-
8. 1888–1892
- University of Iowa Press
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CHAPTER EIGHT 1888-1892 An old, dismasted, gray and batter'd ship ... -"The Dismantled Ship," 1888 Trials of old age and illness fill the final years of Whitman's life, but there is activity still. Thomas Eakins finishes his portrait in 1888 before the poet's devastating stroke in June. The stroke brings major changes in Whitman's life: the horse and buggy are sold - to be superseded in the next year by a wheelchair - a nurse is required, and visitors often must be turned away. One visitor comes daily, however, young Horace Traubel, who in 1888 begins a record of his visits with the poet. (Traubel's record forms a chronology in itself and supplements the present one from 28 March 1888 to 3 April 1892.) With what Whitman terms "invaluable" help from Traubel, both November Boughs and the nine hundred-page Complete Poetry and Prose ifWalt Whitman , I855-I888 are published in 1888. William O'Connor dies in May 1889, leaving a great void in Whitman's life. Friends hold a grand seventieth birthday celebration in Philadelphia. In October Whitman is much taken with the light cast into his room by the newly installed electric street lamp. In December he chooses a burial plot in the nearby Harleigh Cemetery. A birthday dinner in May 1890 features a speech by Robert Ingersoll, with whom Whitman agrees in almost all matters save his agnosticism. Later in the year Ingersoll gives a benefit lecture in Philadelphia to raise funds for Whitman. In July Dr. John Johnston arrives from Bolton, England. In August Whitman finally responds to the repeated queries of John Addington Symonds regarding the meaning of the "Calamus" poems; in doing so he concocts a bit of personal history, his six illegitimate children. Sensing the diminution of his creative genius, Whitman begins to work in September 1890 on a volume to be called Good-Bye My Fancy; it is published the following May. As the year winds toward its close it brings another terrible blow, the death of Jeff Whitman. It is left to Walt to notify his sisters, Hannah and Mary, and Eddie, who is now in an insane asylum in New Jersey. The last full year of Whitman's life finds him drawing closer to his sisters, especially his favorite, Hannah, to whom he now writes often. In May Horace Traubel marries Anne Montgomerie, and the ceremony is performed in the ailing poet's room. Even the birthday celebration is held in the Mickle Street house this year, and Good-Bye My Fancy is published in time for its author's birthday. July brings Dr. Bucke's two-month stay in England, and he returns with J. W. Wallace, the Bolton stalwart who becomes, even at this late date, one of Whitman's closest friends. An old nemesis, James Russell Lowell, dies, and Whitman finds it just possible to write a few words in his honor. Sick and nearly worn out, he completes the final version of Leaves ifGrass in December and makes another will. The winter of 1891-1892 sees the last of the "Good Gray Poet," who dies, surrounded by just a few of those who love him, on 26 March. 1888 27 JANUARY. "To Those Who've Failed" appears in the New York Herald. 29 JANUARY. "Halcyon Days" appears in the New York Herald. 31 JANUARY. Dr. Bucke visits Whitman on his way to Florida. JANUARY. Despite poor health (DN, 2:447), Whitman enters into an agreement with the New York Herald to provide brief poems for which they will compensate him. Though he often complains of neglect or vilification by newspapers, Whitman not only uses them to publicize himself and his work but finds a market for his writings [3.81.221.121] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:33 GMT) in many of them. Over the years he publishes frequently in New York's Daily Graphic, Tribune, and Herald, as well as in Philadelphia and Camden papers. 3 FEBRUARY. "After the Dazzle of Day" appears in the New York Herald. 11 FEBRUARY. "America" appears in the New York Herald. 12 FEBRUARY. "Abraham Lincoln, Born Feb. 12, 180g" appears in the New York Herald. 15 FEBRUARY. "True Conquerors" appears in the New York Herald. 21 FEBRUARY. "Soon Shall the Winter's Foil Be Here" appears in the New York Herald. 23 FEBRUARY. "The Dismantled Ship" appears in the New York Herald. 27 FEBRUARY. "Mannahatta" appears in the New York Herald. 2g FEBRUARY. "Paumanok" appears...