From the Field: Walt Whitman's Periodical Poetry

Belasco describes him as "Whitman's loyal friend, fellow Bohemian, and fiesty editor of the Saturday Press." Clapp is mentioned as believing, along with Whitman, "that any publicity [for Leaves of Grass] was good publicity" (251).

For the publication of "A Child's Reminiscence" on December 24, 1859, on the first page of the Saturday Press, Clapp included this notice at the beginning of his editorial column" "Our readers may, if they choose, consider as our Christmas or New Year's present to them, the curious warble, by Walt Whitman, of 'A Child's Reminiscence,' on our First Page. Like the 'Leaves of Grass,' the purport of this wild and plaintive song, well-enveloped, and eluding definition, is positive and unquestionable, like the effect of music.

The piece will bear reading many times--perhaps, indeed, only comes forth, as from recesses, by many repititions" (252).

Belasco notes that Clapp was "eager to attract attention and readers to his newspaper" and "not only published Whitman's poems but also printed parodies of Whitman's poems, as well as promotional advertisements for the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. Throughout the early months of 1860, Clapp was reguarly publishing Whitman" (252). "You and Me and To-Day" was printed in the January 14,1860, edition of the paper as one of Clapp's "original" poems, a feature which ran in nearly every edition of the Saturday Press, usually on the first page (252). Clapp published "Of Him I Love Day and Night" on January 28,1860, as "Poemet" with a notation "For the Saturday Press" at the upper left-hand corner of page 2. Clapp would publish a second "Poemet" ("That Shadow My Likenes," a Calamus poem) and "Leaves" ("whose three numbered verses became three distinct poems, two in the Calamus cluster and one in the Enfans d'Adam cluster in the 1860 Leaves of Grass) in this spot (252-253).

Belasco mentions that his poetry was printed in Clapp's columns of "original" poems, which usually appeared on the first page of the Saturday Press (252).

Stedman's poetry in Poems:Lyric and Idyllic was also reviewed in the New York Times in the column "New Publications: The New Poets" written by either William or John Swinton in which the third edition of Leaves of Grass was reviewed poorly. Stedman's work was given notably less discussion but was also found "lacking" (255).

Belasco speculates that either William or his brother, John Swinton (the new editor of the New York Times), may have written a negative review of Whitman that was printed in the New York Times on May 19, 1860. The review "castigated Whitman for his style and substance. Describing Whitman's earlier editions of Leaves of Grass as 'neither poetry nor prose, but a curious medley, a mixture of quaint utterances and gross indecencies, a remarkable compound of fine thoughts and sentiment of the pot-house,' the reviewer called the 1860 edition even 'more reckless and vulgar.'" Belasco corrects the assumption that the review was written as solely a review of Leaves of Grass, but was actually part of an article titled "New Publications: The New Poets." Both Swinton brothers were old friends of Whitman (255).