ABSTRACT
Anne Gilchrist, ‘A Woman’s Estimate of Walt Whitman’, the Radical(Boston, May 1870). Reprinted in In Re, pp. 41–55.
The article is accompanied by an introductory footnote by William Michael Rossetti, dated 20 November 1869;
The great satisfaction which I felt in arranging, about two years ago, the first edition (or rather selection) of Walt Whitman’s poems published in England has been, in due course of time, followed by another satisfaction—and one which, righdy laid to heart, is both less mixed and more intense. A lady, whose friendship honors me, read the selection last summer, and immediately afterwards accepted from me the loan of the complete edition, and read that also. Both volumes raised in her a boundless and splendid enthusiasm, ennobling to witness. This found expression in some letters which she addressed to me at the time, and which contain (I affirm it without misgiving, and I hope not without some title to form an opinion) about the fullest, farthest-reaching and most eloquent appreciation of Whitman yet put into writing, and certainly the most valuable, whether or not I or other readers find cause for critical dissent at an item here and there. The most valuable, I say, because this is the expression of what a woman sees in Whitman’s poems—a woman who has read and thought much, and whom to know is to respect and esteem in every relation, whether of character, intellect, or culture.
I longed that what this lady had written should be published for the benefit of English, and more especially of American readers. She has generously acceded to my request. The ensuing reflections upon Whitman’s poems contain several passages reproduced verbatim from the letters in question, supplemented by others which the same lady has added so as more fully to define and convey the impression which those unparalleled and deathless writings have made upon her.
For another communication between Rossetti and Mrs Gilchrist, see No. 3o(j).
This remarkable appreciation was written by the widow of Alexander Gilchrist, the biographer of William Blake. Anne Gilchrist brought her husband’s unfinished biography of Blake to 138completion after his untimely death in 1860, and in doing so she made a reputation for herself which won for her the friendship of the Rossettis, Swinburne, Carlyle and Tennyson. Whitman’s writings affected her so powerfully that she later quite plainly hinted her desire to marry him and came to settle with her family in Philadelphia. Whitman visited the Gilchrist home with some frequency in 1876 and the years following.
