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early in the morning, Walking forth from the bower refresh'd with sleep, Behold me where I pass, hear my

voice, approach, Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass, Be not afraid of my body

early in the morning, Walking forth from the bower refresh'd with sleep, Behold me where I pass, hear my

voice, approach, Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass, Be not afraid of my body

WHILE my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long, And my head on the pillow rests

vacant midnight passes, And through the stillness, through the dark, I hear, just hear, the breath of my

with eager calls, and orders of officers; While from some distant part of the field the wind wafts to my

or near, (rousing, even in dreams, a devilish exultation, and all the old mad joy, in the depths of my

galloping by, or on a full run; With the patter of small arms, the warning s-s-t of the rifles, (these in my

WHILE my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long, And my head on the pillow rests

night midnight passes, And through the stillness, through the dark, I hear, just hear, the breath of my

with eager calls and orders of officers, While from some distant part of the field the wind wafts to my

far or near, (rousing even in dreams a devilish exultation and all the old mad joy in the depths of my

galloping by or on a full run, With the patter of small arms, the warning s-s-t of the rifles, (these in my

WHILE my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long, And my head on the pillow rests

night midnight passes, And through the stillness, through the dark, I hear, just hear, the breath of my

with eager calls and orders of officers, While from some distant part of the field the wind wafts to my

far or near, (rousing even in dreams a devilish exultation and all the old mad joy in the depths of my

galloping by or on a full run, With the patter of small arms, the warning s-s-t of the rifles, (these in my

This is my excuse for profering proffering this request and I entertain the hope that you will graciously

My people knew not of my coming—none but my brother's wife, to whom I confided my purpose, lest they

My sister fell!

"One day my sister was missing.

He accepted my challenge.

I was blinded by my hate for my sister's betrayer.

I think the dinner my good friends gave me recently, at Morgan's Hall, gave me a new lease of life.

"At least here I am surrounded by my books, and the roses you see my friends send me daily.

Arnold, you are right welcome to my home."

My second wife, you know, was an American lady, and that gives me a claim on your people.

There was no ceremoniousness about my visit to the President, and as a journalist I liked my brief talk

"Then you are welcome to my home," Walt Whitman replied, giving him both his hands.

swear I will am can not to evade any part of myself, Not America, nor any attribute of America, Not my

body—not friendship, hospitality, procreation, Not my soul—not the last explanation of prudence, Not

O longings for my dear home! O soft and sunny airs! O pensive!

O my Soul! O lips becoming tremulous, powerless! O centuries, centuries yet ahead!

Wood is with [me] here at my old home says it is not very natural here does not seem at all like an hospital

My Dear Uncle W, Your very kind letter of the 16th was duly received and appreciated to the best of my

I do not know whether there are any characters among my neighbors that would interest you particular

Bowling Green Febry February 24th 1867 My Dear Friend I was thinking to day today whether I had answered

good berth in Tennessee but being of a modest disposition of course I cannot call his attention to my

My Dear Friend, Tis a long time since I have had the pleasure of hearing from you so I fear you did not

I am getting around quite lively on just a single cane and my health is good.

Now good bye, my good freind and may heaven keep you safe from harm. Anson Ryder, Jun.

My dear Mr Whitman Please write Your Autograph & Enclose in the Accompanying Envelope I appreciate the

Many favors Asked of You feel desire Your Autograph So Much to Add to My Already Good Collection that

Boston March 13th 1887 My dear Sir: I hope you will do us the favor to accept the enclosed invitation

Looking for a favorable reply and a promise to be my guest, I remain Very truly yours Annie Fields Annie

London Dec. 9. 1874 My dearest Friend It did me much good to get your Poem—beautiful earnest eloquent

My artist boy is working away cheerily at the R. Academy, his heart in his work.

I feel more completely myself than I have done since my illness.

I think my thoughts fly to you on strongest and most joyous wings when I am out walking in the clear

Good bye my dearest Friend. Annie Gilchrist.

Dec. 8, 1873 My dearest Friend The papers with Prof: Young's speech came safely, & I read it, my hand

—Are you getting on my Darling?

sensations in the head & can move without such effort and difficulty a hymn of thankfulness will go up from my

O it is a slow struggle back to health my Darling!

I turn my face to the westward sky before I lie down to sleep, deep & steadfast within me the silent

Singing Thrush" (March 15, 1873; later called "Wandering at Morn"), "Spain" (March 24, 1873), "Sea Captains

MY DEAREST FRIEND: Herby went to David Bognes David Bogue about a week ago: he himself was out, but H

His father was the publisher of my husband's first literary venture & behaved honourably.

Also my own longing is always for a chronological arrangement, if change at all there is to be; for that

Without these faculties at ready command my dear Gabriel would not have been himself."

Whitman with my love, or if you prefer to keep both, I will send her others.

SHOTTERMILL, HASLEMERE, Surrey, October 6, '79 1879 My dearest friend, Your letter came to me here just

We have been spending the last six or seven weeks in this village I am so fond of where my children grew

up; we came to live here after my husband's death and remained seven or eight years till until the boys

I am trying to write a brief memoir of my Husband to prefix to the new edition of the Blake Macmillan

I cannot tell you, dear friend, how often and how affectionately my thoughts turn to America the great

I am still struggling along, striving to say something which, if I can say it to my mind, will be useful—will

My Dearest Friend: Herby has told you of our difficulties in getting comfortable quarters here—and also

B. was always my friend—that his allusions were always kind—that he quoted 'Leaves of Grass' without

My Dearest Friend: You could not easily realize the strong emotion with which I read your last note and

I have my dear little grandson with me here—as engaging a little toddler as the sun ever shone upon—so

wish I could write to some of them, but what with needlework, an avalanche of letters, the care of my

dear little man—the re-editing of my husband's life of Blake, to which there will be a considerable

Per. & my nephew & the "Process" have made a great stride forward.

Whitman referred to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871

I am getting on—my heart is in my work—& though I have been long about it, it won't be long—but I think

My Dearest Friend: Those few words of yours to Herby "tasted good" to us —few, but enough, seeing that

here as by a kind of natural destiny that has to be fulfilled very cheerfully, could I make America my

I say how very highly I prize that last slip you sent me, "A backward glance on my own road"?

"A Backward Glance on My Own Road," The Critic, 4 (5 January 1884), 1–2.

Camden Sq July 4, 1874 My Dearest Friend Are you well and happy and enjoying this beautiful summer?

life-giving treasure—open on my lap.

My Darling! such patience yet needed along the tedious path!

—Not more spontaneously & wholly without effort or volition on my part, does the sunlight flow into my

My children are all well, dear Friend.

Sept 4–1873 I am entirely satisfied & at peace "my Beloved—no words can say how divine a peace.

My Darling! take comfort & strength & joy from me that you have made so rich & strong.

When my eyes first open in the morning, often such tender thoughts yearning ineffably pitying sorrowful

—my hands want to be so helpful, tending, soothing, serving my whole frame to support the stricken side

My children send their love, their earnest sympathy.

not think hard of me for not writing oftener, especially the last seven months—If you could look into my

his letter to Anne Gilchrist of August 18, 1873, a ring: "The enclosed ring I have just taken from my

finger & send you with my love."

, 1873, she wrote about her children; and on December 18, 1873, she said of his health: "Perhaps if my

I turn my face to the westward sky and before I lie down to sleep, deep & steadfast within me the silent

Though it is but a few days since I posted a letter my dearest friend, I must write you again—because

I cannot help it, my heart is so full—so full of love & sorrow and struggle.

Soon soon as ever my boy has one to love & care for him all his own, I will come, I may not before, not

if it should break my heart to stop away from you, for his welfare is my sacred charge & nearer & dearer

than all to me verily my God, strengthen me, comfort me, stay for me—let that have a little beginning

Or it may be my words have led you to do me some kind of injustice in thought,—& then I could defend

only might, but ought, on pain of being untrue to the greatest, sweetest instincts & aspirations of my

own soul, to answer it with all my heart & strength & life.

out life giving warmth & light to my inward self as actually as the Sun does to my body, & draws me

to it and shapes & shall shape my course just as the Sun shapes the Earth's.

In the afternoon the books, I dont don't know how to settle down my thoughts calmly enough to write,

I have not shut my eyes to the difficulties and trials & responsibilities (for the childrens children's

discontent with old England or by any adverse circumstances here which I might hope to better there—my

reasons, emotions, the sources of my strength and courage for the uprooting & transplanting—all are

That America has brought them forth makes me want to plant some, at least, of my children on her soil

My Dearest Friend: Lazy me, that have been thinking letters to you instead of writing them!

But they do: I am as sure of that as of my own existence. When will men begin to understand them?

of the sea and I seem to remember such a place near Lynn Regis, where I was thirty years ago, when my

My little book on Mary Lamb just out—will send you a copy in a day or two.

Dec. 30, 1874 I see, my dearest Friend, I must not look for those dashes under the words I thought were

going to convey a joyful confirmation of my hopes.

I believe my dear love that what you need to help on your recovery is a woman's tender cherishing love

are very bright & cheerful—she & indeed all my children enjoy the cold much provided they have plenty

you are well, and that you have felt the warm grasp of many loving friends this wintry cloudy time my

September 3 Dear Friend At last the beloved books have reached my hand —yet now I have them, my heart

In 1861 my children took scarlet fever badly: I thought I should have lost my dear oldest girl.

My youngest was then a baby.

O the voice of my Mate: it must be so—my love rises up out of the very depths of the grief & tramples

It is not happiness I plead with God for—it is the very life of my Soul, my love is its life.

Earls Colne Sept. 3. 1874 My dearest Friend The change down here has refreshed me more than usual and

I find my Mother still wonderful for her years (the 89th), able to get out daily in her Bath chair for

I have been before breakfast mostly in a beautiful garden (the old Priory garden) with my beloved Poems

heart—pain for you, my Darling.

always to be with my Mother here.

his letter to Anne Gilchrist of August 18, 1873, a ring: "The enclosed ring I have just taken from my

finger & send you with my love."

, 1873, she wrote about her children; and on December 18, 1873, she said of his health: "Perhaps if my

I turn my face to the westward sky and before I lie down to sleep, deep & steadfast within me the silent

MY DEAREST FRIEND: I had a lingering hope —till Herby went south again—that I should have a letter from

I expect Herby has described our neighbours to you—specially Levi Bryant, the father of my hostess—a

Chadwick, &c., from New York, with whom I have pleasant chats daily when I trudge up to fetch my letters—now

50 Marquis Rd Camden London Nov. 3/'73 My dearest Friend, All the papers have reached me—3 separate packets

(with the hand writing on them that makes my heart give a glad bound).

May you be steadily though ever so slowly gaining ground, my Darling!

My children all continue well in the main.

And how that line will gladden my eyes Darling! Love from us all. Goodbye.

Whitman referred to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871

editorial decisions, which included editing potentially objectionable content and removing entire poems: "My

I will not write any more such letters; or, if I write them because my heart is so full it cannot bear

must choose their our own time & mode—but for the simplest current details—for any thing that helps my

And if you say, "Read my books, & be content—you have me in them"—I say, it is because I read them so

my children to be shaped modified vitalized by & through these—outwardly & inwardly.

Good bye my dearest friend. Anne Gilchrist Anne Gilchrist to Walt Whitman, 3 June 1872

12 Well Road Jan January 29, '82 1882 My Dearest Friend: Your letter to Herby was a real talk with you

As I write this I am sitting to Herby for my portrait again—he has never satisfied himself yet: but this

that what with memory & photograph & the studies he made when with you, he will be able to put you & my

March 28/ 80 My dearest Friend Has it seemed to you a long while since I wrote?

And as regards my own feelings (though I am sorry for her sorrow, & sorry too that the excellent work

if not I will tell it you in my next & you will like him all the more.

My love to all My thoughts travel daily to America—it has become a part of my life in a very real sense

Whitman referred to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871

London Earls Colne Aug. 28. 1875 My dearest Friend Your letter came to me just when I most needed the

comfort of it—when I was watching and tending my dear Mother as she gently, slowly, with but little

I do not need to tell you anything my dearest friend—you know all—I feel your strong comforting hand—I

I had all my children with me at the funeral— O the comfort your dear letter was & is to me.

My children join their love with mine. Anne Gilchrist to Walt Whitman, 28 August 1875

which I wrote you Sept. 6th after I had received the precious packet, a letter in which I opened all my

I know too my own shortcomings, faults, flaws.

Love & Hope are so strong in me, my souls high aspirations are of such tenacious, passionate intensity

But I cannot like you clothe my nature in divine poems & so make it visible to you. Ah foolish me!

I felt as if my silence must kill me sometimes.

It is not for want of thinking of you, dear Walt, that I write but seldom: for indeed my thoughts are

My Dearest Friend: Are you never coming? I do long & long to see you.

ferry boats & enjoy the beautiful broad river & the sky & the throngs of people as of old—you are in my

—I cannot help grieving over public affairs too—never in my lifetime has old England been in such a bad

I could not get my article into any of the magazines I most wished.

was interested also in a little paragraph I found about Pullman town, near Chicago, which confirmed my

My Dearest Friend: It seems quite a long while since I wrote, & a very long while since you wrote.

I am beginning to turn my thoughts Philadelphia-wards that we may have some weeks near you before we

London 26 Feb 1874 My dearest Friend Glad am I when the time comes round for writing to you again—though

I can't please myself with my letters, poor little echoes that they are of the loving, hoping, far journeying

Today (Feb. 25th) is my birthday dearest Friend—a day my children always make very bright & happy to

I can bide my time,—a long long growing & unfolding time.

That is because it is the under current of my whole life.

Singing Thrush" (March 15, 1873; later called "Wandering at Morn"), "Spain" (March 24, 1873), "Sea Captains

My Dearest Friend: The days are slipping away so pleasantly here that weeks are gone before I know it

Never in my life have I enjoyed outdoor pleasures more—I hardly think, so much—enhanced as they are by

A long letter from my sister in England tells me Per. looks well and happy & is so proud of his little

My Dearest Friend: Welcome was your postcard announcing recovered health & return to Camden!

Strange episode in my life!

But meanwhile, dear Friend, my work lies here: innumerable are the ties that bind us.

Please give my love to your brothers & sister. Were Jessie & Hattie at home in St.

Please give my love to John Burroughs when you write or see him.

Whitman: "Because you have, as it were, given me a ground for the love of men I thank you continually in my

Whitman referred to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871

1 Torriano Gardens Camden Rd London Feb 25 /76 My dearest Friend, I received the paper & enclosed slip

Soon, very soon I come my Darling.

for us— years of tranquil, tender happiness—me making your outward life serene & sweet—& you making my

benign influences round us out of our happiness and fulfilled life—Hold on but a little longer for me my

You must be very indulgent towards him for my sake dear Friend.

Gilder, Whitman justified his decision, writing that "No established publisher in the country will print my

books, & during the last three years of my illness & helplessness every one of the three successive