PDF - The Walt Whitman Archive

295 Pages·2002·1.02 MB·English

Whitman
A N D T H E I R I S H

Whitman
A N D T H E I R I S H
J O A N N P. K R I E G
university of iowa press
iowa city
University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242
Copyright © 2000 by the University of Iowa Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Richard Hendel
http://www.uiowa.edu/~uipress
No part of this book may be reproduced or used
in any form or by any means, without permission in
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been taken to contact copyright holders of material
used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to
make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not
been possible to reach.
The publication of this book was generously supported
by the University of Iowa Foundation.
Printed on acid-free paper
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krieg, Joann P.
Whitman and the Irish / by Joann P. Krieg.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-87745-729-8 (cloth),
isbn0-87745-730-1 (pbk)
1. Whitman, Walt, 1819–1892—Friends and
associates. 2. Whitman, Walt, 1819–1892—
Knowledge—United States. 3. Whitman, Walt,
1819–1892—Knowledge—Ireland. 4. Poets,
American—19th century—Biography. 5. Irish
Americans—Biography. 6. Ireland—Biography.
I. Title.
ps3233.k75 2000
811(cid:1).3—dc21
[b]
00-044345
00 01 02 03 04 c 5 4 3 2 1
00 01 02 03 04 p 5 4 3 2 1
For John, in loving memory

CONTENTS
Introduction ix
1. Historical Background 1
2. Time Line 12
3. New York City 16
4. Boston, 1860 75
5. Washington, D.C. 103
6. Boston, 1881 129
7. Camden & Eminent Visitors 163
8. Dublin 190
9. Coda 232
Notes 239
Index 267

INTRODUCTION
On May 27, 1846, just four days short of his twenty-seventh birth-
day,the editor of theBrooklyn Eagle, Walter Whitman as he was known
then, informed his readers that “‘Valentine M’Clutchy, the Irish
Agent’... a well-printed book... from the pen of one of the most
popular Irish writers, the author of ‘Fardorougha, the Miser,’” was
available at a local bookstore. The editor had “no doubt” that it
would “be found good reading.”1The unnamed author, whom Whit-
man seems to assume his readers will know, was William Carleton
(1794–1869), one of Ireland’s finest nineteenth-century novelists.
Whitman’srecommendationwasmadeonthebasisofhisownandhis
readers’ familiarity with Carleton’sFardorougha, which had an Amer-
ican edition in 1840 and was widely read. In fact, Carleton’s novels
were so popular in America that a collected works had five American
editions between 1856 and 1885.2
Onanotheroccasionmanyyearslater,in1888,Whitmanwasdeep
in memories of his dearest companion Peter Doyle after having read
over again an old letter from “Pete.” Speaking of Doyle to Horace
Traubel, the young man who was to become the chronicler of his fi-
nal days, Whitman (sounding like Matthew Arnold at his accommo-
dationist best) attributed Pete’s finest qualities to his being Irish:
“TherealIrishcharacter,thehighersamplesofit,therealKeltic[sic]
influences: how noble, tenacious, loyal, they are!”3Then, suddenly,
adding:
You should read—you probably have not read—a book called
The Collegians, printed some fifty years ago. I can’t think of the
author’s name—my memory plays me such shabby tricks these
days—(though I should know it—it is a familiar name).... It is
a beautiful study of Irish life, Irish character—a little uncanny,
but very important for some of the things it discloses. I am not a
voracious novel reader—never was—but some of the few novels
I have read stick to me like gum arabic—won’t let go. The Colle-
gians was one of them.4
Like Carleton, Gerald Griffin was also a writer popular with the
general public in America as well as with Irish readers. The works of