Search Results

328 Mickle Street Camden New Jersey July 28 '86 My dear Redpath Yours of 26th rec'd—All right & no harm

done—But I mortally hate to have any thing with my name signed go to press without my seeing proof—Also

I wanted the slips—Yes I will furnish you the (ab't) seven page article you request, & soon —My health

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

I for my part will advise him to collect and send on the whole amount as soon as he possibly can.

I am sure we shall all be quite satisfied with yr plans, for my part I am pleased that you are going

arranged that my contribution be my expenses to Camden & board bills there helping you get domicilled

(I built my own study out in Ohio when a lad).

But I shan't impart my surmise to any one else.

England Oct October 1: 1879 My dear Mr.

I have just received a letter from my friend in which he says: "I enclose you my promised Provençal translation

Do, I beg of you, do me the great favor to present them to him, in my name, when next you see him.

If ever I go to America, I assure you that one of my first visits will be to this most sympathetic of

poets, for whose large & lofty nature my admiration is merged into love ."

My dear Friend: As you see by the date of this, I am back again in Washington, moving around regularly

My health is pretty good, but since I was prostrated last July, I have not had that unconscious and perfect

The physician says my system has been penetrated by the malaria—it is tenacious, peculiar and somewhat

It is my first appearance in the character of a man not entirely well.

C., as I call for my letters daily at the post office. Should you have an opportunity to see Dr.

I again take my pen in hand to write a few lines to you to let you know how I am a getting This makes

that Gettysburg Battle. he sais that it was awful, and that he never wants to see the like of it again My

health is verry good, and my leg dos still continue's to mend slowly—but verry slow, the Doctor has

I am enjoying my self as well as I can with my four legs but I cannot go about much yet I am a going

No more at present but good by and write soon with my love to you and all enquiring friends, I remain

I had an auction yestarday yesterday 4 of March to sell my Personally personal troperty property as I

told you in my other letter I have rented my farm of 35 acers acres for 5 years I would like to see

Why can not you com come & see my family I have a wife & littel little Girl 5 years old this month When

the house I felt proud of it myself I will have to get a frame for it and hang it up on the wall Walt my

We move about half a mile from this place my Post office will be the same (address) your in hast haste

Had my breakfast & relish'd it—three or four hot stew'd oysters, a stout slice of toasted Graham bread

, & a mug of coffee— My housekeeper Mrs: Davis is compell'd to be temporarily absent these two days &

Ed my nurse gets my breakfast & gets it very well.

often bless the Lord & congratulate myself that things are as well with me as they are—that I retain my

mentality intact—that I have put my literary stuff in final form—that I have a few (but sufficient)

— I expect to return in about two weeks—I am writing this here in the kitchen home,—I have deserted my

cakes for breakfast—sometimes I fry them myself—I wish you could just be here & eat breakfast—I think my

mammy makes the best coffee in the world, & buckwheats ditto—mince-pies ditto— —My new edition looks

the best yet—it is from the same plates as the last, only in One Vol. bound handsomely in green cloth—my

books sent to England by to-morrow's steamer—Dear son, I send my best love, as always.

My dear Poet, Walt Whitman.

Possibly my answer to Mr.

In case of the latter, I should have been glad had he thought my name worthy of mention as a friend.

Comes to my mind as I think of the hour When our poet and friends will be lovingly drinking The mystical

But, though absent in body, there's nothing can hinder My tasting the joys of that festive birthday;

Camden Sunday Sept: 10 Dear Harry Thanks for your good letter—I have had my hands full the last six or

eight weeks getting my new book in shape, seeing to every thing, and watching the proofs day & night

job two or three times a year)—I have had the mighty good luck to keep well this summer all through—my

letter a lady opposite is singing & playing the hymn "Nearer my god to Thee"—how beautiful it sounds

— Love to you my darling young brother W.W.— Walt Whitman to Harry Stafford, 10 September [1882]

along real well, upon the whole—I went out and over to the office yesterday— went in & sat down at my

desk a few minutes—It was my greatest effort yet, and I was afraid I had overshot the mark again, as

getting along all right—I am going out a little to-day, but not much— I feel now over the worst of my

bit of sickness, & comparatively comfortable— Poor Martha—the thoughts of her still come up in my mind

Price— Mother, I shall try to get out, & get my Feb. pay, I have to get it from the old office, & then

My dear friend, Yours of the 8th has just come.

For a month or so, I have not been very well—my trouble takes the form, sometimes, of neuralgia—but is

I send my love to Helen and Emmy & all—I have rec'd a letter from mother to-day—she seems to be about

Give my respects to Mr. Arnold —also to Mr.

Parker's family —I am writing this by my window in the office—it is a fine view, ten miles of river,

it goes, it will be all right—the little Philadelphia paper piece was about the right statement of my

My brother Jeff has come on from St.

excursion, a week on a yacht voyage—I told him to call on you, if possible—& he will if he can work it—My

her I rec'd received her letter & thank her for it—I have not felt to write to her, or any one but my

I have had—but unspeakable —my physical sickness, bad as it is, is nothing to it— The following are

My life and recitative, containing birth, youth, mid-age years, Fitful as motley-tongues of flame, inseparably

twined and merged in one—combining all, My single soul—aims, confirmations, failures, joys—Nor single

soul alone, I chant my nation's crucial stage, (America's, haply humanity's) —the trial great, the victory

common bulk, the general average horde, (the best no sooner than the worst)—And now I chant old age, (My

snow-white hairs the same, and give to pulses winter- cool'd the same;) As here in careless trill, I and my

My dear beloved son dont don't be worried about me i hope i shall be all right again my nervious nervous

very much out of order i know i have brought in on by worrying but i cant can't seem to get over it my

head feels bad sometimes my rheumatics is better if i could be with you dear walt Walt i would be glad

wish but i hope i shall get a better appetite some time as i have such trembling spels spells its all my

England Mar 26 th 1892 My Dear good old Friend Just a line to you by tonights mail to send you my love

once more—always that, always that—& the best I possess, along with my warmest sympathy.

Though I do not write much—for I fear to trouble you—my Love knows no lessening.

I have got my dear good old father staying here with me & am very happy to have him too.

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

dear boy—and though you must now be indeed quite different from the little child I used to lift up in my

In response to your letter I send—not my whole volume of Leaves of Grass —but Drum-Taps , a part of it

published by John Burroughs, who, being a great friend of mine, views every thing relating to me & my

—I send you my love, & I wish you to give my friendliest remembrances to your parents.

And so will some one, when I am dead and gone, write my life?

(As if any man really knew aught of my life; Why, even I myself, I often think, know little or noth-

ing nothing of my real life; Only a few hints—a few diffused, faint clues and indi- rections indirections

, I seek, for my own use, to trace out here.)

431 Stevens Street Camden Jan: 18 '82 My dear Mrs Childs Yours & Mr Childs', inviting me to dine & meet

an invalid—just suffering an extra bad spell & forbidden to go out nights this weather— Please give my

hearty salutation & American welcome to Mr Wilde— I much desire my friend to briefly report & give my

Niagara Falls Sept 28 '80 Have finished my summer tour of St Lawrence & the Thousand Islands &c.

—have jaunted over 3000 miles mostly river & Lakes—(I believe I sent you a couple of my current letters

here in Canada) & am now on my way home to Camden N J (stopping here a short time)—I am unusually well

& robust for a half-paralytic—Camden will still remain my address.

He wants my book to be personal.

I'd as likely go back on my mother.

I hope he will accept my letter: he will some day see my position."

, period of my life, all told—in some ways possessing features not unlike my present experience.

My interest in the books and my consideration for you!

After I had been a while in my situation at Mr.

I made improvements both in my style of living, and in my dress—The new boarding-house in which I took

As it was now quite in the evening, I had hardly finished my meal before my companions came, according

Forgetful of my duty—of my employer's honor, and the crisis which would turn against him, if I continued

What fire burnt in my brain!

O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul!

And what shall my perfume be, for the grave of him I love?

O wild and loose to my soul! O wondrous singer!

While my sight that was bound in my eyes unclosed, As to long panoramas of visions. 18 I saw the vision

Must I pass from my song for thee; From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, com- muning communing

walks home late at night, or as I lay in my bed, they came upon me.

, That I was, I knew was of my body, and what I should be, I knew I should be of my body.

Manhatta, my river and sun-set, and my scallop-edged waves of flood-tide, the sea-gulls oscillating

face, Which fuses me into you now, and pours my meaning into you.

loudly and mu- sically musically call me by my nighest name! Live, old life!

Then stopped and added: "I suppose you get disgusted coming here every day to hear my perpetual whine—my

"Both my fingers and my memory gave out." Very calm.

I remember well how one of my noblest, best friends—one of my wisest, cutest, profoundest, most candid

"My memory is shamefully abusing my faith nowadays."

My dear sir,I send by this mail the second part of my study of your works.

Conway returned my admiration, and whether she would have accepted the offer of my hand, had I been in

And I spoke with an energy that showed my mind.

it, than upon any other portion of my conduct.

I already began to blame myself for my deceit.

knowledge and my memory.

Nothing my babe you see in the sky, And nothing at all to you it says—but look you my babe, Look at these

now the hal- yards halyards have rais'd it, Side of my banner broad and blue, side of my starry banner

Eastern shore, and my Western shore the same, And all between those shores, and my ever running Mississippi

with bends and chutes, And my Illinois fields, and my Kansas fields, and my fields of Missouri, The

My limbs, my veins dilate, my theme is clear at last, Banner so broad advancing out of the night, I sing

Nothing my babe you see in the sky, And nothing at all to you it says—but look you my babe, Look at these

now the hal- yards halyards have rais'd it, Side of my banner broad and blue, side of my starry banner

Eastern shore, and my Western shore the same, And all between those shores, and my ever running Mississippi

with bends and chutes, And my Illinois fields, and my Kansas fields, and my fields of Missouri, The

My limbs, my veins dilate, my theme is clear at last, Banner so broad advancing out of the night, I sing

Borrowdale, Cressington Park Sep 29 To Walter Whitman, Esq r Sir, To my only Brother, who for nearly

has been a helpless sufferer in Santiago, I am sending a specially prepared Birthday Book: and it is my

very earnest wish to obtain for insertion in my Book the name of your most honored self.

I trust you will graciously pardon my freedom in asking the favour of your sign-manual on enclosed slip

Studio 2 W. 14 th st New York Febr. 12 90 My dear sir I have delivered your book to Mr. Bancroft.

I take the pleasure to mail to you some proofs of my drawings and ask you to accept them with my kindest

Thanking you for your kindness at the occasion of my visit to you, and wishing you good health I am most

Monday afternoon April 14 1879. 1309 Fifth av: near 86th st My dear Reid— As you might possibly have

room in the paper—& a full report might hit—I send you a complete copy of my lecture, to take the chances

to-morrow's paper —(As I calculate, it would make about three quarters of a column in your small type) — —My

plan is to break the tedium of my half invalidism from time to time (& also collect a few shekels) by

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.

But as time wore on, while my curiosity remained, its direction changed somewhat.

I have gone right on—my bent has remained my bent,—everything remained as it would have remained otherwise

I have for a couple of days been trying to get my hand down to the work of jotting my impressions—my

I don't know what will come of it—how well the memories will revive and my pencil stay them.

"On my trip out today, I stopped and left a copy of the leather book for Sam Grey.

Bear forth to them, folded, my love —(Dear mariners!

for you I fold it here, in every leaf;) Speed on, my Book!

And so will some one, when I am dead and gone, write my life?

, I seek, for my own use, to trace out here.)

BEGINNING MY STUDIES.

My boy is running my plow—preparing ground for our usual cotton crop—somehow there seems never to be

Do you share my astonishment?

Ba "My course runs below the soundings of plummets".

I wish to keep J.B.s book, and I sent part pay ($1) in my Feb-letter.

You'll know the name— the tenant who makes my grain on my home farm, for 6 or more years, is still engaged—he

the rest of my days in that vicinity.

happiest hours have been spent there—some of my freest hours."

Upon my remonstrance he said: "I will make it a religion to like the new man."

He took it out of my hand, scanned it, handed it back.

"If I die in the midst of things you may fall heir to all my work: think of that: all my work!"

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

My old fencing-master, Boulet, (no better ever lived; he taught once at West Point,) taught me always

to cover my breast with hilt and point, even in the lunge, and I think of his lessons when engaged in

I have freely used the memoranda you sent, and got in as much of it as I could see my way to employ,

I hope my new letter will be as successful with you and the public as my first.

Watch the for my anti-Chadwick. I hardly think it will fail to bring him down.

letter from Bloom yesterday—but, before responding to it (which I will do soon) I must write to you, my

Every day or night I spend four, five, or six hours, among my sick, wounded, prostrate boys.

Some of my boys get well, some die.

, good stock, often mere boys, full of sweetness & heroism—often they seem very near to me, even as my

I make no bones of petting them just as if they were—have long given up formalities & reserves in my

Cozens, without waiting for actual receipt of the money— wh. which , as before stated, is in my hands

The only reason why, contrary to my usual practice, I have so long delayed sending it on to you is that

I enter into all these tiresome details because an explanation of my delay is due to you: but I fear

Adams my last news of your health, & enclosing also a copy of my last circular (summer of 1876) regarding

I can but repeat my delight in this prospect, were it to be realized, & my wife's hope & my own that

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

He had my list—over 50—the main body foreign.

I had the first proof of the poems in my pocket—gave to him.

I may not be able to read them before evening—evening is my best time: from eleven to five are my worst

Wishes my father to see them. Shall forward to Bucke.

One of my deep joys is to see my own thought well expressed by another, hence I am grateful to you for

NW, Jan 24/72 Dear Friend, I send you photographs of my eldest and youngest children I wish I had some

against a terrible sense of inward prostration, so it has not my natural expression, but I think you

And see my faults flaws shortcomings too dear Friend.

My Husband was taken from us too young to be able to have made any provision for his children.

I have a little of my own—about £80 a year: & for the rest depend upon my Mother whose only living child

This is my permanent address.

I live here in a large old house wh. belonged to my father—a house on a hill among trees looking down

Yet I felt that if you liked my poem you would write.

In these I trust the spirit of the Past is faithfully set forth as far as my abilities allow.

The little girl in one of them is my youngest child.

"I have had my second bath today," he explained, "and that may in part account for my good condition.

my trump card—the abiding thing of all, and it is that I wish to point out.

That is one of the fruits of my receiving you downstairs instead of here yesterday afternoon.

"You know all about Eddy, my brother there. We put him there at the start because of Mrs.

"Very little—I could not say, nothing, but then my memory is such a devilish queer factor in my economy

Upon my saying that Brinton's stock was Quaker far back, W. said: "Ah!

And upon my remarking, with the heavy book in my arms—"It is a great institution"—W. continued: "It ought

It is in part the explanation of my work—of Leaves of Grass.

hold me from my contract."

to my objection that a man should save some heat for something else.

Camden Friday afternoon May 6 My dear friend I am sorry to hear of your feeling so unwell, & have thought

while I was there)—I had a lively time in Boston—Susan I wish you could have been there the evening of my

such a collection of people as would have suited you, & been a study—different from any I ever saw in my

them from the usual crowd—about 300—(I will tell you more when I see you)— As I write this part of my

supper, & here I am in perfect quiet up in my room, finishing my letter—Susan my dear friend I hope

My Dear Friend Walter, Your very kind and long looked for letter of Aug 1st came to hand on the 6th &

Now I will put in a word for myself my leg still continues to mend verry slow but I hope sure, and I

have ben enjoying my self as well as I could with my sore leg I have bin a way on a visit for a week

& I have enjoyed my sel[f] verry much (for a wounded soldier is something hear I tell you) for the people

a copperhead & a Reblle I would shoot the copperhead first, and to tell you the truth I am proud of my