Beach, Juliette H. (1829-1900)

Beach was one of the several people to whom Henry Clapp sent a review copy of Leaves of Grass, thinking that Mrs. Beach "would do Whitman 'great justice in the Saturday Press'" (243). The return letter Clapp received was not what he expected; it was not signed by Mrs. Beach, but Clapp thought it was from her and printed it as hers in the June 2, 1860, edition of the Saturday Press. Acording to Allen, "The reviewer began by saying that he had read only a few of the poems, but apparently he could instinctively sniff out the most offensive passages" (260). Allen quotes some of the original Beach review, which concludes with the reviewer's advice to Whitman to commit suicide, but not to do it by ordinary means, "because some full man, to whom life has become a greivous burden, may at a later day be compelled to choose between death by the same means and a hateful life, and with the pride of noble manhood turn shuddering to live on, rather than admit so much of oneness as would be implied by going to death as did Walt Whitman" (261). Clapp commented in an editorial that the review that "It always gives us pleasure to print every variety of opinion upon such subjects" (260). The next week, a correction was printed by the Saturday Press, indicating that the paper had received a letter from Juliette H. Beach claiming that the review had not been hers; the review copy had been intercepted by her husband, who had written his own response to the book, which had been submitted to the Saturday Press. The paper had been rushed to press without looking further into the matter. Two weeks later, a review signed by "A Woman" appeared in the Saturday Press. This review argued against the points made in the mistaken Beach review, and may have been Juliette Beach's real review of Whitman's work (261).

Allen also writes that the Beach family dissention over Whitman may have been something more than simply a disagreement over poetry. Allen cites Ellen O'Connor's account that Whitman wrote "Out of the Rolling Ocean" for a "certain lady" whose husband was angred by the correspondence between Whitman and his wife. Allen also cites Clara Barrus' claim that "Miss Juliette Beach" was the woman he wrote this poem for and that "She wrote many beautiful letters to Walt which J.B. [John Burroughs] tried in vain to get her consent to publish" (262). Allen maintains that these may not have been love letters, but that they were most likely encouraged by Whitman for unspecified reasons. "We do not know whether the atraction was physical or mainly appreciative any sympathetic, but it appears that the review copy sent to Mrs. Beach did cause a quarrel between her and her husband, and there may have been an emotional sequel" (262). "Out of the Rolling Ocean" was later published in Drum-Taps (340). Beach is thought to have been one of the two female contributors to the Saturday Press in the summer of 1860, who like Mrs. Gilchrist later, defended the "sanity" and "purity" of Whitman's conversational poems (420).

Allen also mentions that Beach was one of several women who may have known him mainly through his poetry but who found him equally attractive as some women who knew him personally (263). Allen mentions that it is unclear as to whether or not Beach visited Whitman in Washington and that she may have believed herself to be in love with Whitman (341).