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Here is my video for Finding Whitman. I hope that it works. The reason I picked my poem is because it reminded my of 9-11. Yes Whitman was of course not around for this and the poem was probably based on the love of friends and company and bringing a community together. But when I read my poem I thought of 9-11 and how the country came together in such a horrible time. Dr. Hoffman taught me that poems are up for interpretation and this is mine of this poem. My video readings won’t upload and I’m going to freak out soon! Someone help me, they are uploaded in quicktime and itunes and everytime I try to upload them it says that the videos don’t meet security guidelines, which I don’t understand. I sent them to my lap top via bluetooth, does that mean anything to anyone? How could you be a great mind like Walt Whitman and not have people be drawn to you? I’m sure it’s possible in some cases but Whitman not only had close friends who adored him, he had followers who based their course of life off of his words. That’s influence for you. Two such people were Edward Carpenter and Robert Ingersoll. These men, like many others, were so greatly affected by Whitman and in different ways. One was a devout follower of Whitman, more of a disciple, if you will. The other was a close friend and was actually an object of Whitman’s own admiration. Both of them were lucky enough to have a creative mind like Whitman’s in their lives. Edward Carpenter was born in Hove, England and attended Brighton College. Although he would go on to Cambridge, Carpenter didn’t have a feeling for academics at a young age. Instead he discovered his attachment to nature and this relationship is one that lasted him the rest of his life. While attending University, Carpenter discovered his attraction to men and didn’t feel outwardly comfortable about his feelings right away. Following his college years, and some time experimenting with men, Carpenter decided to become a Curate in the Anglican Church. Before long, he became unhappy with his life there. He seemed to find the Victorian era, in its entirety, a hypocrisy. His only way out of this fraudulent life he was living was through poetry. Carpenter received his first copy of Leaves of Grass in1868 and the rest is history. Something in Whitman’s poetry moved him so much that Carpenter decided that he needed to educate the working class of the world. He picked up is life with the church and moved on to become a lecturer of astronomy and outspoken Socialist. After his father died and left him a considerable amount of money, he sought out a home in Milthrope and adapted a more natural lifestyle. This included, among other things, harvesting his own crops and vegetarianism. It was here in his life that he came to terms with his sexual orientation. Because of his new lifestyle away from the Victorian era, his creativity blossomed. One of his great works “Towards Democracy” was written during this time and was greatly influenced, as was the rest of his works, by Whitman. Carpenter got the chance to visit Whitman in 1877 as well as in 1886 and chronicled these visits in his work, Days with Whitman. Carpenter wouldn’t have become who he was without Whitman giving him the strength to be radical and live how he wants to live. Whitman’s work was the driving factor in Carpenters decision to educate the lower class and that made all the difference in his life. Whitman’s friend, Robert Ingersoll, was born in 1883 in Dresden, NY. He was the product of an intelligent, abolitionist family. He began studying law and during his time as a law clerk he opened his own practice with his brother, which they named “E.C. & R. G. Ingersoll”. When the Civil War broke out he took command of the 11th Illinois Cavalry Regiment. He was captured during this time and subsequently released on the grounds of giving his word to never fight again, which was common practice at the time. Following the war, Ingersoll became Attorney General of Illinois. His views were very radical for the time period and he was very outspoken. This did not help his political career, but helped his life as an orator greatly. He was incredibly affluent and his lectures ranged in many different genres, however he was very passionate about the ideas humanitarianism and free thought. Needless to say, his ideas appealed to Whitman. He considered Ingersoll to be the greatest orator of all time. Ingersoll was so admired by him that he was chosen to give the eulogy at his funeral, which must have been an incredible honor. All three of these men shared a common bond; they all seem to be ahead of their time. Each one was filled with ideas that seemed radical for the late nineteenth century. Regardless of the time, they still put themselves out there in a way no one had done before. They paved the way for leaders to come. It’s obvious that great minds connect to one another, and these friendships and admirations illustrate that fact. Walt Whitman’s Friends
William Douglas O’Connor was born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 2, 1833. In the beginning he was into painting until he was compelled to leave his passion, he turned to something that he could focus on and makes a career. Even before the age of twenty he landed a job as associate editor of the Boston “Commonwealth”. In 1852 he became the editor of the Philadelphia “Saturday Evening Post”. Once he became the editor in 1852 it was all uphill from there. He was the editor in Philadelphia from 1852-1860, in 1861 became corresponding clerk of the light-house board in Washington. He then became Chief Clerk in 1873 and 1874 librarian of the treasury department. He finally became assistant general superintendent of the life-saving service, of the annual reports which he was the author in 1878.
Walt Whitman and William O’Connor met for the first time in 1860. This was the same year that Whitman’s third edition of Leaves of Grass was published and the same year that O’Connor’s only novel, Harrington: A Story of True Love was published. They would not meet again until two years later in Washington. This was when Whitman traveled to Washington to look for his brother George in military hospitals; he had been wounded there in the Battle of Fredericksburg.
O’Connor invited Whitman into his home and they quickly became friends and O’Connor an enthusiastic of Whitman’s poetry. For five months Whitman lived with O’Connor and his family and after that for another ten years he was a regular guest in the O’Connor home. During that time O’Connor helped Whitman get a job as a clerk in the Indian Affairs Bureau of the Department of Interior (1865). It was not long before the Secretary of the Interior James Harlan fired Whitman due to moral character of Leaves of Grass. O’Connor found this was his first major opportunity to defend Whitman.
O’Connor then risked his own career when he did two things; regained Whitman a governmental position and assail the forces of censorship in defense of Leaves of Grass. To do this he needed to go to his friend Assistant Attorney General James Speed. Here O’Connor said that he would not interfere and Speed chooses to hire Whitman who held that job until 1874. Whitman only left his position in 1874 due to his health. The second thing that O’Connor did was to publish a 46-page pamphlet, The Good Grey Poet: A Vindication in 1866, which criticized Harlan and other Whitman critics.
O’Connor favored liberal and noble causes. Whitman and O’Connor often debated efficacy of external, socially-imposed reform as opposed to internal, personally motivated reform. This did cause a problem in 1872 when Whitman walked out on a debate on Charles Sumner’s war policies and Reconstruction. This was one in which O’Connor supported and Whitman opposed. Whitman left and Ellen M. Tarr O’Connor (William’s wife), defended him. O’Connor held such resentment towards both Whitman and his wife that he left her. He would visit his daughter and send his wife his government check he did not live with her again until the near end of his life and this was because he needed her to take care of him. This was the end of their close friendship. They did have a reunion in 1882 and after that O’Connor allowed Whitman’s friend Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke to reprint Good Grey Poet in his biography of Whitman. O’Connor also gave Bucke an introductory 25-page letter which praised Whitman and his poetry.
Peter Doyle is said to have been born on June 3, 1843, in Limerick City, Ireland. There was a lot of mystery that surrounded the birth date of Doyle. He used to claim that it was one date and his death certificate claimed another, however when Dr. S. C. O’ Mahony of the Limerick Regional Archives found Doyle’s baptism records. Doyle’s family moved to America in 1852 around the age of 8. He emigrated here with his mother and his brothers, John, James, and Edward. This we know for their names can be found on a passenger list for the vessel William Patten. It was said that his father and one other brother had come to America earlier that year. Sadly it is thought that his sisters Elizabeth and Mary were tragic victims of the Great Hunger the hit Ireland late 1840’s. Their names are never shown on any vessel passenger lists. The Doyle’s spent the first few years in America living in Alexandria, Virginia. Doyle’s family then moved to Richmond, Virginia when the Depression started.
When the War broke out Doyle entered the military. Doyle is shown to have enlisted April 25, 1861 with the Richmond Fayette Artillery. Here he serves with them for seventeen months and was discharged on November 7, 1862. Doyle was discharged from the military but not before being wounded. Doyle was trying to head north, as he tried to cross Federal lines he was captured by Union forces, becoming a prisoner of war. He was captured on April 8, 1863 and put in Carroll Prison in Washington, DC and was held until May 11, 1863.
Doyle then gets his first job with the Washington Navy yard as a Smith’s helper in December 1863. He held this job from December 1863 until June 1865. During this time he lived with his brother Francis Michael and his wife. It was also during this time that Peter Doyle took on a second job as a horsecar conductor with the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company. This is where Doyle met Whitman. They were an unlikey match both they had a connection. It is said that Doyle was drawn to Whitman at once. Doyle stated that, “We were familiar at once—I put my hand on his knee—we understood. Whitman did not get out at the end of the trip—in fact he went all the way back with me. Doyle thinks the year is 1866. From that time on we were the biggest sort of friends.” It is said though that the year Whitman and Doyle met was actually early 1865.
Whitman and Doyle would be very close until Whitman moves to Camden, New Jersey in 1873 due to his first stroke. Their romantic friendship that they shared was celebrated in Whitman’s “Calamus” poems and embodied the “love of comrades”. The thirty-year friendship between Whitman and Doyle had produced a legacy of loving letters from the older Whitman to his younger companion.
Talcott Williams was born in Abeih, Turkey in 1849. He was the son of Congregational Missionaries. He and his family moved to America where Williams became an American journalist and educator. Williams graduated from Amherst college in Massachusetts. Williams worked for the Philadelphia Press for thirty years. It is thought that Williams and Whitman became friends in 1882. This is thought due to a letter from Whitman to William O’Connor. Williams helped Whitman in a variety of ways over several years. Williams was one of several people who helped buy Whitman his horse and carriage in September 1885. Here is My Mashup Called watch?v=BEN-92bx0zE
Hey Everyone! I found Whitman right at Rutgers! Enjoy my reading of Years of the Modern. I wanted to do “Pioneers” to be like the Levi’s ad, but wasn’t sure I could pull it off. That’s a guy poem! :O)
The Bolton Group The Bolton Group was formed in 1886 by Tom France, who wanted to create a local branch of the Social Democratic Federation in his home town, Bolton, England. The original group had thirty members and met at Tom France’s house. In the early 1890’s the Bolton socialists rented a place in Back Cheapside and opened the town’s first Socialist Club. They served beer, established a library, and held regular meetings, often with well know guest speakers. In 1898 the local branches of the Independent Labor Party and the Social Democratic Party were combined to create the Bolton Socialist Party. In 1905 Tom France and others set up a Bolton Social Hall Ltd, which helped them raise money to buy a house, which is still the location of the Socialist Club today. After the first World War the Bolton Socialist Party began to fade away, losing members to the communist party and the Labor Party, however the Party was never formally disbanded. Whitman and the Bolton Group The Bolton group were devoted followers of Whitman and set up the Whitman Fellowship, and often referred to themselves as his disciples. Whitman never visited Britain, but he did develop close ties with Bolton through correspondences with J. W. Wallace and John Johnston. Both men visited Walt Whitman in America, and Johnston published the diaries he kept of his experiences as Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890- 1891. The Bolton Group Today: While the heyday of the Bolton group has long since past the Bolton group continues to act as forum for the discussion of today’s political problems in relation to socialism. They sponsor weekly events as well as a newsletter through which they help to continue the growth socialist political activism. They also continue on with the legacy of their founders by continuing to promote the work of Walt Whitman. Every year on the last Saturday in May close to Walt Whitman’s birthday members of the Bolton group as well as admirers of Whitman’s poetry come together to walk through the streets of Bolton in celebration of Whitman. This walk consists of members following a circular route along the streets of Bolton during which they stop to recite Whitman’s poetry and drink from the “loving cup”. The “loving cup” is a three-handled cup that was presented to the Bolton group by Whitmanites of the United States in a show of camaraderie. While the original cup is no longer used as it was donated to the Bolton Museum a new “loving cup” has been commissioned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the walk. |
