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.

From 1879 to 1890, Whitman's lectures on Lincoln's assassination bolstered the poet's own reputation and that of his poems. Critical reception to Whitman's Lincoln poetry has varied since their publication. "O Captain! My Captain!" was very popular, particularly before the mid-20th century, and remains one of his most popular works, despite slipping in critical assessment since the early 1900s. "Lilacs" is considered one of Whitman's finest works.

Background

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was raised on the frontier in the early 19th century, living in Kentucky and Indiana before settling in Illinois, serving in the state legislature, and marrying Mary Todd. He gained a reputation on the national stage with his 1858 debates against Stephen Douglas during a race for a seat in the United States Senate, which Douglas won. Two years later Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States. In that capacity, he led the United States through the American Civil War until his assassination on April 14, 1865.

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman established his reputation as a poet following the release of his poetry collection Leaves of Grass (1855); the volume came to wider public attention following a positive review by American transcendentalist lecturer and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Whitman intended to write a distinctly American epic and had developed a free verse style inspired by the cadences of the King James Bible. Reviewing Leaves of Grass, some critics objected to Whitman's blunt depiction of sexuality and what they perceived as an undercurrent of homoeroticism.

"[T]he December 16 New York Herald [reported] that 'First Lieutenant G. W. Whitmore' was counted among the many wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia."Sharp, Kevin, Bold Cautious True: Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era. Memphis: The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 2009, p. 15. Despite the misspelling of the surname in the report, the Whitman family in Brooklyn "braced for the worst".... That very afternoon, Walt Whitman ... set out for Virginia via Washington, D.C., to find his younger brother."Sharp, Kevin, Bold Cautious True: Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era. Memphis: The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 2009, p. 15. After he found his brother, Walt Whitman remained in Washington, where he had a series of government jobs—first with the Army Paymaster's Office and later with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He volunteered in the army hospitals as a nurse. Whitman's wartime experience greatly influenced his poetry, and he shifted to writing reflections on death and youth, the brutality of war and patriotism. He later wrote that the war offered "some pang of anguish—some tragedy, profounder than ever poet wrote."

Whitman's brother, Union Army soldier George Washington Whitman, was taken prisoner in Virginia in September 1864, and held for five months in Libby Prison, a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp near Richmond, Virginia. On February 24, 1865, George was granted a furlough to return home because of his poor health. Whitman traveled to his mother's home in New York to visit him. While visiting Brooklyn, Whitman signed a contract to have his collection of Civil War poems, Drum-Taps, published. In June 1865, the Secretary of the Interior, James Harlan, discovered a copy of Leaves of Grass and fired Whitman from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, describing the collection as "obscene".

Whitman and Lincoln

In 1856, Whitman wrote a lengthy description of his ideal president: a "heroic" figure who was cunning and bold in temperament and knowledgeable about the world; a "Lincolnesque figure" according to Whitman biographer Justin Kaplan. He also opined on this hypothetical president's physical attributes: bearded and dressed in "a clean suit of working attire". Whitman explicitly mentions blacksmiths and boatmen as ideal precursor occupations. Two years later, Whitman first mentioned Lincoln by name in writing. That year, he supported Stephen Douglas over Lincoln for election to the United States Senate. Whitman first saw Lincoln as the president-elect traveled through New York City on February 19, 1861. Whitman noticed Lincoln's "striking appearance" and "unpretentious dignity", and trusted his "supernatural tact" and "idiomatic Western genius". Whitman's admiration for Lincoln steadily grew in the following years; in October 1863 Whitman wrote in his diary "I love the President personally."

Although they never met, Whitman estimated that he saw Lincoln about twenty to thirty times between 1861 and 1865, sometimes at close quarters. Lincoln passed Whitman several times and nodded to him, interactions that Whitman detailed in letters to his mother. William Barton writes there was little "evidence of recognition", and Lincoln likely nodded to many passersby as he traveled. Whitman and Lincoln were in the same room twice: at a reception in the White House following Lincoln's first inauguration in 1861, and when Whitman visited John Hay, Lincoln's private secretary, at the White House.

In August 1863, Whitman wrote in The New York Times, "I see the president almost every day". Later that year, Whitman wrote a letter describing the president's face as a "Hoosier Michel Angelo, so awful ugly it becomes beautiful". In the letter he described Lincoln as captaining the "ship of state". Whitman considered himself and Lincoln to be "afloat in the same stream" and "rooted in the same ground". They shared similar views on slavery and the Union—"Both were committed to free labor and territorial expansion, but the preservation of the Union was more important than either". Whitman was a consistent supporter of Lincoln's politics, and similarities have been noted in their literary styles and inspirations. Whitman later said that, "Lincoln gets almost nearer me than anybody else."

It remains unclear how much Lincoln knew about Whitman, though he knew of him and his admiration for him. There is an account of Lincoln reading Leaves of Grass in his office, and another of the president saying "Well, he looks like a man!" upon seeing Whitman in Washington, D.C., but these accounts may be fictitious. Whitman was present at Lincoln's second inauguration in 1865 and left D.C. shortly after to visit his family.

On April 14, 1865, shortly after the end of the American Civil War, Lincoln was assassinated, and he died the next morning. Whitman was residing in Brooklyn while on a break from his job at the Department of the Interior when he heard the news. He recalled that although breakfast was served, the family did not eat and "not a word was spoken all day".

Whitman's poetry on Abraham Lincoln Poems in "Memories of President Lincoln" Title First published "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day"Drum-Taps, May 1865 "O Captain! My Captain!"The Saturday Press, November 4, 1865 "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"Sequel to Drum-Taps, late 1865 "This Dust Was Once the Man"Passage to India, 1871 The first poem that Whitman wrote on Lincoln's assassination was "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day", dated April 19, 1865—the day of Lincoln's funeral in Washington. Near the publication of Drum-Taps, Whitman decided the collection would be incomplete without a poem on Lincoln's death and hastily added "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day". He halted further distribution of the work and stopped publication on May 1, primarily to develop his Lincoln poems. He followed that poem with "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". "My Captain" first appeared in The Saturday Press on November 4, 1865, and was published with "Lilacs" in Sequel to Drum-Taps around the same time. Although Sequel to Drum-Taps had been published in early October, copies were not ready for distribution until December, and English professor Amanda Gailey described Whitman's decision to publish "My Captain" in The Saturday Press as a teaser for Sequel.

In 1866, Whitman's friend William D. O'Connor published The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, a short, promotional work for Whitman. O'Connor presented Whitman as Lincoln's "foremost poetic interpreter", proclaiming "Lilacs" as "the grandest and the only grand funeral music poured around Lincoln's bier".

Whitman did not compose "This Dust was Once the Man", his fourth on Lincoln, until 1871. The four poems were first grouped together in the "President Lincoln's Burial Hymn" cluster of Passage to India (1871). Ten years later, in a later edition of Leaves of Grass, the grouping was named "Memories of President Lincoln". The poems were not revised substantially following their publication.

Whitman wrote two other poems on Lincoln's assassination that were not included in the cluster. Shortly before Whitman's death, he wrote a final poem with the president as its subject, titled "Abraham Lincoln, Born Feb. 12, 1809", in honor of Lincoln's birthday. It appeared in the New York Herald on February 12, 1888. The poem has only two lines and is not well known.

Lectures

In 1875, Whitman published Memoranda During the War. The book, a collection of diary entries, includes a telling of Lincoln's assassination from the perspective of someone who was present. The New York Sun published that section in 1876 to a positive reception. Whitman, by then in failing health, presented himself as neglected, unfairly criticized, and deserving of pity in the form of financial aid. Richard Watson Gilder and several of Whitman's other friends soon suggested he give a series of "Lincoln Lectures" aimed at raising both funds and Whitman's profile. Whitman adapted his New York Sun article for the lectures.

Whitman gave a series of lectures on Lincoln from 1879 to 1890. They centered on the assassination but also covered the years leading up to and during the American Civil War. Whitman occasionally gave poetry readings, such as "O Captain! My Captain!". The lectures were generally popular and well received. In 1980, Whitman biographer Justin Kaplan wrote that Whitman's 1887 lecture in New York City and its after-party marked the closest he came to "social eminence on a large scale".

In 1885, Whitman contributed an essay about his experiences with Lincoln to a volume being compiled by Allen Thorndike Rice. Novelist Bram Stoker gave at least one lecture on Lincoln and discussed the deceased president with Whitman in November 1886. The two met when Stoker wrote a lengthy letter to Whitman in 1872 and were friends thereafter. Robert J. Havlik in the Walt Whitman Quarterly wrote that their "mutual respect for Lincoln" was a foundation of their relationship.

Reception