Search Results

Jersey U S America Jan: 1 '91 Well the New Year has come & it is a dark foggy stormy glum day here—my

Pacific side Co:) acc't—but the main thing will be, if the bundle reaches you safe , wh' is one motive of my

sending now—I am putting some little licks on a little 2d annex to be called "Good bye my Fancy" wh'

I will send you when printed—& my L of G. & all will be done—I wrote to you ab't a week ago too—has

on & even increase (it is a kind of delirium)—Of course when you write tell me what has arrived of my

Whitman's book Good-Bye My Fancy (1891) was his last miscellany, and it included both poetry and short

Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy" in Leaves of Grass (1891–1892

For more information see, Donald Barlow Stauffer, "'Good-Bye my Fancy' (Second Annex) (1891)," Walt Whitman

Camden NJ—US America Nov: 1 '91 Just a word anyhow while I am waiting for my supper—y'rs last rec'd is

have progressive paralysis , wh' is eligible to have a fatal termination any hour—so you must all take my

letters & conveyances of friendship & affection (strangers as we are face to face) as my last missives—write

Nothing very new or different in my affairs.

here in Atty Gens office—same posish position —have good health—expect to bring out new editions of my

books before very long—how is the little boy—I send my love to him, & to your wife & parents.

wrote but then deleted: "O if we could only be together now even if only Dear Boy, dear, dear friend, my

In 1888 Walt Whitman commented to Horace Traubel about this letter: "I can't live some of my old letters

My dear loving boy, I wish things were situated so you could be with me, & we could be together for a

I must put something to you better than that in my letter.

So I will cheer my boy [&] tell you again, Benton, that I love you dearly, & always keep you in mind,

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

1867 letter, Wilson acknowledged Walt Whitman's reply of April 12: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

Philadelphia , June 28 1882 My dear Ben: Benjamin Ticknor I wish you would do me the favor to have the

mail me the (brown paper bound) copy of "Leaves of Grass" I sent on about a month ago —I mentioned my

Camden N J Dec. 18 '81 My dear Ben: Ticknor Thank you for your (& O'Reilley's O'Reilly's ) suggestion

morning—thanks—Nothing very new with me—I continue well—have had the best summer for several years—My

I think Mrs Stafford is only middling—(I havn't haven't been at White Horse now for a fortnight) —My

Street Camden New Jersey Feb 21 Dear Bee Your letter rec'd received , & we all read it with interest —my

mother yesterday forwarding the enclosed letter of Rossetti's which she wished me to post to you—So far my

Camden Dec 13 '77 Dear Bee My sister told me at breakfast to say to you she would be happy to have you

thinking much the few hours past of what Mr Eldridge told me of a young Mrs Needham (an intimate friend of my

a lunatic asylum —just from sheer overwork, & too intense concentration, ardor, & continued strain —My

My dear Mr. Taylor, I have received your letter of the 12th.

The friendly pages thereof have given me pleasure, & I wish to proffer you my friendship in response.

O'Kane has undoubtedly sent you all the copies of my books remaining in his possession—he received originally

And since then he has delivered about 30 Leaves of of Grass to my order—leaving only 30 or 40 more to

As said in my note, you now, (with the exception of about 350 copies of As A Strong Bird , which are

at my printer's in N.Y., & which I can send you an order for,) you now have my books in the market.

Strong Bird on store in N.Y., which I can send you an order for, if you wish, at once.) you have all my

edition you got of Shephard, four or five weeks ago—with the remaining copies (if any) of the 25 sent by my

I have somewhere between 300 & 350 of my little book of later poems, "As a Strong Bird on Pinions free

If you care to have the sole & exclusive command of all my books in existence, take this offer.

I am sick & paralyzed—a tedious prospect still before me—& should be glad to have the books off my hands

With Walt Whitman in Camden in 1889: "What a sweat I used to be in all the time . . . over getting my

previously published in Leaves of Grass, "Passage to India" was Whitman's attempt to "celebrate in my

way we talked of, (& I have no doubt we shall,) & satisfaction is felt on both sides, it is certainly my

Whitman observed to Horace Traubel in 1889: "What a sweat I used to be in all the time . . . over getting my

328 Mickle Street Camden New Jersey Jan: 25 '87—noon My dear friend Arthur The box (Oranges) has just

different from usual late years, but older, more broken & paralyzed—I have a little old cottage of my

I spend my evenings mostly in the office. Walt Whitman to Anson Ryder, Jr., [1868?]

Well, my dear comrade, I believe I have told you all the news—of Eicholtz, the German sergeant with the

OFFICE, Washington Aug. 15, 1865 Dear Anson, As there is a sort of lull and quiet for a short time in my

My dear friend; I am sorry you could not have been with me for a day or two before you left Washington

writing this at the office, otherwise I would enclose one of the card photographs in it—they are up at my

room—I will send one in my next.

Write how your leg is—Give my best remembrances to Wood—he is a good man & I hope he will prosper through

I have been absent on leave the past summer two months—went to New York—spent most of the time with my

Well, I keep about as stout as ever, and my face red & great beard just the same as when I used to see

you—I eat my rations every time, too—I am writing this in the office by a big window with a splendid

view of the Potomac & Arlington Heights—Well I find I must close—I send my love to you, darling boy,

suppose you have rec'd received the "Specimen Days" I sent a while since —I am well as usual—reeling out my

Dear friend, I send by same mail with this, my latest piece, copied in a newspaper —& will write you

I suppose you duly received my former letters (two)—I ought to have written something about your children

in your letter of last summer, July 23d, which I have just been reading again)—Dear boys & girls—how my

I am still living here in employment in a Government office—My health is good—Life is rather sluggish

Rossetti quite a long letter —My present address is Solicitor's Office, Treasury, Washington, D. C.

—I am middling well—the trouble in my eyesight (& very annoying it was to my anchor'd condition) seems

have just been reading your Monday's note for the second time—& will write a line in rejoinder, with my

out of the gurgling brook, just as I sit here, half shade, half in the warm sun, as I sit here after my

I am still pretty well,—Still enjoy my natural days here, by the creek—(but they are now drawing to a

Herby is well & brown—Shall be up in good time to be with with my dear neices nieces & all of you—I wonder

more daily work than ever has fallen upon me to do the current season, & though I am well & contented, my

I too send you my love. And do you feel no disappointment because I now write but briefly.

My book is my best letter, my response, my truest explanation of all.

In it I have put my body & spirit. You understand this better & fuller & clearer than any one else.

…I am yet young enough to bear thee children, my darling, if God should so bless me.

And would yield my life for this cause with serene joy if it were so appointed, if that were the price

My address for six or eight weeks to come will be care of Dr Bucke , London Ontario Canada .

Niagara Falls, America September 28 '80 My dear friend I must write you a line or two—but it will be

a short letter—I am on my way back to Camden, stopping here only temporarily.

& affectionate—(Dr has several times spoken of you) —I rec'd received your letter of a month since —My

431 Stevens Street Camden New Jersey U S America Nov: 28 '81 My dear friend, Have time & its influences

My brother & sister are well. The Staffords the same.

I am writing this in the sunshine up in my old 3d story room—Best best love to you & to Herby & Grace

The intensity of her grief is visible in the lines of an undated and unsigned letter: "My dear Children

be resigned—but remorse—that I should have left her; that is like an envenomed wound poisoning all my

O the love for her shut up in my heart" (Charles E.

apologized for not remembering his birthday: "it was past & I had not written one word—not just put my

It is a very warm Sunday afternoon—as I write up in my third story south room— W W Walt Whitman to Anne

Camden New Jersey March 27 p m My dear friend Yours of yesterday rec'd received —Also the previous ones

me—I expect to come on to N Y to lecture (Death of Abraham Lincoln) the middle of April—Do you know of my

he is sort of engineering it—in conjunction [with] John Burroughs, (now in Washington)— My brother &

Don't mind my long silences.

My illness has not lifted since I last wrote you, & is still upon me—the last two or three months the

Walt Whitman Before enveloping my letter, I take a good long, long look at the photographs—with all their

, not without solemnity—which you must understand without my writing it—comes over me, like a little

sun–cloud, this vapory day—& with that, & once again my love, I close.

4–6, 1874, she wrote: "I believe if I could only make you conscious of the love, the enfolding love my

letter) she had received Whitman's ring "that put peace and joy and yet such pain of yearning into my

heart—pain for you, my Darling & sorrowing helpless love that waits and must wait useless, afar off,

Friend, be indulgent, as indeed I know you will be, of these poor letters of mine with their details of my

anecdote of Lady Dilke too pleased me) — Every thing goes on pretty much the same with us here in Camden—my

sister quite up to her standard of health—not plus , but not minus either—my brother a little on the

My books doing—L. of G. sales have been good— Specimen Days not so good yet, but I am satisfied.

I have been a reader of your writings for the last ten years or so and have in my humble way done my

(Indeed I have evinced the sincerity of my belief in you by going farther in its expression than most

Not in the slightest degree do I regret taking this step for I look upon you as one of my teachers and

as such owe you my debt of gratitude)" (The Library of Congress, Washington D.C.).

Camden N J Aug: August 27 All going on well with me—the type-setting of my new prose book "Specimen Days

As I write, (Sunday afternoon) up in my 3d story room, heavy clouds & rain falling in torrents.

My brother & sister well—I saw Mrs.

—in good spirits, & excellent well, and have had a jolly good visit both to you & yours & over here—My

Shall go back to New York to-morrow afternoon—will finish my letter there—To-day, Sunday (now 11½ a m

on board—got back at dark —rec'd your letter yesterday morning—thanks— Debby was married June 13th—my

Camden—all well, including my sister & brother— Best love to you, & to Bee, Herbert, & Giddy— Walt Whitman

with the flesh-brush—with an extra scour on the back by Al: J., who is here with us—all inspiriting my

I have never for a moment wavered in my belief in this truth since it burst upon me a veritable sunrise

afternoon, down by the creek —Passed between sauntering —the hickory saplings —& " Honor is the subject of my

explanation of the last three lines, ask Herby—) I am glad Bee gets on so well (but I expected it) & my

Very well they look too, in my opinion—not only handsome & open-eyed, and fresh & independent, with wit

noted that Whitman was fond of quoting Cassius's speech to Brutus, "Well, honour is the subject of my

. & all the boys & girls as usual— Nothing very new with me—I suppose you have rec'd received my pieces

about ten days ago —trust you are yourself again in sound health by this time —I believe I wrote last my

chilled —felt the effects two months—am now pretty well over it, & expect to be as usual till next time—My

My breath is so short, I cannot walk, which is a privation."

My dear friend , Your letter is rec'd received , having been sent on to me from Washington.

My address still remains Solicitor's office, Treasury there.

I have been stopping for two months, (Feb. & March,) home with my Mother , & am writing this home.

finely, & is cheerful hearted—will probably soon give up her housekeeping & go to live with one of my

brothers, who is married —My father died seventeen years since.

On April 12, 1872, Gilchrist objected to this warning: "it hurts so, as seeming to distrust my love.

that sooner or later you will not be able to help stretching out your arms towards me & saying 'Come, my

be satisfied with a gossipy letter about his affairs, she really wanted more: "And if you say 'Read my

Kirkwood N J New Jersey Monday afternoon Aug August 20 My dear friend, I forward you the accompanying

The other two will you please take, or mail to my sister in Camden, soon as you have read?

months but am now better & shall soon be ab't as of late years—I have moved into a little old shanty of my

wistful thoughts" that, "were not I & mine bound here by unseverable ties, . . . could I make America my

I hope you are feeling in good heart & physique—Your note to my sister rec'd received & read with sympathy

& love by all— We are all well—My brother is off to his labors, (which are still quite pressing)—My

sister has gone out to market—Hattie & Jessie are down stairs sewing—I am sitting up here in my 3d story

December 23, "a somewhat severe operation (under ether) to cure an injury received at the birth of one of my

Camden Sunday afternoon May 19 My dear friend I came up last night from a three days visit to White Horse

will last me a long while—got home about one o'clock, (it has now just struck four)—consequence of my

White horse N J Jan 19 My dear friend I jaunted down here last evening, to spend a couple of days.

little plus)— I went down last month to spend a while with the Staffords at their new farm, but I miss'd my

& heaped just now, as I have been down stairs to see what the post man left me— I am sitting up in my

miss them)— I am busy a little leisurely writing—think of printing soon a smallish 100 page book of my

thing is quiet & secluded here—all winter too, the snow white & deep in every direction—as I look from my

window, river & mountains & trees & rocks—far & vast— I only write a hurried line to let you know my

In that I have described my situation fully & candidly. My new edition is printed & ready.

My health I am encouraged to think is perhaps a shade better—certainly as well as any time of late.

but yet again they may,) of changes, journeys—even of coming to London, of seeing you, of visiting my

My dearest friend, I do not approve your American trans–settlement —I see so many things here, you have

As to my literary situation here, my rejection by the coteries—& my poverty, (which is the least of my

On February 25, 1876, she was ecstatic: "Soon, very soon I come, my darling. . . . this is the last spring

Hold out but a little longer for me, my Walt."

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

March 30, 1876, Gilchrist refused Walt Whitman's advice: "I can't exactly obey that, for it has been my

, she could not curb her ardor, writing on April 21, 1876: "sweetest deepest greatest experience of my

May 23 d my inexpressibly beloved mother died in Camden.

Though my plans depend on yet uncertain results, my intention, as far as any thing, is, on getting stronger

My post office address continues there, (Solicitor's Office Treasury.)

I send my love to Percy, & all your dear children.

The enclosed ring I have just taken from my finger & send you with my love.

August 12, 1873, Gilchrist, moved by newspaper reports of his continued illness, addressed him as "My

98–101) 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

I am writing this Sunday afternoon up in my room by wood fire.

27, in which she spoke of "bronchial & asthmatic troubles" and of her lasting affection—"you are in my

evening from a week's stay at White Horse —am feeling pretty well for me—heard of your call during my

friend All about as usual— Rec'd received a London letter day before yesterday, purchasing six sets of my

remitting the pay —(come in good for Christmas pocket money)— Spent last evening till midnight with my

her—But you will see them—they return to London, Canada, in a few days—Your & Herby's letters rec'd —My