WHITMAN, WALT. 



for liy Attorney-General Speed, who offered him 

 a clerkship iii his n\vn department, which Whit- 

 man lifld until his attack of paralysis in 1873. 

 Whitman's war experiences had modified his 

 personal characteristics to a considerable extent. 

 Always frank ami cordial in his address, a touch 

 of graciousness was now added, which, with his 

 whitening hair, fitted him admirably to fill the 

 r6lo assigned him by a devoted coterie of friends. 

 The influences of the war developed into the 

 M-ijiience of poems, " Drum-Taps," which was 

 just ready for the press at the time of Lincoln's 

 assassination. Whitman delayed publication 

 until lie had written "Sequel to Drum-Taps," 

 containing " When Lilacs Last in the Door- Yard 

 Bloomed" and "0 Captain! My Captain!" 

 Tin- whole was published with the title, " Walt 

 Whitman's Drum-Taps," under the date 1865- 

 66. This volume attracted much attention 

 and confirmed the author's reputation as a poet. 

 The ensuing six years were probably the most 

 enjoyable of Whitman's life. He was able to 

 contribute to the support of his mother's family, 

 he saw himself taken up in England, where 

 William Michael Rossetti's eclectic edition of 

 " Poems by Walt Whitman" appeared in 1868, 

 gaining him a new clientage, and he received 

 gratifying letters from Tennyson and other fam- 

 ous authors. In 1866 he busied himself with a 

 rearrangement of " Leaves of Grass " and addi- 

 tional poems, which were bound up with 

 " Drum-Tans" and pages containing the " Songs 

 before Parting," and published in one volume as 

 " Leaves of Grass " (1867). In 1867 also appeared 

 John Burroughs's " Notes on Walt Whitman As 

 Poet and Person" (second edition, enlarged. 

 1871). Still another revision of ' ' Leaves of 

 Grass" was published in 1871, and the same 

 year were issued "Passage to India," containing 

 both new and old poems, and " After All, Not 

 To Create Only," a poem delivered at the opening 

 of the fortieth annual exhibition of the American 

 Institute in New York. All these were bound 

 up in one volume as " Leaves of Grass " (1872). 

 " Democratic Vistas," Whitman's first prose 

 work, came out in 1871, and contains his views 

 as to the present condition and future of " These 

 States." It contains also some savage reflections 

 on his brother poets, and incidentally may be 

 considered his first response to the plentiful 

 abuse his sexual poetry had received in certain 

 quarters, and to the various criticisms of his 

 metrical methods. "As a Strong Bird on 

 Pinions Free, and Other Poems " (1872) was 

 Whit man's next volume. In January of 1873 he 

 suffered an attack of paralysis, from which he 

 never fully recovered. Partial recovery ensued 

 at once, but the death of his mother in the fol- 

 lowing Mav completely prostrated him. Hegavo 

 up his clerkship in Washington, and removed to 

 the home of his brother, Col. Whitman, in 

 Camden, N. J. 



Mi- remained there, boarding with his brother's 

 family, until 1^::. A series of articles in the 

 Springfield (Mass.) "Republican " for 1875 called 

 attention to his feeble condition and moderate 

 circumstances, and friends in America and Eng- 

 land rallied to his support. Their efforts were 

 continued at intervals through the remainder of 

 his life. In 1875 Whitman published " Memo- 

 randa during the War," already noticed. The 



next year he prepared the "Centennial edition" 

 of his works in two volumes, " Leaves of Grass " 

 and "Two Rivulets." The former volume is 

 identical with the 1871 edition. The latter con- 

 tains " Democratic Vistas," " Memoranda during 

 the War," "Passage to India," and new < ei, 

 tennial Songs," and other poems. The books are 

 unii|uc, in appearance and make-up. In fact, no 

 other American poet has so carefully attended to 

 the frequent arrangement and publication of his 

 works. At Camden Whitman endeavored to 

 recover health by resuming an outdoor life. 

 He found a quiet country farmhouse some dis- 

 tance from Camden, and spent much of his time 

 in the woods and along a small creek. His life 

 at this time, and sundry visits to New York, to 

 his birthplace on Long Island, and to the homes 

 of his friends, John Burroughs and Dr. R. M. 

 Bucke, were described in pleasant letters to the 

 New York "Tribune" and "Critic." These 

 journals, with the old " Galaxy, "accepted almost 

 every poem and article offered them by Whit- 

 man. The "North American Review" and 

 " Lippincott's Magazine " printed much of his 

 work during the last decade of his life, but ac- 

 ceptances by other magazines were scanty. The 

 editors of the latter have declared that they 

 were not prejudiced against Whitman, but that 

 they often found what he sent them unavailable 

 for their constituencies. In 1879 Whitman vis- 

 ited New York for the purpose of delivering a 

 lecture on the death of Abraham Lincoln. Tnis 

 he repeated, publicly or privately, for a num- 

 ber of years, on the anniversary of that occasion. 

 It was delivered, by the arrangements of friends, 

 before large audiences in New York in 1887, in 

 Boston in 1881, and in Philadelphia in 1880 and 

 1890, bringing Whitman material financial re- 

 turns. The lecture in Boston was followed by 

 an offer from a firm of that city to publish a new 

 edition of " Leaves of Grass." The offer was 

 accepted, and Whitman spent some weeks in 

 Boston in revising the proofs of what was to be 

 a definitive edition. It appeared as " Leaves of 

 Grass " (1881-82), and gained a large sale through 

 regular trade channels, but in the spring of 1882 

 the Attorney-General of Massachusetts called 

 upon the publishers to suppress certain pas- 

 sages or withdraw the book. The firm was un- 

 willing to test the matter in court, and Whitman 

 was again an outlaw. The copyright receipts 

 enabled him to purchase the plates, and a new 

 edition was brought out by a Philadelphia pub- 

 lisher. It was followed by "Specimen Days and 

 Collect" (1888), a collection of his prose works 

 to that date. In 1883 also appeared " Walt 

 Whitman," by Richard Maurice Bueke, the only 

 real biography of the poet yet written, although 

 the story of his life as told by himself has been 

 selected from his prose writings, and published 

 as " Autobiographia " (1892). The income from 

 his books and lectures, and contributions from his 

 friends, enabled Whitman to purchase the little 

 house in Mickle Street, Camden, to which he re- 

 moved in 1883. He remained there until his 

 death, gratified by the attentions of comrades in 

 Philadelphia and New York, who, with the co- 

 operation of a devoted young friend, Horace L. 

 Traubel, of Camden, saw that his comfort was 

 assured. During this period he was able from 

 various sources to gather a considerable sum 



