Editing Walt Whitman (section)

===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>