The Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum - PLOG: Poetry Blog

Thirst Editions

3/23/2019

From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson:

I saw this on Twitter today:

Of course Mr. Atkinson's chart might make one wonder what libations would top a similar list for poets?

Well, in the case of the Dickinsons, we know exactly what would rank as their "thirst editions."

For Emily Dickinson -- and her sister Lavinia -- the choice would be a keg of beer. There was nothing the sisters loved more than frat parties and keggers at Amherst college.

For Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request, the choice would be a Margarita, the lime libation he invented! Information about Dickinson & his delicious concoction is HERE.

Of course, Emmett Lee Dickinson knew of his third cousin Emily's fondness for keggers at Amherst College, and he immortalized her addiction to frat parties in his now-classic poem, "As School Bells end the summer" (below on the left). His poem inspired Emily to pen her poem "As Sleigh Bells seem in summer" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

As School Bells end the summer
And Boys, at Amherst show –
So friendly – so flirtatious
The individuals go
Replete with strong libations –
A Party does ensue –
She’s down there in an instant
Till Dawn the Ingénue.

By Emily Dickinson:

As Sleigh Bells seem in summer
Or Bees, at Christmas show –
So fairy – so fictitious
The individuals do
Repealed from observation –
A Party that we knew –
More distant in an instant
Than Dawn in Timbuctoo.

Pictured at the right: In 1849, Emily Dickinson wrote to her cousins Frances and Louisa Norcross. In her letter, Dickinson stated the following:

"There is to be a party at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house tomorrow night. They say that home is where the heart is ~ I think it is where the Sigma house is, and the adjacent buildings.

Vinnie and I will be happy amid this delightful kegger, and well we will drink our icy beers ~ and the world there will be so beautiful, and things so sweet and fair, that my heart will be soothed and comforted."

Wild Knights! Wild Knights!

3/19/2019

From our sports editor, Anderson Rudge:

I was "Fairleigh" certain Dickinson would win its "First Four" game over Prairie View A & M tonight to advance to the First Round of the NCAA March Madness Tournament -- so congratulations to the wild Knights of FDU! Good luck against Gonzaga on Thursday night!

Below left: Fairleigh S. Dickinson, namesake of Fairleigh Dickinson University and second cousin to Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). Below Center: Emmett Lee Dickinson Hall at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Emmett Lee Dickinson wrote many poems about March Madness. One of his poems, "When Score Board Clocks expire," is below on the left. Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "When Continents expire" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

When Score Board Clocks expire
The Victors so rewarded – are
Promoted to endure –

By Emily Dickinson:

When Continents expire
The Giants they discarded – are
Promoted to endure –

Letter of Introduction

3/17/2019

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

Recently I have published some plog (poetry blog) posts about variations in poems by Emily Dickinson in the Johnson and Franklin editions of her poetry. This all started with a post about a quote from Oscar Wilde -- HERE -- and then I moved on to discuss Johnson v. Franklin -- HERE (from 3/10/19) and HERE (from 3/13/19).

In the post dated March 10, 2019, I discussed Dickinson's poem "It sifts from Leaden Sieves," which is number 311 in Johnson's edition and number 291 in Franklin's. Following the opening stanza, the poem differs significantly in the two volumes. In Johnson's book, the poem is 5 stanzas long. In Franklin's it is 3 -- and Franklin noted in the introduction to his collection that he always chose "the latest version of the entire poem, thereby giving to the poet, rather than the editor, the ownership of change.”

However, besides the two very different versions of the poem, there is one other mystery (or should I say, "myster-E"?): In Franklin's volume "The Poems of Emily Dickinson," there is a capital "E" just before the opening line of the poem.

No where else in the over-six-hundred page book with 1,789 poems does a letter appear before the start of a poem.

Does anyone know what this E stands for? Is it just a printing error -- or is that E supposed to be there?

If you can help solve this myster-E, please let me know. Comment below, or reach out on our "Contact Us" page, HERE.

The Green Brew Deal

3/17/2019

From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III:

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, one and all! May the beer of the Irish be with you!

That old saying -- "May the beer of the Irish be with you! -- was first uttered in 1853 by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) when he visited Chicago for a book signing. He also started an annual tradition in the Windy City when -- after he lifted more than a "few" Irish beers -- he dyed the Chicago River green.

Below: An antique postcard from the 1920s includes Emmett Lee Dickinson's now-famous quip, "May the beer of the Irish be with you!"

Emmett Lee Dickinson wrote many poems about St. Patrick's Day and beer, including "Before Oblivion's Time there is a Beer" (below on the left). Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem, "Above Oblivions Tide there is a Pier" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Before Oblivion’s Time there is a Beer
And a limitless “Few” are lifted too –
Aye – lifted high – Foam for the Head –
A drunken smile – from Irish Brew –

By Emily Dickinson:

Above Oblivion's Tide there is a Pier
And an effaceless "Few" are lifted there –
Nay – lift themselves – Fame has no Arms –
And but one smile – that meagres Balms –

A World of Difference

3/13/2019

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

In a recent plog (poetry blog) post, I wrote about differences between The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, and The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by R. W. Franklin. The post is HERE, and in it I discuss the order of the poems, identical poems (or those with very insignificant differences), poems with interesting differences, and poems with significant differences – and that was just the start. There are other differences:

COMBINED/SEPARATED POEMS

Sometimes individual poems in one book are combined (or separated) to create a single poem (or multiple poems) in the other volume. For example, F-335, “Her smile was shaped like other smiles,” in the Franklin edition, is made up of two poems from the Johnson edition, J-514, “Her smile was shaped like other smiles,” and J-353, “A happy lip – breaks sudden.”

On the other hand, three poems in Franklin's book – F-29, “All these my banners be,” F-30, “To lose – if One can find again,” and F-31, “To him who keeps an Orchis’ heart" – are combined in one poem in the Johnson edition, J-22, “All these my banners be.”

RECENTLY DISCOVERED POEMS

Some poems in the Franklin edition were unknown at the time of the Johnson edition. Therefore, the “complete” poems edited by Johnson were the those poems known at the time, but the volume is no longer “complete.” I suspect Franklin realized that addition poems could be discovered in the future – and that is why he did not include the word “complete” in the title of his volume, “The Poems of Emily Dickinson.”

One example of a poem that is in Franklin but is not found in Johnson is F-1244, “Fly – fly—but as you fly”:

Fly – fly – but as you fly –
Remember – the second pass you by –
The Second is pursuing the Century
The Century is chasing Eternity –
What a Responsibility –
No wonder that the little Second flee –
Out of it’s frightened way –

Note: Franklin left the apostrophe in “it’s” as Dickinson wrote it.

Everything Old Is New Again

3/12/2019

From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III:

Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager co-wrote "Everything Old I New Again," and two lines from the song state...

No need to remember when
'Cause everything old is new again

That is true once again as the "Triangle Dance" has gone viral on the internet.

Below Left: The latest silly viral thing to come from the internet: Triangle Dance Below right: Trump, Pence and McConnell tried the triangle dance in a back room at the White House

The Triangle Dance, though, did not come from the internet. No, it came from Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request. He invented the dance in 1853 when he visited his third cousins Emily and Lavinia Dickinson in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Emily Dickinson LOVED the dance, and wrote about it in a letter she sent to her brother Austin who was away at the time:

At the left: A portion of a letter from Emily Dickinson to her brother Austin about their third cousin Emmett Lee Dickinson's new dance craze, the Triangle Dance.

The text of the letter reads as follows:

This week, on Wednesday, I was at my window, when I happened to look towards the hotel and saw our third cousin Emmett walking over here as dignified as you please. I need not tell you that I danced and clapped my hands, and flew to meet him, for you can imagine how I felt. He wanted to surprise me, and for that reason did not let me know he was coming.

What a time we had – why, he made me and my heart dance; and I cannot abate from dancing. Austin, if I dance for so many days hence it is for a newly invented and glorious step from Emmett which he calls the Triangle Dance. Vinnie and I grew so jolly but were so completely exhausted after hour upon hour we circled the room in jig.

Emmett Lee Dickinson wrote about his new sensation, the Triangle Dance, in his poem "I counted as we danced so" (below on the left). His poem inspired his third cousin Emily to pen her poem "I counted till they danced so" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

I counted as we danced so
Our slippers leapt about,
And then I took a pencil
To note the three steps down
And then I grew so jolly
We danced the three-side jig,
And ten times round we collided
I’d zagged instead of zigged!

By Emily Dickinson:

I counted till they danced so
Their slippers leaped the town,
And then I took a pencil
To note the rebels down.
And then they grew so jolly
I did resign the prig,
And ten of my once stately toes
Are marshalled for a jig!

Sleep Talk

3/11/2019

From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson:

Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) established National Napping Day as the day immediately following the start of Daylight Saving Time.

"It is obvious that a day of napping is required after the onset of Daylight Saving Time," he said. "The rise in impatience and the decline of civility demand it."

Dickinson wrote several poems about sleeping and napping, and "Slumber – is not precisely Sleeping" (below on the left) is one of his most famous. His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "Wonder – is not precisely Knowing" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Slumber – is not precisely Sleeping
And not precisely Sleeping not –
A beautiful unique condition
He cannot live who has not slept –

Deep Sleep – is his maturer Brother –
’Tis truly a Delight to Gain
If insomnia’s unforgiving
Then it’s the Nap that redeems men –

By Emily Dickinson:

Wonder – is not precisely Knowing
And not precisely Knowing not –
A beautiful but bleak condition
He has not lived who has not felt –

Suspense – is his maturer Sister –
Whether Adult Delight is Pain
Or of itself a new misgiving –
This is the Gnat that mangles men –

Below: The Center for Study of Insomnia and Disturbed Sleep is in the heart of the theater and music district of historic Washerst, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). Dickinson suffered from insomnia and survived on just hours of sleep per week.

Vive La Différence

3/10/2019

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

Recently I came across an Oscar Wilde quote on Twitter about a poet’s ability to survive everything “but a misprint.” On the same day I came across a misprint within an online version of a poem by Emily Dickinson. I wrote about it HERE.

In that post I also mentioned some of the differences between the Johnson and the Franklin editions of Dickinson’s poetry.

My (now-ragged) copy of “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson” edited by Thomas H. Johnson was published in 1960, and the introduction to the book states, “The text for this edition…reproduces solely and completely that of the 1955 variorum edition, but intended as a reading text, it selects but one form of each poem.” It further notes, “The order of the poems is that the Harvard (variorum) edition.”

My (close-to-ragged) copy of “The Poems of Emily Dickinson” edited by R. W. Franklin was published in 1998, and the introduction to this volume states, “About three fourths of the poems exist in a single source. For the rest, with from two to seven sources, the policy has been to choose the latest version of the entire poem, thereby giving to the poet, rather than the editor, the ownership of change.”

Franklin also noted, “With Dickinson’s practice in her manuscripts as the standard for representing her poem, this volume follows her spelling, capitalization punctuation and usage.” Johnson, in his 1955 volume, stated “I have silently corrected obvious misspelling…and misplaced apostrophes. Punctuation and capitalization remain unaltered….Capitalization, though often capricious, is likewise untouched.”

Below left: My Johnson edition of Dickinson's poetry is falling apart -- and the cover is taped together with scotch tape. Below right: My Franklin edition is in better shape -- but it won't be too much longer until I need a new one. : )

So how similar – or different – are the two volumes?

ORDER

In some instances, poems are very close to the same order in both books. For example, poems J-119 (Talk with prudence to a Beggar), J-120 (If this is “fading”), and J-121 (A Watchers hang opon the East) in the Johnson edition, are numbers F-118, F-119, and F-120 in the Franklin edition.

In other cases, though, poems are significantly distant in their order. For example, F-56 (I’ve got an arrow here) is toward the end of the Johnson edition, numbered J-1729.

IDENTICAL POEMS (or those with very minor differences)

In some cases, poems in both the Johnson and the Franklin editions are exactly the same. For example, poems J-381 and F-643 (A Secret told) are identical in every way. In other cases, differences can be as minor as a single capital letter. For example, with J-435 and F-620 (Much Madness is divinest Sense), the only difference appears in the fifth line of the poem, “In this, as all, prevail.” The Johnson version includes a capital “A” with the word “All,” while the Franklin edition has a lower case “a.”

POEMS WITH INTERESTING DIFFERENCES

Some poems in the two editions have more intriguing differences – more than just a capital letter, an altered spelling, or a shifted punctuation mark. I think one of the more intriguing – but subtle differences – occurs in J-341/F-372 (After great pain, a formal feeling comes). The second stanza of the poem in the Johnson edition reads as follows:

The Feet, mechanical, go round –
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –

Note the slight – or significant? – change in the second and third lines of the second stanza in the Franklin edition:

The Feet, mechanical, go round –
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –

Does the change make any difference?

A similar change in a piece of music would be undeniably significant. Take Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony – what if the third and fourth measures were flipped with the first and second?

POEMS WITH SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES

When comparing Dickinson’s poems in the Johnson and Franklin editions, occasionally poems with the same first line are significantly different. Take F-291 and J-311, “It sifts from Leaden Sieves”:

J-311

It sifts from Leaden Sieves –
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road –

It makes an Even Face
Of Mountain, and of Plain –
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East again –

It reaches to the Fence –
It wraps it Rail by Rail
Till it is lost in Fleeces –
It deals Celestial Vail

To Stump, and Stack – and Stem –
A Summer's empty Room –
Acres of Joints, where Harvests were,
Recordless, but for them –

It Ruffles Wrists of Posts
As Ankles of a Queen –
Then still its Artisans – like Ghosts –
Denying they have been –

F-291:

It sifts from Leaden Sieves –
It powders all the Wood –
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road –

It scatters like the Birds –
Condenses like a Flock –
Like Juggler's Figures situates
Upon a baseless Arc –

It traverses yet halts –
Disperses as it stays –
Then curls itself in Capricorn –
Denying that it was –

More differences coming soon – including poems in Franklin's edition that are NOT in Johnson's "The COMPLETE Poems of Emily Dickinson." Stay tuned!

Lost Time

3/10/2019

From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III:

Happy Daylight Saving Time!

Or maybe not so happy? Losing an hour of sleep tends to make this the grouchiest day of the year for most people!

Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) enjoyed the extra daylight, but he had other ideas on how to handle the change in time.

One of Dickinon's theories that I think is rather ingenious is as follows:

1. Fall back one hour in the fall.
2. Do NOT spring forward one hour in the spring.
3. Instead, on the first weekend in March, fall back twenty-three hours -- and add an extra Saturday.
4. This would make a three-day weekend -- with TWO Saturdays and one Sunday.
5. Eliminate March 31, and then bump the days accordingly on the two-Saturday weekend so that March will still end up with thirty-one days.

With the plan above, March will still have 31 days, we would gain a three-day weekend, and we'd get back on track with shifting the sunlight in the spring and summer.

Dickinson wrote many poems about Daylight Saving Time. One of his DST poems, "One hour has perished here," is below on the left. His poem inspired his third cousin Emily to pen her poem "Sweet hours have perished here," below on the right.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

One hour has perished here,
This is a trimmed off night –
Within its precincts clocks have sprung
Now forward to the light.

By Emily Dickinson:

Sweet hours have perished here,
This is a timid room –
Within it's precincts hopes have played
Now fallow in the tomb.

Below: The Dept. of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Time (NIST) in Washington, DC.

Have you ever wondered how all of the digital devices and appliances in your home advance one hour at 2:00 a.m. on the night Daylight Saving Time begins? Hundreds of certified NIST horologists work through the night at the start of Daylight Saving Time to reset every digital device in the United States.

The Lady Is A Trump?

3/9/2019

From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III:

"Fake Melania" theories arose in 2017 when it seemed that Trump was traveling with a body-double for the First Lady. The suspicion resurfaced this week when Trump traveled to Alabama to see first hand the devastation brought on by destructive tornadoes there. The hashtag #FakeMelania began trending after this photo was published:

The White House was quick to deny that Trump was traveling with a body double.

"The First Lady saw some purple hair coloring at the Walgreen's on 14th Street," said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, "so she insisted that she have her hair done in that color before traveling to Alabama. The woman in the photograph is, in fact, Melania Trump."

Hmm. I'm not so sure.

The entire affair calls to mind Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "A doubt if it be Her" (below on the left). Dickinson's poem inspired his third cousin Emily to pen her poem "A doubt if it be Us" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

A doubt if it be Her
Persists in staggering Minds
In a bizarro Angle
A fake the photo finds.

An Unreality is learned
A possible Mirage
That makes the whole thing possible
While she supports his lies.

By Emily Dickinson:

A doubt if it be Us
Assists the staggering Mind
In an extremer Anguish
Until it footing find.

An Unreality is lent,
A merciful Mirage
That makes the living possible
While it suspends the lives.