Elizabeth Leavitt Keller

First I must say that I do not think this should be marketed or described as a biography. The main objectives of this text is to first describe what life was like in the Mickle Street house and to defend the housekeeper of Walt Whitman. The texts weakest point is that a majority of the information is second hand. The author was briefly in the Mickle Street house during the last few years of Whitman's life, she was not there for a large portion of the time discussed in the book. The stories she tells were relayed to her by the housekeeper, Mary Davies. The book was not published until Mrs. Keller was 82.

All that being said I did enjoy the book. It was very interesting getting acquainted with my favorite poet in such a small window of their life. He is largely portrayed as a self-centered individual who puts his own desires and plans first and foremost. His desire to build an outrageous monument for his grave caused him to bleed his housekeepers purse dry. Now there are some behaviors that were considered rude then, but we wouldn't think twice about now - Walt was a night owl and kept odd hours. This was much to the dismay of Mrs. Davies, who is described as the extreme opposite as Whitman. She devoted her life to the care of others. After Whitman's death she was accused essentially of elder abuse and like I said before was left almost destitute. She had to sue the estate to receive compensation for the years she spent taking care of Whitman.

One of my favorite things about this book is how complicated relationships can be. I would say that Whitman and Mrs. Davies both cared for each other. Even though there was she was being mistreated she never left him. I also don't think Whitman was fully aware of the power imbalance he had over Mrs. Davies. Another thing I really enjoyed was the reaction the neighborhood had about this new odd pair moving in.… (más)