Editing Walt Whitman (section)

==Life and work==
===Early life===
[[File:Corner of Henry and Cranberry Streets.png|thumb|The Apprentices' Library Association in 1825]]
Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in [[West Hills, New York]], the second of nine children of [[Quakers|Quaker]] parents Walter and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman,<ref>Miller, 17.</ref> of English and Dutch descent respectively.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Walt Whitman |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=January 12, 2024 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walt-Whitman |quote=His ancestry was typical of the region: his mother, Louisa Van Velsor, was Dutch, and his father, Walter Whitman, was of English descent. |access-date=January 20, 2024 }}</ref> He was immediately nicknamed "Walt" to distinguish him from his father.<ref name=Loving29>Loving, 29.</ref> At the age of four, Whitman moved with his family from Huntington to [[Brooklyn]], living in a series of homes, in part due to bad investments.<ref>Loving, 30.</ref> Whitman looked back on his childhood as generally restless and unhappy, given his family's difficult financial struggles.<ref>Reynolds, 24.</ref> One happy moment that he later recalled was when he was lifted in the air and kissed on the cheek by the [[Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette|Marquis de Lafayette]] during a celebration of the setting of the [[Brooklyn Apprentices' Library]]'s cornerstone by Lafayette in Brooklyn on July 4, 1825.<ref>Reynolds, 33–34.</ref> Whitman later worked as a librarian at that institution.<ref>{{cite book|title=Brooklyn!, 3rd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to New York's Most Happening Borough|author=Ellen Freudenheim, Anna Wiener|year=2004|page=339|isbn=9780312323318|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]}}</ref>

At the age of 11, Whitman ended his formal schooling<ref>Loving, 32.</ref> and sought employment to assist his family, which was struggling financially. He was an office boy for two lawyers and later was an [[apprenticeship|apprentice]] and [[printer's devil]] for the weekly Long Island newspaper the ''Patriot'', edited by Samuel E. Clements.<ref>Reynolds, 44.</ref> There, Whitman learned about the printing press and [[typesetting]].<ref>Kaplan, 74.</ref> He may have written "sentimental bits" of filler material for occasional issues.<ref>Callow, 30.</ref> Clements aroused controversy when he and two friends attempted to dig up the corpse of the [[Quaker]] minister [[Elias Hicks]] to create a plaster mold of his head.<ref>Callow, 29.</ref> Clements left the ''Patriot'' shortly afterward, possibly as a result of the controversy.<ref>Loving, 34.</ref>

===Career===
[[File:Walt Whitman, age 28, 1848.png|thumb|upright=1|Whitman at the age of 28 in 1848]]
The following summer Whitman worked for another printer, Erastus Worthington, in [[Brooklyn]].<ref name=Reynolds45>Reynolds, 45.</ref> His family moved back to [[West Hills, New York]], on [[Long Island]] in the spring, but Whitman remained and took a job at the shop of Alden Spooner, editor of the leading [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] weekly newspaper the ''Long-Island Star''.<ref name=Reynolds45/> While at the ''Star'', Whitman became a regular patron of the local library, joined a town debating society, began attending theater performances,<ref>Callow, 32.</ref> and anonymously published some of his earliest poetry in the ''[[New-York Mirror]]''.<ref>Kaplan, 79.</ref> At the age of 16 in May 1835, Whitman left the ''Star'' and Brooklyn.<ref>Kaplan, 77.</ref> He moved to New York City to work as a [[Compositor (typesetting)|compositor]]<ref>Callow, 35.</ref> though, in later years, Whitman could not remember where.<ref name=Kaplan81>Kaplan, 81.</ref> He attempted to find further work but had difficulty, in part due to a severe fire in the printing and publishing district,<ref name=Kaplan81/> and in part due to a general collapse in the economy leading up to the [[Panic of 1837]].<ref>Loving, 36.</ref> In May 1836, he rejoined his family, now living in [[Hempstead (village), New York|Hempstead, Long Island]].<ref>Callow, 36.</ref> Whitman taught intermittently at various schools until the spring of 1838, though he was not satisfied as a teacher.<ref>Loving, 37.</ref>

After his teaching attempts, Whitman returned to [[Huntington, New York]], to found his own newspaper, the ''[[Long Islander News|Long-Islander]]''. Whitman served as publisher, editor, pressman, and distributor and even provided home delivery. After ten months, he sold the publication to E. O. Crowell, whose first issue appeared on July 12, 1839.<ref name=Reynolds60>Reynolds, 60.</ref> There are no known surviving copies of the ''Long-Islander'' published under Whitman.<ref>Loving, 38.</ref> By the summer of 1839, he found a job as a typesetter in [[Jamaica, Queens]], with the ''Long Island Democrat'', edited by James J. Brenton.<ref name=Reynolds60/> He left shortly thereafter, and made another attempt at teaching from the winter of 1840 to the spring of 1841.<ref>Kaplan, 93–94.</ref> One story, possibly [[wikt:apocryphal|apocryphal]], tells of Whitman's being chased away from a teaching job in [[Southold, New York]], in 1840. After a local preacher called him a "[[Sodomy|Sodomite]]", Whitman was allegedly [[Tarring and feathering|tarred and feathered]]. Biographer [[Justin Kaplan]] notes that the story is likely untrue, because Whitman regularly vacationed in the town thereafter.<ref>Kaplan, 87.</ref> Biographer [[Jerome Loving]] calls the incident a "myth".<ref>Loving, 514.</ref> During this time, Whitman published a series of ten editorials, called "Sun-Down Papers—From the Desk of a Schoolmaster", in three newspapers between the winter of 1840 and July 1841. In these essays, he adopted a constructed persona, a technique he would employ throughout his career.<ref>Stacy, 25.</ref>

Whitman moved to New York City in May, initially working a low-level job at the ''New World'', working under [[Park Benjamin Sr.]] and [[Rufus Wilmot Griswold]].<ref>Callow, 56.</ref> He continued working for short periods of time for various newspapers; in 1842 he was editor of the ''[[The New York Aurora|Aurora]]'' and from 1846 to 1848 he was editor of the ''[[Brooklyn Eagle]]''.<ref>Stacy, 6.</ref> While working for the latter institution, many of his publications were in the area of music criticism, and it is during this time that he became a devoted lover of [[Italian opera]] through reviewing performances of works by [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]], [[Donizetti]], and [[Verdi]]. This new interest had an impact on his writing in free verse. He later said, "But for the opera, I could never have written ''Leaves of Grass''."<ref>{{cite journal|title= Walt Whitman's Conversion To Opera|author=Brasher, Thomas L.|editor=Judith Tick, Paul E. Beaudoin|journal=Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|page=207}}</ref>

Throughout the 1840s, Whitman contributed freelance fiction and poetry to various periodicals,<ref>Reynolds, 83–84.</ref> including ''[[Brother Jonathan (newspaper)|Brother Jonathan]]'' magazine edited by [[John Neal]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Merlob | first = Maya | editor2-last = Carlson | editor2-first = David J. | editor1-last = Watts | editor1-first = Edward | chapter = Chapter 5: Celebrated Rubbish: John Neal and the Commercialization of Early American Romanticism | title = John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture | publisher = Bucknell University Press | location = Lewisburg, Pennsylvania | year = 2012 | isbn = 978-1-61148-420-5 | page = 119, n18}}</ref> Whitman lost his position at the ''Brooklyn Eagle'' in 1848 after siding with the free-soil "[[Barnburners and Hunkers|Barnburner]]" wing of the Democratic party against the newspaper's owner, [[Isaac Van Anden]], who belonged to the conservative, or "[[Barnburners and Hunkers|Hunker]]", wing of the party.<ref>Stacy, 87–91.</ref> Whitman was a delegate to the 1848 founding convention of the [[Free Soil Party]], which was concerned about the threat slavery would pose to free white labor and northern businessmen moving into the newly colonized western territories. Abolitionist [[William Lloyd Garrison]] derided the party philosophy as "white manism".<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Louisa May Alcott on Race, Sex, and Slavery|author1=Alcott, Louisa May|author2=Elbert, Sarah|author1-link=Louisa May Alcott|author2-link=Sarah Elbert |date=1997|publisher=Northeastern University Press|isbn=978-1555533076|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6g6kwxBDzxoC}}</ref>

In 1852, he serialized a novel, ''[[Life and Adventures of Jack Engle]]'', in six installments of New York's ''The Sunday Dispatch''.<ref name="jack" /> In 1858, Whitman published a 47,000 word series, ''Manly Health and Training'', under the pen name Mose Velsor.<ref name=schuessler>{{cite news|last= Schuessler |first= Jennifer |title= Found: Walt Whitman's Guide to 'Manly Health' |date= April 29, 2016 |access-date= May 1, 2016 |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/books/walt-whitman-promoted-a-paleo-diet-who-knew.html |quote= Now, Whitman's self-help-guide-meets-democratic-manifesto is being published online in its entirety by a scholarly journal, in what some experts are calling the biggest new Whitman discovery in decades.}}</ref><ref name= wwqr-vol33-iss3>{{cite journal|title= Special Double Issue: Walt Whitman's Newly Discovered 'Manly Health and Training' |date=Winter–Spring 2016 |access-date= May 1, 2016 |journal= Walt Whitman Quarterly Review |issn= 0737-0679 |volume=  33 |number= 3 |url= http://ir.uiowa.edu/wwqr/vol33/iss3/|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160502103230/http://ir.uiowa.edu/wwqr/vol33/iss3/|url-status= dead|archive-date= May 2, 2016}}</ref> Apparently he drew the name Velsor from Van Velsor, his mother's family name.<ref>{{cite web |last= Whitman |first= Walt |title= Genealogy – Van Velsor and Whitman |type= excerpt from ''Specimen Days'' |year= 1882 |url= http://www.bartleby.com/229/1003.html |website= [[Bartleby.com]] |access-date= May 2, 2016 |quote= THE LATER years of the last century found the Van Velsor family, my mother's side, living on their own farm at Cold Spring, Long Island, New York State, ... |archive-date= May 5, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160505124953/http://www.bartleby.com/229/1003.html |url-status= live }}</ref> This self-help guide recommends beards, nude sunbathing, comfortable shoes, bathing daily in cold water, eating meat almost exclusively, plenty of fresh air, and getting up early each morning. Present-day writers have called ''Manly Health and Training'' "quirky",<ref>{{cite web|last= Onion |first= Rebecca |title= Finding the Poetry in Walt Whitman's Newly Rediscovered Health Advice |date= May 2, 2016 |website= [[Slate.com]] |access-date= May 2, 2016 |url= http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2016/05/02/walt_whitman_s_manly_health_and_training_has_poetry_hidden_in_its_health.html |quote= a quirky document full of prescriptions that seem curiously modern}}</ref> "so over the top",<ref>{{cite journal |last= Cueto |first= Emma |title= Walt Whitman's Advice Book For Men Has Just Been Discovered And Its Contents Are Surprising |date= May 2, 2016 |journal= [[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]] |access-date= May 2, 2016 |url= http://www.bustle.com/articles/158277-walt-whitmans-advice-book-for-men-has-just-been-discovered-and-its-contents-are-surprising |quote= And there are lots of other tidbits that, with a little modern rewording, would be right at home in the pages of a modern men's magazine—or even satirizing modern ideas about manliness because they're so over the top. |archive-date= May 8, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160508070441/http://www.bustle.com/articles/158277-walt-whitmans-advice-book-for-men-has-just-been-discovered-and-its-contents-are-surprising |url-status= live }}</ref> "a pseudoscientific tract",<ref>{{cite journal|last= Turpin |first= Zachary |title= Introduction to Walt Whitman's 'Manly Health and Training' |date=Winter–Spring 2016 |journal= Walt Whitman Quarterly Review |issn= 0737-0679 |volume=  33 |number= 3 |page= 149 |doi=10.13008/0737-0679.2205 |quote= a pseudoscientific tract|doi-access= free }}</ref> and "wacky".<ref name=schuessler/>

===''Leaves of Grass''===
{{Main|Leaves of Grass}}
[[File:Walt Whitman, steel engraving, July 1854.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Whitman in July 1854, aged 35, from the [[Book frontispiece|frontispiece]] to ''[[Leaves of Grass]]'' from a lost [[daguerreotype]] by [[Gabriel Harrison]]]]
Whitman claimed that after years of competing for "the usual rewards", he determined to become a poet.<ref>Kaplan, 185.</ref> He first experimented with a variety of popular literary genres that appealed to the cultural tastes of the period.<ref>Reynolds, 85.</ref> As early as 1850, he began writing what would become ''Leaves of Grass'',<ref>Loving, 154.</ref> a collection of poetry that he would continue editing and revising until his death.<ref>Miller, 55.</ref> Whitman intended to write a distinctly American [[epic poetry|epic]]<ref>Miller, 155.</ref> and used [[free verse]] with a [[cadence (music)|cadence]] based on the Bible.<ref>Kaplan, 187.</ref> At the end of June 1855, Whitman surprised his brothers with the already-printed first edition of ''Leaves of Grass''. George "didn't think it worth reading".<ref name=Callow226>Callow, 226.</ref>

Whitman paid for the publication of the first edition of ''Leaves of Grass'' himself<ref name=Callow226/> and had it printed at a local print shop during its employees' breaks from commercial jobs.<ref>Loving, 178.</ref> A total of 795 copies were printed.<ref>Kaplan, 198.</ref> No author is named; instead, facing the title page was an engraved portrait done by Samuel Hollyer,<ref>Callow, 227.</ref> but 500 lines into the body of the text he calls himself "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, disorderly, fleshly, and sensual, no sentimentalist, no stander above men or women or apart from them, no more modest than immodest".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitmanarchive.org/criticism/reviews/leaves1855/anc.00019.html|title=Review of ''Leaves of Grass'' (1855)|publisher=The Walt Whitman Archive}}</ref> The inaugural volume of poetry was preceded by a prose preface of 827 lines. The succeeding untitled twelve poems totaled 2315 lines with 1336 lines belonging to the first untitled poem, later called "[[Song of Myself]]". The book received its strongest praise from [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], who wrote a flattering five-page letter to Whitman and spoke highly of the book to friends.<ref>Kaplan, 203.</ref> Emerson called it "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed."<ref name=":Poetry Foundation"/> Emerson had called for the first truly American poet, saying that aspects of America "are yet unsung. Yet America is a poem in our eyes."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Harriet |date=2024-07-18 |title=Ralph Waldo Emerson Found His Poets in Whitman & Dickinson |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/2015/09/ralph-waldo-emerson-found-his-poets-in-whitman-dickinson |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en |archive-date=July 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718190807/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/2015/09/ralph-waldo-emerson-found-his-poets-in-whitman-dickinson |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first edition of ''Leaves of Grass'' was widely distributed and stirred up significant interest,<ref>Reynolds, 340.</ref> in part due to Emerson's praise,<ref>Callow, 232.</ref> but was occasionally criticized for the seemingly "obscene" nature of the poetry.<ref>Loving, 414.</ref> Geologist [[Peter Lesley]] wrote to Emerson, calling the book "trashy, profane & obscene" and the author "a pretentious ass".<ref>Kaplan, 211.</ref> Whitman embossed a quote from Emerson's letter, "I greet you at the beginning of a great career", in gold leaf on the spine of the second edition. Of this action, [[Laura Dassow Walls]], professor emerita of English at the [[University of Notre Dame]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.nd.edu/people/laura-walls/|title=Laura Walls &#124; Department of English &#124; University of Notre Dame|access-date=July 21, 2024|archive-date=July 21, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240721113637/https://english.nd.edu/people/laura-walls/|url-status=live}}</ref> wrote: "In one stroke, Whitman had given birth to the modern cover [[blurb]], quite without Emerson's permission."<ref>[[Laura Dassow Walls|Walls, Laura Dassow]] ''Henry David Thoreau: A Life'', 394. Chicago and London: [[The University of Chicago Press]], 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-226-59937-3}}</ref>

On July 11, 1855, a few days after ''Leaves of Grass'' was published, Whitman's father died at the age of 65.<ref>Kaplan, 229.</ref> In the months following the first edition of ''Leaves of Grass'', critical responses began focusing on what some found offensive sexual themes. Though the second edition was already printed and bound, the publisher almost did not release it.<ref>Reynolds, 348.</ref> In the end, the edition went to retail, with 20 additional poems,<ref>Callow, 238.</ref> in August 1856.<ref>Kaplan, 207.</ref> ''Leaves of Grass'' was revised and re-released in 1860,<ref>Loving, 238.</ref> again in 1867, and several more times throughout the remainder of Whitman's life. Several well-known writers admired the work enough to visit Whitman, including [[Amos Bronson Alcott]] and [[Henry David Thoreau]].<ref>Reynolds, 363.</ref>

During the first publications of ''Leaves of Grass'', Whitman had financial difficulties and was forced to work as a journalist again, specifically with Brooklyn's ''Daily Times'' starting in May 1857.<ref>Callow, 225.</ref> As an editor, he oversaw the paper's contents, contributed book reviews, and wrote editorials.<ref>Reynolds, 368.</ref> He left the job in 1859, though it is unclear whether he was fired or chose to leave.<ref>Loving, 228.</ref> Whitman, who typically kept detailed notebooks and journals, left very little information about himself in the late 1850s.<ref>Reynolds, 375.</ref>

===Civil War years===
[[File:Manuscript Whitman Broadway 1861.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Whitman's handwritten manuscript for "Broadway, 1861"]]
[[File:Walt Whitman - Brady-Handy restored.png|thumb|upright=1|An 1862 photograph of Whitman taken by [[Mathew Brady]]]]
As the [[American Civil War]] was beginning, Whitman published his poem "[[s:Leaves of Grass/Book XXI#Beat! Beat! Drums!|Beat! Beat! Drums!]]" as a patriotic rally call for the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]].<ref>Callow, 283.</ref> Whitman's brother George had joined the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] army in the [[51st New York Infantry Regiment]] and began sending Whitman several vividly detailed letters of the battle front.<ref>Reynolds, 410.</ref> On December 16, 1862, a listing of fallen and wounded soldiers in the ''[[New-York Tribune]]'' included "First Lieutenant G. W. Whitmore", which Whitman worried was a reference to his brother George.<ref name=Kaplan268>Kaplan, 268.</ref> He made his way south immediately to find him, though his wallet was stolen on the way.<ref name=Reynolds411>Reynolds, 411.</ref> "Walking all day and night, unable to ride, trying to get information, trying to get access to big people", Whitman later wrote,<ref>Callow, 286.</ref> he eventually found George alive, with only a superficial wound on his cheek.<ref name=Kaplan268/> Whitman, profoundly affected by seeing the wounded soldiers and the heaps of their amputated limbs, left for [[Washington, D.C.]], on December 28, 1862, with the intention of never returning to New York.<ref name=Reynolds411/>

In Washington, D.C., Whitman's friend Charley Eldridge helped him obtain part-time work in the army paymaster's office, leaving time for Whitman to volunteer as a nurse in the army hospitals.<ref>Callow, 293.</ref> He would write of this experience in "The Great Army of the Sick", published in a New York newspaper in 1863<ref>Kaplan, 273.</ref> and, 12&nbsp;years later, in a book called ''Memoranda During the War''.<ref>Callow, 297.</ref> He then contacted Emerson, this time to ask for help in obtaining a government post.<ref name=Reynolds411/> Another friend, John Trowbridge, passed on a letter of recommendation from Emerson to [[Salmon P. Chase]], Secretary of the Treasury, hoping he would grant Whitman a position in that department. Chase, however, did not want to hire the author of such a disreputable book as ''Leaves of Grass''.<ref>Callow, 295.</ref>

The Whitman family had a difficult end to 1864. On September 30, 1864, Whitman's brother George was captured by [[Confederate Army|Confederate forces]] in [[Virginia]],<ref>Loving, 281.</ref> and another brother, Andrew Jackson, died of [[tuberculosis]] compounded by alcoholism on December 3.<ref>Kaplan, 293–294.</ref> That month, Whitman committed his brother Jesse to the Kings County Lunatic Asylum.<ref>Reynolds, 454.</ref> Whitman's spirits were raised, however, when he finally got a better-paying government post as a low-grade clerk in the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] in the [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of the Interior]], thanks to his friend [[William Douglas O'Connor]]. O'Connor, a poet, daguerreotypist, and an editor at ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' wrote to [[William Tod Otto]], Assistant [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]], on Whitman's behalf.<ref name=Loving283>Loving, 283.</ref> Whitman began the new appointment on January 24, 1865, with a yearly salary of $1,200.<ref name=Reynolds455>Reynolds, 455.</ref> A month later, on February 24, 1865, George was released from capture and granted a [[furlough]] because of his poor health.<ref name=Loving283/> By May 1, Whitman received a promotion to a slightly higher clerkship<ref name=Reynolds455/> and published ''Drum-Taps''.<ref name=Loving290>Loving, 290.</ref>

Effective June 30, 1865, however, Whitman was fired from his job.<ref name=Loving290/> His dismissal came from the new Secretary of the Interior, former [[Iowa]] Senator [[James Harlan (senator)|James Harlan]].<ref name=Reynolds455/> Though Harlan dismissed several clerks who "were seldom at their respective desks", he may have fired Whitman on moral grounds after finding an 1860 edition of ''Leaves of Grass''.<ref>Loving, 291.</ref> O'Connor protested until J. Hubley Ashton had Whitman transferred to the Attorney General's office on July 1.<ref>Kaplan, 304.</ref> O'Connor, though, was still upset and vindicated Whitman by publishing a biased and exaggerated biographical study, ''The Good Gray Poet'', in January 1866.<ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Connor|first=William Douglas|url=https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/disciples/tei/anc.00170.html|title=The Good Gray Poet|publisher=Bunce and Huntington (The Walt Whitman Archive)|year=1866|location=New York}}</ref> The fifty-cent pamphlet defended Whitman as a wholesome patriot, established the poet's nickname and increased his popularity.<ref>Reynolds, 456–457.</ref> Also aiding in his popularity was the publication of "[[O Captain! My Captain!]]", a conventional poem on the [[death of Abraham Lincoln]], the only poem to appear in anthologies during Whitman's lifetime.<ref>Kaplan, 309.</ref>

Part of Whitman's role at the Attorney General's office was interviewing former Confederate soldiers for presidential [[pardon]]s. "There are real characters among them", he later wrote, "and you know I have a fancy for anything out of the ordinary."<ref>Loving, 293.</ref> In August 1866, he took a month off to prepare a new edition of ''Leaves of Grass'' which would not be published until 1867 after difficulty in finding a publisher.<ref>Kaplan, 318–319.</ref> He hoped it would be its last edition.<ref name="Loving, 314">Loving, 314.</ref> In February 1868, ''Poems of Walt Whitman'' was published in England thanks to the influence of [[William Michael Rossetti]],<ref>Callow, 326.</ref> with minor changes that Whitman reluctantly approved.<ref>Kaplan, 324.</ref> The edition became popular in England, especially with endorsements from the highly respected writer [[Anne Gilchrist (writer)|Anne Gilchrist]].<ref>Callow, 329.</ref> Another edition of ''Leaves of Grass'' was issued in 1871, the same year it was mistakenly reported that its author died in a railroad accident.<ref>Loving, 331.</ref> As Whitman's international fame increased, he remained at the attorney general's office until January 1872.<ref>Reynolds, 464.</ref> He spent much of 1872 caring for his mother, who was now nearly eighty and struggling with [[arthritis]].<ref>Kaplan, 340.</ref> He also traveled and was invited to [[Dartmouth College]] to give the commencement address on June 26, 1872.<ref>Loving, 341.</ref>

===Health decline and death===
[[File:WhitmanHouse-CamdenNJ1.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Whitman spent his last years at his home in [[Camden, New Jersey]], which is open to the public as the [[Walt Whitman House]].]]
After suffering a paralytic stroke in early 1873, Whitman was induced to move from Washington to the home of his brother—George Washington Whitman, an engineer—at 431 Stevens Street in Camden, New Jersey. His mother, having fallen ill, was also there and died that same year in May. Both events were difficult for Whitman and left him depressed. He remained at his brother's home until buying his own in 1884.<ref>Miller, 33.</ref> However, before purchasing his home, he spent the greatest period of his residence in Camden at his brother's home on Stevens Street. While in residence there he was very productive, publishing three versions of ''Leaves of Grass'' among other works. He was also last fully physically active in this house, receiving both [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Thomas Eakins]]. His other brother, Edward, an "invalid" since birth, lived in the house.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Camden and the Last Years, 1875–1892 {{!}} Timeline {{!}} Articles and Essays {{!}} Walt Whitman Papers in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection {{!}} Digital Collections {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/feinberg-whitman/articles-and-essays/timeline/camden-and-the-last-years-1875-to-1892/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA |archive-date=July 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240729210923/https://www.loc.gov/collections/feinberg-whitman/articles-and-essays/timeline/camden-and-the-last-years-1875-to-1892/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

When his brother and sister-in-law were forced to move for business reasons, he bought his own house at 328 Mickle Street (now [[Walt Whitman House|330 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard]]).<ref>Haas, Irvin. ''Historic Homes of American Authors''. Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1991: 141. {{ISBN|0-89133-180-8}}.</ref> First taken care of by tenants, he was completely bedridden for most of his time in Mickle Street. During this time, he began socializing with Mary Oakes Davis—the widow of a sea captain. She was a neighbor, boarding with a family in Bridge Avenue just a few blocks from Mickle Street.<ref>Loving, 432.</ref> She moved in with Whitman on February 24, 1885, to serve as his housekeeper in exchange for free rent. She brought with her a cat, a dog, two turtledoves, a canary, and other assorted animals.<ref>Reynolds, 548.</ref> During this time, Whitman produced further editions of ''Leaves of Grass'' in 1876, 1881, and 1889.<ref name="auto"/>

While in [[South Jersey]], Whitman spent a good portion of his time in the then quite pastoral community of [[Laurel Springs, New Jersey|Laurel Springs]], between 1876 and 1884, converting one of the Stafford Farm buildings to his summer home. The restored summer home has been preserved as a museum by the local historical society. Part of his ''Leaves of Grass'' was written here, and in his ''Specimen Days'' he wrote of the spring, creek and lake. To him, Laurel Lake was "the prettiest lake in: either America or Europe".<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://westfieldnj.com/whs/history/Counties/CamdenCounty/laurelsprings.htm
 |title=Laurel Springs History - 1976 Bicentennial publication produced for the Borough of Laurel Springs
 |publisher=WestfieldNJ.com
 |author=<!-- not stated -->
 |access-date=April 30, 2013
 |archive-date=March 3, 2013
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303031323/http://www.westfieldnj.com/whs/history/Counties/CamdenCounty/laurelsprings.htm
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref>

As the end of 1891 approached, he prepared a final edition of ''Leaves of Grass'', a version that has been nicknamed the "Deathbed Edition". He wrote, "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."<ref>Reynolds, 586.</ref> Preparing for death, Whitman commissioned a [[granite]] [[mausoleum]] shaped like a house for $4,000<ref name=Loving479>Loving, 479.</ref> and visited it often during construction.<ref>Kaplan, 49.</ref> In the last week of his life, he was too weak to lift a knife or fork and wrote: "I suffer all the time: I have no relief, no escape: it is monotony—monotony—monotony—in pain."<ref>Reynolds, 587.</ref>
{{Listen|type=speech
|filename=Walt Whitman - America.ogg
|title="America"
|description=An 1890 recording thought to be Walt Whitman reading the opening four lines of his poem "America"
}}

Walt Whitman died on March 26, 1892,<ref>Callow, 363.</ref> at his home in Camden, New Jersey at the age of 72.<ref>Griffiths, Rhys (March 2017), [https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/death-walt-whitman "Death of Walt Whitman"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319091133/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/death-walt-whitman |date=March 19, 2022 }}, ''History Today'', volume 67, issue 3.</ref> An [[autopsy]] revealed his lungs had diminished to one-eighth their normal breathing capacity, a result of bronchial pneumonia,<ref name=Loving479/> and that an egg-sized abscess on his chest had eroded one of his ribs. The cause of death was officially listed as "[[pleurisy]] of the left side, consumption of the right lung, general [[miliary tuberculosis]] and parenchymatous [[nephritis]]".<ref name="Reynolds, 588">Reynolds, 588.</ref> A public viewing of his body was held at his Camden home; more than 1,000 people visited in three hours.<ref name=Loving480>Loving, 480.</ref> Whitman's oak coffin was barely visible because of all the flowers and wreaths left for him.<ref name="Reynolds, 588"/> Four days after his death, he was buried in his tomb at [[Harleigh Cemetery, Camden|Harleigh Cemetery]] in Camden.<ref name=Loving480/> Another public ceremony was held at the cemetery, with friends giving speeches, live music, and refreshments.<ref name=Reynolds589/> Whitman's friend, the orator [[Robert G. Ingersoll|Robert Ingersoll]], delivered the eulogy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Theroux |first1=Phyllis |title=The Book of Eulogies |date=1977 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |page=30}}</ref> Later, the remains of Whitman's parents and two of his brothers and their families were moved to the mausoleum.<ref>Kaplan, 50.</ref> His brain was donated to the [[American Anthropometric Society]] in Philadelphia, but it was accidentally destroyed.<ref name=Spitzka>{{cite journal |last1=Spitzka |first1=Edw. Anthony |title=A Study of the Brains of Six Eminent Scientists and Scholars Belonging to the American Anthropometric Society, together with a Description of the Skull of Professor E. D. Cope |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |date=1907 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=175–308 |doi=10.2307/1005434 |jstor=1005434 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1005434 |access-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311174940/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1005434 |url-status=live }}</ref>