The Walt Whitman House is a historic building in Camden, New Jersey, United States, which was the last residence[3] of American poet Walt Whitman, in his declining years before his death. It is located at 330 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, known as Mickle St. during Whitman's time there.
In 1873, Whitman suffered a paralytic stroke and, in May the same year, his mother Louisa Whitman died; both events left him depressed.[4] Louisa was in Camden, New Jersey at the time and Whitman arrived three days before her death. He returned to Washington, D. C., where he had been living, only briefly[5] before returning to Camden to live with his brother George, paying room and board.[3] The brothers lived on Stevens Street and Walt lived there for the next eleven years.[6] Whitman spent the Christmas of 1883 with friends in Germantown, Pennsylvania while his brother was building a farmhouse in Burlington, New Jersey that included accommodations for the poet.[7] Instead of moving with his brother, however, Whitman purchased the Mickle Street House in Camden in the spring of 1884. He was 65, and it was the first home he owned.[8] Whitman called it his "shanty" or "coop", emphasizing its shabbiness.[9] His brother George did not approve of the purchase and the decision strained their relationship.[10] Others questioned Whitman's judgment as well. A friend called it "the worst house and the worst situated".[11] Another friend noted it "was the last place one would expect a poet to select for a home."[6]
The lot on which the home was standing was purchased in 1847 by a clerk named Adam Hare for $350. It was likely Hare who built the house.[6] By the time Whitman bought it, it was a two-story row house with six rooms and no furnace. Its recent occupant was Alfred Lay, the grandfather of a young friend of Whitman. When Lay couldn't pay the rent for March, Whitman loaned him the $16 he needed.[7] Whitman soon after purchased the home for $1,750, which he earned from recent sales of a recent edition of Leaves of Grass and through a loan from publisher George William Childs.[12] Lay continued to live there with his wife, cooking to cover part of their rent[7] and paying $2 a week; the Lays moved out on January 20, 1885.[13] Whitman later invited Mary Davis, a sailor's widow living a few blocks away, to serve as his housekeeper in exchange for free rent in the house.[14] She moved in on February 24, 1885,[15] bringing with her a cat, a dog, two turtledoves, a canary, and other assorted animals.[16]
During a yearlong tour of the United States in 1882, Oscar Wilde visited Whitman at this home. The two writers shared elderberry wine and Wilde later reflected, "There is no one in this great wide world of America home I love and honor so much".[17] Another international visitor, an admirer named John Johnston, described meeting Whitman on a hot summer day in 1890, sitting cross-legged on a large rocking chair with his shirt open and sleeves rolled up above his elbows.[18]
While living in the home, Whitman completed several poems, many focused on public events. One was a sonnet published in the February 22, 1885, issue of the Philadelphia Press called "Ah, Not This Granite Dead and Cold" which commemorated the completion of the Washington Monument.[15] Some of Whitman's writing was done in his bedroom, which visitors noted was similar to a newspaper office, piled with stacks of paper.[19] In this home, he also prepared an anthology of essays and articles November Boughs.[17]
During his years in the house, however, Whitman only earned an estimated $1,300, of which only $20 came from royalties from Leaves of Grass and about $350 came from new works. The majority of his earnings were donations from admirers and well-wishers.[13]
Walt Whitman in his Mickle Street home the year before his death
Whitman's health had been failing since before he moved into the home, worsened by another stroke he suffered in 1888,[17] and he began making preparations for his death. For $4,000, he commissioned a granite house-shaped mausoleum[20] which he visited often during its construction.[21] In the last week of his life, too weak to lift a knife or fork, he wrote: "I suffer all the time: I have no relief, no escape: it is monotony — monotony — monotony — in pain."[22] He spent his last years preparing a final edition of Leaves of Grass. At the end of 1891, he wrote to a friend: "L. of G. at last complete—after 33 y'rs of hackling at it, all times & moods of my life, fair weather & foul, all parts of the land, and peace & war, young & old".[23] In January 1892, an announcement was published in the New York Herald in which Whitman asked that "this new 1892 edition... absolutely supersede all previous ones. Faulty as it is, he decides it as by far his special and entire self-chosen poetic utterance."[24] The final edition of Leaves of Grass was published in 1892 and is referred to as the "deathbed edition".[25]
Whitman died at 6:43p.m. on March 26, 1892, a few days before his 73rd birthday. His autopsy was performed at the home and revealed that the left lung had collapsed and the right was at one-eighth its breathing capacity.[20] A public viewing of Whitman's body was also held at the Camden home; over one thousand people visited in three hours.[26] In his final years, Whitman had noted his appreciation for the house and for Camden. He wrote, "Camden was originally an accident—but I shall never be sorry. I was left over in Camden. It has brought me blessed returns."[6]
Modern history
Walt Whitman's house, 2007
After Whitman's death, the majority of the home's contents remained at the house. His heirs sold it to the city of Camden in 1921 and it was opened to the public five years later. In 1947, ownership was passed to the state of New Jersey.[6] The home was listed in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Historic Preservation Office in 1971 (ID# 934)[27] and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1966 (NR reference #: 66000461).[28] The surrounding area was designated in 1970 as the Walt Whitman Neighborhood (ID# 935)[27] within the state, and the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 (NR reference #: 78001752).[28]
The six-room Walt Whitman House[17] is operated as a museum by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry. The home is now open to the public. It is operated with help from the Walt Whitman Association.[6] Included in the collection is the bed in which the poet died and the death notice that was taped to his front door.[17]
Walter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sensuality.
Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting Leaves of Grass, revising it multiple times until his death. There have been held to be either six or nine individual editions of Leaves of Grass, the count varying depending on how they are distinguished. This resulted in vastly different editions over four decades—the first edition being a small book of twelve poems, and the last, a compilation of over 400.
"Song of Myself" is a poem by Walt Whitman (1819–1892) that is included in his work Leaves of Grass. It has been credited as "representing the core of Whitman's poetic vision."
James Harlan was an attorney and politician, a member of the United States Senate, a U.S. Cabinet Secretary at the United States Department of Interior under President Andrew Johnson, and a Federal Judge.
"O Captain! My Captain!" is an extended metaphor poem written by Walt Whitman in 1865 about the death of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln. Well received upon publication, the poem was Whitman's first to be anthologized and the most popular during his lifetime. Together with "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", "Hush'd Be the Camps To-day", and "This Dust was Once the Man", it is one of four poems written by Whitman about the death of Lincoln.
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" is a long poem written by American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) as an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln. It was written in the summer of 1865 during a period of profound national mourning in the aftermath of the president's assassination on 14 April of that year.
M. C. Gardner is an American playwright, biographer, and cultural essayist. His given name is Michael Charles. He was born in Glendale, CA July 1, 1951. He is one of the founders and editors of the literary website AnotherAmerica.org. He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Harleigh Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in both Collingswood and Camden, New Jersey. Harleigh Cemetery and Crematorium is one of the oldest cemeteries in New Jersey. Named Camden County Veterans Cemetery in 2007, the current president is Louis Cicalese. Harleigh cemetery is over 130 acres (0.53 km2) of lush mature grounds situated on the Cooper River a short drive from Philadelphia. The cemetery has been listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places since 1995.
The Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site is a state historic site in West Hills, New York, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The site preserves the birthplace of American poet Walt Whitman.
"Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day" is a poem by Walt Whitman dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. The poem was written on April 19, 1865, shortly after Lincoln's assassination. Whitman greatly admired Lincoln and went on to write additional poetry about him: "O Captain! My Captain!", "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and "This Dust Was Once the Man." "Hush'd" is not particularly well known, and is generally considered to have been hastily written. Some critics highlight the poem as Whitman's first attempt to respond to Lincoln's death and emphasize that it would have drawn comparatively little attention if Whitman had not written his other poems on Lincoln.
"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" by American poet Walt Whitman is one of his most complex and successfully integrated poems. Whitman used several new techniques in the poem. One is the use of images like bird, boy, sea. The influence of music is also seen in opera form. Some critics have taken the poem to be an elegy mourning the death of someone dear to him. The basic theme of the poem is the relationship between suffering and art. It shows how a boy matures into a poet through his experience of love and death. Art is a sublimation of frustrations and death is a release from the stress and strains caused by such frustrations. The language is similar to "There Was a Child Went Forth".
Glendale Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic church at 615 Haddonfield-Berlin Road, at the junction with White Horse Road, in the Glendale section of Voorhees Township, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 4, 1995 for its significance in community planning, development, and education from 1855 to 1920. At the time of its construction, the village of Glendale was impacted by the train station stop of Ashland on the Camden Atlantic Railroad. Because of the railroad, Philadelphians and shore villagers came to trade and do business.
Cooper Library in Johnson Park is located in the Cooper Grant section of Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. It was built in 1916 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 11, 1980, for its significance in architecture, art, education, and sculpture. It is part of Rutgers University–Camden.
Stephen Decatur Button was an American architect and a pioneer in the use of metal-frame construction for masonry buildings. He designed commercial buildings, schools and churches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey; and more than 30 buildings in Cape May, New Jersey.
Horace Logo Traubel (1858–1919) was an American essayist, poet, magazine publisher, author, and Georgist. Traubel was closely associated with the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States and published a monthly literary magazine called The Conservator from 1890 until the time of his death. Although a poet of note in his own right, Traubel is best remembered as the literary executor and biographer of his friend, poet Walt Whitman, with whom he transcribed and compiled nine volumes of daily conversations, entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden.
Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd and other poems is a collection of eighteen poems written and published by American poet Walt Whitman in 1865.
The American poet Walt Whitman greatly admired Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and was deeply affected by his assassination, writing several poems as elegies and giving a series of lectures on Lincoln. The two never met. Shortly after Lincoln was killed in April 1865, Whitman hastily wrote the first of his Lincoln poems, "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day". In the following months, he wrote two more: "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". Both appeared in his collection Sequel to Drum-Taps later that year. The poems—particularly "My Captain!"—were well received and popular upon publication and, in the following years, Whitman styled himself as an interpreter of Lincoln. In 1871, his fourth poem on Lincoln, "This Dust Was Once the Man", was published, and the four were grouped together as the "President Lincoln's Burial Hymn" cluster in Passage to India. In 1881, the poems were republished in the "Memories of President Lincoln" cluster of Leaves of Grass.
Walt Whitman gave a series of lectures on Abraham Lincoln from 1879 to 1890. They centered around the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but also covered years leading up to and during the American Civil War and sometimes included readings of poems such as "O Captain! My Captain!". The lectures began as a benefit for Whitman and were generally popular and well received.
Peter George Doyle was an Irish-born American transit worker, known for being an intimate companion of Walt Whitman from around 1865 to 1876, and to some extent to Whitman's death in 1892. Doyle also witnessed the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
"The Sleepers" is a poem by Walt Whitman. The poem was first published in the first edition of Leaves of Grass (1855), but was re-titled and heavily revised several times throughout Whitman's life.
References
Haas, Irvin. Historic Homes of American Authors. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1991. ISBN0-89133-180-8
Kaplan, Justin. Walt Whitman: A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980. ISBN0-671-22542-1
Loving, Jerome. Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself. University of California Press, 1999. ISBN0-520-22687-9
Miller, James E., Jr. Walt Whitman. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1962.
Moss, Roger W. Historic Houses of Philadelphia: a Tour of the Region's Museum Homes. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. ISBN0-8122-3438-3
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