|
The two passages occur one after another on page 32 of the same notebook. Even before arriving to nurse soldiers in the Washington, D.C. hospitals, Whitman's notebooks record incidents of men caring for each other in sickness and in health. For example, this page shows David Helpers's care for Peter Calhoun when he had "the bad disorder," recorded immediately before the notation of "sleeping with" David Wilson the very next night. What does "slept with" mean in this context? How is it similar to--or different from--the other examples of men caring for men recorded on the page? |