Walt Whitman’s ‘Death in the School-room’ in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle,1847
March 26 is a day of literary mourning, as New York City marks the 122nd anniversary of the death of Walt Whitman, the nineteenth century poet and essayist who passed on this day in 1892. But here at the Brooklyn Eagle, we choose to celebrate his inherently “New York” literary spirit by republishing a fascinating piece of authorship that Whitman wrote for the Eagle while acting Editor and Chief, as close to the original format as possible for online.
On Christmas Eve 1847, Whitman presented his short story Death in the school-room… on the front page of the Brooklyn Eagle in its entirety. As the title clearly indicates, this is an incredibly unconventional and not at all traditionally family or season-friendly read. In fact, it is quite obviously heartbreaking, especially for having been published on Christmas Eve, a day that is traditionally held for celebration, just following a Christmas Hymn. But Whitman was never a conventional man. On the contrary, he was deeply complicated with strong opinions, and terrible people skills. There is even evidence of him quarreling with numerous city newspapers, including our own Brooklyn Eagle.
Is it ironic or brilliant of Whitman to have published such a terrifying story in the daily paper, as children were arriving from school on this particular Christmas Eve night? Whatever the case, it is certainly important. Though short in length, the powerful story successfully examines a mixture of social, political, and cultural NYC issues that are still relevant today such as education-quality, classism, poverty, power, death, and both mental and physical child abuse in schools. Once a schoolteacher himself, it seems that Whitman’s Death in the school room is an open argument in favor of both children and women’s rights in New York City in 1847. This may be an example of the early seeds of child-labor activism beginning to form in Brooklyn.