My recent posts have been about pleasant sounding and not-so-pleasant sounding words. Yesterday’s communique focused on “cellar door,” a locution some believe to be the most euphonious in the English language.
As a result of that post, I decided to explore Emily Dickinson’s use of the phrase to find out if “cellar door” ever appeared in any of her poems.
Well, she did use the word “cellar,” and she did use the word “door,” but she never used the two together, “cellar door.” Nor was the word “cellar” used in any of the poems which use “door.”
Here’s the scoop:
When I typed “cellar” into the search field of the online Dickinson archive, thirteen results popped up representing four poems: “It’s hour with itself,” “Remembrance has a rear and front,” “Under the light yet under,” and “Like brooms of steel.”
Like Brooms of Steel
The Snow and Wind
Had swept the Winter Street -
The House was hooked
The Sun sent out
Faint Deputies of Heat -
Where rode the Bird
The Silence tied
His ample - plodding Steed
The Apple in the Cellar snug
Was all the one that played.
When I searched the word “door,” 195 entries turned up, and they represent 76 poems; however, the number of published poems with “door” is actually 75. There is one unpublished version of “Safe in their alabaster chambers” which Dickinson sent to her sister-in-law Susan that includes the word “door”; however, that version of the poem is not included in the major editions of the poet’s works.
Here’s the story:
Dickinson wrote “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” in 1859, and it was eventually published in the Springfield Republican (most likely having been submitted by Susan Dickinson).
As a result of that post, I decided to explore Emily Dickinson’s use of the phrase to find out if “cellar door” ever appeared in any of her poems.
Well, she did use the word “cellar,” and she did use the word “door,” but she never used the two together, “cellar door.” Nor was the word “cellar” used in any of the poems which use “door.”
Here’s the scoop:
When I typed “cellar” into the search field of the online Dickinson archive, thirteen results popped up representing four poems: “It’s hour with itself,” “Remembrance has a rear and front,” “Under the light yet under,” and “Like brooms of steel.”
Like Brooms of Steel
The Snow and Wind
Had swept the Winter Street -
The House was hooked
The Sun sent out
Faint Deputies of Heat -
Where rode the Bird
The Silence tied
His ample - plodding Steed
The Apple in the Cellar snug
Was all the one that played.
When I searched the word “door,” 195 entries turned up, and they represent 76 poems; however, the number of published poems with “door” is actually 75. There is one unpublished version of “Safe in their alabaster chambers” which Dickinson sent to her sister-in-law Susan that includes the word “door”; however, that version of the poem is not included in the major editions of the poet’s works.
Here’s the story:
Dickinson wrote “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” in 1859, and it was eventually published in the Springfield Republican (most likely having been submitted by Susan Dickinson).
 | However, in the autumn of 1861, Dickinson revised the second stanza of the poem and sent a copy to her sister-in-law, Susan: Safe in their Alabaster Chambers - Untouched by Morning - and untouched by noon - Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection, Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone - Grand go the Years - in the Crescent - above them - Worlds scoop their Arcs - And Firmaments - row - Diadems - drop - and Doges - surrender - Soundless as Dots - on a Disk of snow - |
Susan responded, “I am not suited dear Emily with the second verse – It is remarkable as the chain lightening (sic) that blinds us hot nights in the Southern sky but it does not go with the ghostly shimmer of the first verse as well as the other one.” She thought that the first stanza might be better suited as a stand alone poem.
Emily revised the second stanza again with this:
Springs - shake the Sills -
But - the Echoes - stiffen -
Hoar - is the Window - and numb - the Door -
Tribes of Eclipse - in Tents of Marble -
Staples of Ages - have buckled - there -
Dickinson sent this altered version to Susan and asked, “Is this frostier?”
Several months later, in April 1862, Dickinson enclosed four poems in her first letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson (the letter which begins, “Are you too deeply occupied, to say if my Verse is alive?”). “Safe in their alabaster chambers” was one of the four poems– but not the version with the word “door.”
She sent Higginson the second version of the poem but with a new line arrangement.
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -
Untouched by Morning -
And untouched by Noon -
Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection,
Rafter of Satin - and Roof of Stone -
Grand go the Years,
In the Crescent above them -
Worlds scoop their Arcs -
And Firmaments - row -
Diadems - drop
And Doges - surrender -
Soundless as Dots,
On a Disc of Snow.
Emily revised the second stanza again with this:
Springs - shake the Sills -
But - the Echoes - stiffen -
Hoar - is the Window - and numb - the Door -
Tribes of Eclipse - in Tents of Marble -
Staples of Ages - have buckled - there -
Dickinson sent this altered version to Susan and asked, “Is this frostier?”
Several months later, in April 1862, Dickinson enclosed four poems in her first letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson (the letter which begins, “Are you too deeply occupied, to say if my Verse is alive?”). “Safe in their alabaster chambers” was one of the four poems– but not the version with the word “door.”
She sent Higginson the second version of the poem but with a new line arrangement.
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -
Untouched by Morning -
And untouched by Noon -
Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection,
Rafter of Satin - and Roof of Stone -
Grand go the Years,
In the Crescent above them -
Worlds scoop their Arcs -
And Firmaments - row -
Diadems - drop
And Doges - surrender -
Soundless as Dots,
On a Disc of Snow.
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