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My dear Sir: Mr.

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

My name is known to your friend Mr.

I enclose prospectus of my Editions of Poe's works.

Only not mounted as I want it for mounting in my own fashion, safest way of sending is round a small

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

Jan: January 23 1877 My dear Sir, I hardly know through what a malign series of crooked events—absence

chiefly on my part in Italy & Switzerland, pressure of studious work, & miscarriage of letters—I should

however, begging you to send me copies of Leaves of Grass & Two Rivulets , & enclosing a Cheque on my

This is now framed & hangs in my bedroom.

I do not know whether you are likely to have heard that I make literature my daily work.

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

It gives me a deep sincere pleasure to write this note, but I should like to say about my article, that

Whitman, late in life, said to Horace Traubel: "[I] take my Ruskin with some qualifications."

Dear Mr Whitman Please pardon my intrusion but as I am a great lover of literature especially poetry,

Miller's muse If you will be so kind as to answer my critical questions I will thank you very much.

volumes of Horace Traubel's With Walt Whitman in Camden (various publishers: 1906–1996) and Whitman's "My

My great regret is that with his magnificent abilities he should have done so comparatively little to

It is postmarked: London | PM | MY 13 | 89 | Canada; Camden, N.J. | May | 15 | 30 PM | 1889 | Rec'd.

Your card of the 24th came two days ago, not a little to my relief.

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

there from Saturday night until Monday morning before any train left I dont think I ever was so sick in my

with your office I am in hopes you have recd it before this time I begun to think that your office & my

discharge had gone to the same place now I have got my papers I think you had ought to receive yours

I cant write any more this time my hand trembles so I can hardly write but I will try & do better next

time give my best respects to Mr & Mrs O Connor.

Of the O'Connors, Thomas Jefferson Whitman wrote on June 13, 1863: "I am real glad, my dear Walt, that

same with me—I wonder if (& hope) you will see Edw'd Carpenter (Millthorpe n'r Chesterfield) one of my

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

It is postmarked: LONDON | MY 7 | 91 | CANADA.; CAMDEN, N.J. | MAY | 9 | 1PM | 1891 | REC'D.

Louis Nov. 10 th My Dear Uncle Walt, I have been thinking about you so much lately, that I am going to

I am still at my old quarters and will remain for this Winter, after that is as yet an unsettled problem

was an admirer of the former, I think even more of him, for the good taste in thinking so much of "my

Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, September 12, 1889 and Saturday, September 14, 1889: "My

Brooklyn January 20 1865 My dear friend I suppose you must have heard from Ashton that I received Mr.

We got word yesterday by means of an exchanged prisoner, from my brother George, but only up to November

I suppose you got my letter of some ten days since.

Nelly, I send you my love, & hope you are well & [in] good spirits. Farewell.

Of the O'Connors, Thomas Jefferson Whitman wrote on June 13, 1863: "I am real glad, my dear Walt, that

I am sitting in the old chair in my Mickle st. den writing this—fine weather— Walt Whitman Walt Whitman

Whitman occasionally referred to Stafford as "My (adopted) son" (as in a December 13, 1876, letter to

June 9 '89 Lou, I rec'd the aspargus, strawberries &c, by Charley—have had some of the a[sparagus] for my

least either on the right or left side) with a button at top—I am so in the habit of carrying things in my

dull here muchly—I am sitting up in the 2d story room alone—door & windows open—Did you or George get my

Whitman noted that Louisa "bro't my new blue gown" on June 11, 1889 (The Commonplace-Book, Charles E.

aim'd at me—like flash of flame Right to my very soul it came.

An infant at that dreary hour, Comes weeping to my silent bower, And wakes me with a piteous prayer,

I, starting, cry, That mak'st my blissful dreams to fly?"

I know him by his bow and dart; (I know him by my fluttering heart:) I take him in—I quickly raise The

(My bosom trembled as he smiled,) I pray thee let me try my bow, For through the rain I've wandered

here is this old Africa & very unhappy send a message to you in America who are helping me to bear my

They were among the last things we ever read together but a few weeks ago in England when my life seemed

I am reading your poems now again alone & in the bitterness of my heart in this place to which I have

come to struggle with my sorrow.

dead love & my living grief.

compliments" been off my table.

Literature," and then with my beautiful mother's death, my reckless son's divorce, and other Orestean

You know I am one of those who have the privilege of sharing my scrip with you, my dear elder bard, when

something that is my own to share.

My table is covered with letters I can't get time & strength to answer.

Dear Walt I am going to try and write you a few lines this morning, but you must overlook my poor composition

also my writing, for I am very weak and my mind is not as it was before I was sun stroke .

My Sister and also my friends are very anxious to see and to read your Leaves of Grass and I hope they

able to be proped up in bed and able to write to my true friend and comrade.

My Sister Mary says when I go back to war she shall write to you.

My Dear Old Friend, My heartiest thanks to you for your letter with enclosures rec d by last mail.

—thereby endorsing the professor's eulogistic references to me & my "Notes," & enhancing its value a

My best thanks to you for that.

& two surgical operations in addition to a long list of cases) & I have still a letter to write to my

My best love to you now & always & my warmest greeting! God bless you!

So I defer my visit to you.

My wife and I Earnestly hope we may see you at our house soon.

All my Thought of late, Walt, is of you, and your great work.

All other books seem to me weak and unworthy my attention.

My wife appreciated the difference greatly .

Brooklyn Nov 17, 1863 Dear friend I suppose Nelly has received a letter from me posting you up of my

last night, Trovatore —very, very good singing & acting— I feel to devote myself more to the work of my

I shall range along the high plateau of my life & capacity for a few years now, & then swiftly descend

, & the objects, &c of most, seem to me very flippant & shallow somehow since I returned this time— My

Dear comrade, I send you my love, & to William & Nelly, & remember me to Major [Hapgood] — Walt Walt

do I not see my love fluttering out among the breakers?

Loud I call to you, my love!

who I am, my love.

Hither my love! Here I am! here!

But my mate no more, no more with me! We two together no more.

do I not see my love fluttering out among the breakers?

Loud I call to you, my love!

who I am, my love.

Hither my love! Here I am! here!

But my mate no more, no more with me! We two together no more.

LOVER divine and perfect Comrade, Waiting content, invisible yet, but certain, Be thou my God.

Ideal Man, Fair, able, beautiful, content, and loving, Complete in body and dilate in spirit, Be thou my

O Death, (for Life has served its turn,) Opener and usher to the heavenly mansion, Be thou my God.

All great ideas, the races' aspirations, All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts, Be ye my Gods.

and wondrous, Or some fair shape I viewing, worship, Or lustrous orb of sun or star by night, Be ye my

LOVER divine and perfect Comrade, Waiting content, invisible yet, but certain, Be thou my God.

Ideal Man, Fair, able, beautiful, content, and loving, Complete in body and dilate in spirit, Be thou my

O Death, (for Life has served its turn,) Opener and usher to the heavenly mansion, Be thou my God.

All great ideas, the races' aspirations, All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts, Be ye my Gods.

and wondrous, Or some fair shape I viewing, worship, Or lustrous orb of sun or star by night, Be ye my

Not My Enemies Ever Invade Me NOT MY ENEMIES EVER INVADE ME.

NOT my enemies ever invade me—no harm to my pride from them I fear; But the lovers I recklessly love—lo

me, ever open and helpless, bereft of my strength!

—She was as solemn and sour as the spinster, and upon my mentioning my business, gave me to understand

, but my friend of the day before, the antiquary.

What that may be, will depend a good deal upon my luck.

"I am determined to do my best.

I carefully deposited it in my breast pocket, and with a lighter step wended on to my new boarding-house

don't say my say for me in the most conclusive way.

I am doing my job in my way: it don't suit them: they growl, curse, ridicule: but what is left for Walt

I have loved you for years with my whole heart and soul.

And yet I am a writer and make a living by my pen.

I am proud of my feeling for you.

My situation is rather a pleasant one.

There are many peculiarities in New Orleans that I shall jot down at my leisure in these pages.

My health was most capital; I frequently thought indeed that I felt better than ever before in my life

After changing my boarding house, Jef. and I were, take it altogether, pretty comfortable.

My own pride was touched—and I met their conduct with equal haughtiness on my part.

Your memory burns as bright as ever in my heart & allways will, thear is now doubt but some of my corrospondants

I will be thear on the last day of August, if I do not get my furlow extended, whitch I have the hopes

of, for I would most as leave come back to see my old friends as stay at home.

The Doctor that tens me hear wants me for to try and get my furlow extended, for he thinks that my leg

Dear Walter I am enjoying my self fine as well, I think, as any cripple can.

My Dear Whitman,— Don't you thik think it would be well for you to give me a line to Prof.

Dowden, telling him that you have read the bibliography of my forthcoming book, and that you think you

I am afraid they will be but dilatory in taking hold of the matter on my request alone,.

For my part, I dislike to ask anyone for to serve as go-between, but you seemed to think it would be

My roses are superb; have pitched a tent in my yard. Aff. Affectionately W. S. Kennedy.

& my works' future—the backward & contemporary reference.

less evidences of gradual physical deterioration —but spirits good—appetite &c fair—& you know I begin my

70th year now in ab't two months—thank God indeed that things are as well as they are & that I & my

fortunes (literary & otherwise) are—Rainy & dark & raw here all day—I was out yesterday four hours to my

friends the Harneds —was taken & bro't back in my phæton —a lull in my Herald contributions —I send

That Shadow, My Likeness. That Shadow, my Likeness.

THAT shadow, my likeness, that goes to and fro, seek- ing seeking a livelihood, chattering, chaffering

where it flits; How often I question and doubt whether that is really me; —But in these, and among my

lovers, and caroling my songs, O I never doubt whether that is really me.

That Shadow, My Likeness THAT SHADOW, MY LIKENESS.

THAT shadow, my likeness, that goes to and fro, seek- ing seeking a livelihood, chattering, chaffering

it where it flits; How often I question and doubt whether that is really me; But in these, and among my

lovers, and carolling my songs, O I never doubt whether that is really me.

The O'Connor home was my home: they were beyond all others—William, Nelly—my understanders, my lovers

Take my darling dear mother: my dear, dear mother: she and I—oh!

oh my, hardly the Leaves!

general: they were my unvarying partisans, my unshakable lovers—my espousers: William, Nelly: William

so like a great doing out of the eternal—a withering blast to my enemies, a cooling zephyr to my friends

My dear Walt: I posted you six copies of the last circular this afternoon; I think that John Fraser has

Colles, then goes on to say something appreciative of my dear mother's Essays; wch which pleased and

You will be pleased to hear that I have got over my worries in connection with the contract for my Book

To create a small literary monument to my mother & this such an one should be clothed in pretty dress

With best love and remembrances to my dear old loving Walt Herbert H. Gilchrist.

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

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

at home, and the mys- tic mystic midnight passes, And through the stillness, through the dark, I hear

, just hear, the breath of my infant, There in the room, as I wake from sleep, this vision presses upon

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

I felt of my hatchet's edge—it was keen as my hate.

my sorrowful cousins, and went my way.

Wife of my youth! of my early youth!

All my cruelty—all my former love—all my guilt—all my disregard of the sacred ties—seemed concentrated

My deeds were as good as my word.

Among temperance novels then quite popular were Lucius Manley Sargent's My Mother's Gold Ring (1833),

Rose on my entrance. Today I got from Ferguson revised proofs reaching to page fifty-six.

"I told Mary to tell him my head was too sore.

He took my hand.

I shall (as I see now) continue to be my own publisher and bookseller.

Each book has my autograph. The Two Volumes are my complete works, $10 the set."

"My own fancy, Evans," he answered, "my own whim, perhaps. But we are not strangers.

I shall give his story in my own words.

My constitution, notwithstanding the heavy draughts made upon its powers by my youthful dissipations,

I allude to my old friend, Colby.

My country relations were not forgotten by me in my good fortune.

I took my lamp, and went my way to my room.

I stopped and leaned my back against the fence, with my face turned toward the white marble stones a

; and answered, "My husband's."

She looked at me for a minute, as if in wonder at my perverseness; and then answered as before, "My husband's

my open hands and thought.

have of late frequently come to me times when I do not dread the grave—when I could lie down, and pass my

SCENTED HERBAGE OF MY BREAST.

O blossoms of my blood!

WHAT THINK YOU I TAKE MY PEN IN HAND? WHAT think you I take my pen in hand to record?

MY LIKENESS! EARTH! my likeness!

That Shadow, my Likeness.

Brooklyn Tuesday even'g July 5 1864 My dear friend I have had the misfortune to fall back a little since

same as if written to her—I do not write much, nor do any thing hardly, but keep as quiet as possible—my

physician thinks that time, with the change of locality, & my own latent recuperative power, will make

I intend to move heaven & earth to publish my "Drum-Taps" as soon as I am able to go around.

love—also Ashton—I will write should there be any change in my condition— Good bye for present, my dear

Of the O'Connors, Thomas Jefferson Whitman wrote on June 13, 1863: "I am real glad, my dear Walt, that

O'Connor related in a letter on November 24, 1863, that the Count had said to her recently: "My Gott,

Dear William O'Connor: I was very ill after my arrival here—& made worse by the heat—but have recovered

Mother is well, & sends her love to you all—mother asked a great deal about Nelly, and also about Jenny— My

Price—but shall begin to explore, this week—& will report in my next— Dear Nelly, I had an unusually

my love— William, do you see how Mrs.

My address is 101 Portland av. opp. Arsenal Brooklyn, New York.

last yawp, which (the review) you were frank enough to print in your last issue, emboldens me to speak my

Last Winter I got on skates, my first appearance before an icy audience for fifteen years.

U. is the poet of my concern, her suggestion to that effect was a strong point in favor of Mr.

s fondness for poetry doesn't at all interfere with the clearness of my café noir, the lightness of my

with my lordly prerogative.

My dear father-confessor, I feel a strong desire to be clasped closer to yr your breast, to know my friend

—Well, there, my eye lights on my memorandum of it.

I have not time to copy out my translation. affec. as always W.S.

I offer my congratulations in advance.

that item about my reading proofs) before I give him the MS.

life, my thoughts, my feelings, my views— my self in fact, in every way, you seem to have permeated

my whole being.

My friend Mrs.

It is good to have my love for you then rounded by knowing you, and finding my feeling and thought about

Jeannie sends much love to you, so does my sister Jeannie.

STARTING NEWSPAPERS (ANOTHER ACCOUNT) Reminiscences —( From the "Camden Courier." )—As I sat taking my

As I cross'd leisurely for an hour in the pleasant night-scene, my young friend's words brought up quite

How it made my heart double-beat to see my piece on the pretty white paper, in nice type.

My first real venture was the "Long Islander," in my own beautiful town of Huntington, in 1839.

I enjoy'd my journey and Louisiana life much.

, and he walked with me toward my residence.

—My slumbers were deep and unbroken.

As I took my departure from the place, who should I see in front, with a quill behind his ear, but my

My mistake in regard to the fashionable gentleman , had taught me a lesson, and my country life had taught

I pass over my stares of wonder, and my running aslant dungeon walls, castles, and canvas palaces.

My dear Conway, Your letter of February 1st has just come to hand. I am willing that Mr.

I wish to send my sincerest thanks & personal regards to Mr. Rossetti.

To have had my book, & my cause, fall into his hands, in London, in the way they have, I consider one

Remember my request to Mr.

I feel prepared in advance to render my cordial & admirant respect to Mr.