I feel like the idea that Whitman would be exclusively focused on “higher things” during his final days is much more 1855 than post-Civil War. Of course, as we discussed during our last class, Whitman’s core message didn’t change in later editions, but his focus did shift and expand a bit. What inspired that final calmness is a very interesting question, but I think that to assume Whitman was disconnected from the world around him, the world he was always so focused on, is a disservice to him.

Your post also helped frame all of W’s careful cataloging of physical/corporeal symptoms we find in Longaker.

I’m sorry I have your Gilpin book, because it seems like it might have been useful to you in responding to Longaker’s words. I was wondering as I read your post if what we got there was sort of an attempt at the “good death” letter of the Civil War, trying to assert peacefulness, acceptance, and faith as the frame for a death experience– even if the soldier/poet dying may not have accepted that frame himself.