By no means.

The Americans should not copy the decorations of England.

American decoration should be entirely different from that of England r any other country.

Evn'g May 12 '82 Dear Sir Yours of yesterday rec'd received —I could send the MS of Carlyle from an American

exigencies & judgment—no condition at all— Walt Whitman Walt Whitman to the Editor of The North American

The North American Review also rejected "The Prairies in Poetry" which the poet submitted on May 4 and

This letter is addressed: Karl Knortz | cor: Morris Av: & 155th St: | New York City.

— —The next N A North American Review (June number) will have a piece A Memorandum at a Venture signed

On May 1, Burroughs wrote to Gilder, probably Richard, "So far as this is the wish of the city of Boston

Burroughs and Traubel, however, were in error, for on January 27, 1883, Whitman noted: "returned $100

and enlarged edition of W ALT W HITMAN 's "Leaves of Grass," they did the best thing possible for American

literature, and performed an act of justice towards the most thoroughly original of American bards.

immature and casual reader we would gladly obliterate, yet as a sign of the time when a distinctively American

splendid protest against the fine spun and sickly effeminacy of the A MANDA M ATILDA poetry of the American

literary folk will be glad that Walt Whitman has found his publisher, and that the interests of American

This book is an American classic. [Leaves of Grass By Walt Whitman. Philadelphia, Rees, Welsh & Co.

one can hope to understand from his book, or in any way except to go off tramping with him through cities

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's (1712-1778) (1782) were probably regarded as "coarse" because of Rousseau's candor

.; Jean-Jacques Rousseau's (1712-1778) Confessions (1782) were probably regarded as "coarse" because

London] 9 th May [18]82 Dear Walt I have the file of Osgood correspondence from O'Connor —so this is American

No American paper (judging from past experience) would print any thing I might write on the subject.

This post card is addressed: J H Johnston | Jeweler | 150 Bowery | New York City.

"American Queen" of yesterday— W W Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 17 September [1882]

No copy of the New York American Queen has been located.

She, like my mother's sister, are to me fine, lovable samples of American women—in whom, I mean, I detect

, like the distinctive aroma of a flower, something special—that is American—a decisive new quality to

an extra bad spell & forbidden to go out nights this weather— Please give my hearty salutation & American

This letter is addressed: J L & J B Gilder | Critic office | 30 Lafayette Place | New York City.

does not appear in the essay Robert Burns as Poet and Person until its publication in The North American

however, Thompson's letters figure in the essay Robert Burns as Poet and Person published in The North American

Whitman noted in his Commonplace Book this letter to Rand & Avery, the firm which had printed the 1860