Walt Whitman's Tomb

Abstract

In letters and conversations with friends and acquaintances, Whitman's ideas about his "burial house" gradually took shape over the four years prior to his death in March 1892. The completion of Whitman's tomb represented the culmination of a complicated series of decisions. While the location of Whitman's tomb, its design, and its cost are topics that have received various critical and biographical interpretations, this essay includes recently uncovered materials that provide a clearer understanding of the process that unfolded in the years prior to Whitman's death regarding his tomb.