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out clear & inspiriting—y'r letter comes—Ed has been down to the bank to deposit some cheques for me —My

. & at better presentation, picture &c. than you might fancy) —Am still under my "cold in the head" misery

Who said when I invited him to hear my lecture upon your work—"I shall come by all means.

I gave two evenings to your work before my class at New England Conservatory.

My class is composed of about fifty bright young girls studying music.

I shall have "Specimen Days" in my class during Spring term.

. [—] I send you today a copy of my Annual report, after you have looked it over let Horace have it—I

I am well, getting a good rest since my return home, sleep about 10 hours a night right along.

read some of Brown's books if not all of them. [—] A gloomy but pleasant afternoon here as I sit at my

desk in my office and look out the window, roads very sloppy with the melting snow.

"Unstopp'd and unwarp'd by any influence outside the soul within me, I have had my say entirely my own

Let us quote the two poems entitled "Halcyon Days" and "Queries to my Seventieth Year."

('Just now I am finishing a big volume of about 900 pages comprehending all my stuff, poems and prose

Now he writes, "Have not been out-doors for over six months—hardly out of my room, but get along better

Or in "A Carol closing Sixty-nine':— "Of me myself—the jocund heart yet beating in my breast, The body

old, poor, and paralysed—the strange inertia falling pall-like round me, The burning fires down in my

And in another passage (in the introductory essay) he says—'No one will get at my verses who insists

328 Mickle Street Camden New Jersey March 31 '89 Thanks, my dear E C S, for the box of noble books with

for the loving cheering (I fear flattering) long letter, wh' has done me good, & I have read twice—My

I wish to convey my best regards to the printers, proof-readers & print-plate presser &c — I have been

My dear friend, I was glad to hear by your postal that you are getting along without an increase of suffering

My old enemy "melancholia" spreads its vampire wings still over my life and will I presume go with me

Nothing new or different—Pretty dull—my cold in the head rampant—I am trying to while the day with the

I send you my list of misprints—guess you have them all already—have found no new ones lately—not looking

I have written to M c K. as follows: "Please let Mr W. have any copies he wants of my W.

yet printed, 7) of his "American Literature" in wh' I appear (with good wood-eng[raving] portrait) —My

My window hyacinths in fragrant bloom. (honey bunches) W. S. K.

Horace and Mr Blake, Unitarian minister f'm Chicago, here this mn'g—pleasant visit—a spell of my currying

. [—] I have had quite a time the last few days arranging and posting recent additions to my W. W.

We are back home again & I am busy about my farm work.

My plough seems to find as much fat in the ribs of old mother Earth as ever it did & it looks just as

of G. with Sands at Seventy & Backward Glance as epilogue & am busying myself at it (to commemorate my

finishing my 70th year)— Best love— W W Walt Whitman to William D.

(Get along though better than you would suppose)—Come and see me if you make y'r trip—Give my love to

This would be my notion of the volume, as a , if I knew nothing of its author—of its "only begetter."

For the regard, the affection, which convoyed your noble argosy to this my haven,—believe me, my dear

He reported you as saying that I wouldn't take off my hat to Apollo, if we sh d happen to meet.

Well: there is too much taking off of hats, but I certainly should doff my own to the Sun-God.

Pray give my kind regards to M. Traubel. Edmund Clarence Stedman to Walt Whitman, 27 March 1889

Dear Friend You were so good as to call yourself so, in my book,—that I value more than you guess,—and

The dear little crocuses I picked from my own tiny spot of earth, and sent each one laden with loving

There seemed no prospect of my going. The way seemed hedged.

ought to have been $10. instead of $6. that would have left margin enough for every thing and it is my

Have been hoping all day I sh'd get some word & relieving word from you—but nothing—Can only write my

My people refused to put up the money without adequate protection."

The book reached me this morning, and has taken its place among the volumes that stand within my reach

Have just had my massage treatment. Is beneficial.

We are all well, I am hearty, very glad to get home again after my run in the East—though I enjoyed my

letter from T B Aldrich Boston—he buys the big book (sending $25 for it) —Am feeling well (for me)—pass my

I do not like to write this way but I think you ought to know my candid opinion.

The 1864 picture you gave me the other day is setting up on the bookshelf at my right hand looking at

I send you today a piece I wrote for an uncle more than thirty years ago about my old wanderings in the

I promised Horace to send him a copy of my Saguenay poem but please tell him I cannot find one and fear

My Annual Report is out—I have written for some copies and shall send you one as soon as I get them I

Toward sunset Had a good thorough bath this afternoon, hot water—my "cold" has not altogether withdrawn—I

day—I almost envy your having such lots to do, responsibilities & strong & well & energetic to do 'em—My

lassitude is one of the worst points in my condition—but whether Sidney Morse's man's answer (when reproach'd

probably say)—Well I will adjust myself for dinner, & hope you & Mrs B & all are having good times—& send my

s article) but my copy has not the picture (very bad one by the way) [/] I am a little sorry therefore

Night before last I hardly slept any, & as a consequence am not able to use my eyes next day.

Find my folk all well and the asylum in good shape—a lot of work had accumulated which it will take a

immensely valuable and that we shall eventually carry our plans through—the only subject of regret on my

proof reading, big house)— Dull times with me—constipation & inertia at the fore, & both big—have had my

You dear (young) old F'ellow: — I was just feeling to-day a lack in my soul—a gap—an idea that you had

I continue at my typographical business Hope I hear from Paisley in a fortnight goodnight & love—gloomy

Robert Browning (1812–1889), known for his dramatic monologues, including "Porphyria's Lover" and "My

30, 1868, Whitman informed Ralph Waldo Emerson that "Proud Music of the Storm" was "put in type for my

My dear Friend: Since our conversation this morning it seems to me that there is a desire to get the

I feel the matter so deeply that I have put my thoughts on paper, and now enclose them.

was better three days ago, but weak & in bed—Dr B[ucke] here yet— I sit here alone same as ever, in my

Things with me abt same—I sit here in my big chair alone most of the time, as ever, same old monotonous

or ambition to articulate and faithfully express in literary and poetic form, and uncompromisingly, my

say entirely my own way, and put it unerringly on record."

In another place the feeling of pride leads to this exclamation: "My Book and I—what a period we have

Difficult as it will be, it has become, in my opinion, imperative to achieve a shifted attitude from

These snowy hairs, my feeble arm, my frozen feet, For them thy faith, thy role I take, and grave it to

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

(Some few of my most determined friends & understanders appear to be in Boston)—Rather dull with me to-day

Bliss , rectory Episcopal church—he expressed great sympathy for me; in my straitend circumstances, and

placed a 5 dollar bill, in my hand, as he has done once before, this winter, which got me 1/2 ton of

I would much rather paint, could I sell my pictures.

And, now, will you be kind enough to send me one more set, for a lady, to whom I have just shewn my set

Camden, N.J., March 7, 1889 I am still quite bodily helpless—imprison'd the same in my 2d story sick

Grass," the poems entitled "For You O Democracy," p. 99, "the Singer in the Prison," p. 292, and "O Captain

, My Captain," p. 262—or, in lieu of the first two, the poem called "Pioneers!

listed 89th in the table of contents along with the following four works: "Greatness in Poetry," "O Captain

My Captain!

My dear Poet: I spent last evening in fighting for you, in reading you, and, in a feeble way, expounding

up the balance, and that moreover, adulation would as soon turn the head of Moosilanke Moosilauke , my

My friend Baxter sent us his copy of your big book with notes, one or two, from you, pasted in.

I send you my heartiest wishes for the prolongation of your noble life in content and in as great a measure

big books by this time—I can hardly tell why, but feel very positively that if any thing can justify my

Mar 4. 1889 My dear Sir.

This, & this alone must be my excuse for adding another needless letter to your overburdened table.

Camden March 3 '89 Am feeling better all day from the encouraging & sunny news my young friend Horace

H T will send hence (March 4) two copies of my big book by express, one for you & one for Nelly —yours

regard for you (to help us) but I did not write—one grows desperate under difficulties you know, and my

London To 2 d March '89 My dear Walt Whitman, During the past day or two I have been arranging your portraits

between the lines, feeling all the time as if I can still see you in your great arm-chair—as during my

It is this impression that I must try to convey as far as may be in my article in the S. A.

So my instinct for life & the open road grows stronger every day. "Right Jack Health!"

I believe I told you that my sister Edith was with me here.

"I round and finish little, if anything; and could not, consistently with my scheme.

Whitman tells us, "Ever since what might be call'd thought, or the budding of thought, fairly began in my

I felt it all as positively then in my young days as I do now in my old ones; to formulate a poem whose

My book ought to emanate buoyancy and gladness legitimately enough, for it was grown out of those elements

, and has been the comfort of my life since it was originally commenced."