User menu

Menu

Walt Whitman and Ellen Eyre

Miller, Edwin Haviland. "Walt Whitman and Ellen Eyre." American Literature. 1961. 64-68.
Genre: 
essay

People Mentioned in this Work

Beach, Juliette [pages:66-67]

Identified as a possible writer of the "Ellen Eyre" letter. Beach carried on a lengthy correspondence with Whitman against her husband's wishes.

Clare, Ada [pages:66]

Identified as a possible author of the "Ellen Eyre" letter. Miller notes that Clare appeared onstage as Jane Eyre in 1856.

Eyre, Ellen [pages:64-66]

The pen name of a woman who wrote Whitman a love letter that was delivered to Pfaff's on Tuesday, March 25, 1862. Eyre may have been Ellen Grey, an actress who may have known Whitman in Brooklyn before beginning her career in New York. Miller speculates that she met Whitman at Pfaff's at some point after her marriage and the "Ellen Eyre" letter was a playful invitation to visit her at her home.

Grey, Ellen [pages:67]

An actress and a possible writer of the "Ellen Eyre" letter. Grey may have been from Brooklyn and known Whitman before becoming an actress. Miller speculates that she met Whitman at Pfaff's at some point after her marriage and the "Ellen Eyre" letter was a playful invitation to visit her at her home.

Sweeney, Frank [pages:68]

A driver of the Fifth Ave. stage; he would have been acquainted with Ellen Grey. Whitman notes in one entry in a notebook that Sweeney tended to "talk very little."

Whitman, Walt [pages:64-68]