NOTE: UPDATED ON 1/31. SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE ADDED INFORMATION.
Emily Dickinson died in 1886. Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson published the first posthumous collection of her poetry in 1890. As the two wrote back and forth to discuss the publication of a second series of poems in 1891, Todd said this to Higginson:
“If ‘The flower must not blame the bee’ seems too enigmatical, let us leave it out – there is a sufficient number certainly, although Mr. Niles said he did not in the least object to a larger number than the first volume showed, since the public certainly wants them.”
Todd’s letter, sent from Amherst, MA, is dated July 18, 1891. Interestingly, a letter to Todd from Higginson, in Dublin, New Hampshire, was dispatched on the exact same date – July 18, 1891. In his letter, Higginson said this to Todd:
“I demur about ‘The flower must not blame the bee,’ for though the first verse is exquisite, yet the footman from Vevay is so perplexing. She has associated bees and Vevay elsewhere, but here a bee is not a foot man & it is the bee who is repelled. What do you make of it.”
He closed the letter with “So far, so good. More anon. T. W. H.”
The poem at the center of the discussion is this:
The Flower must not blame the Bee –
That seeketh his felicity
Too often at her door –
But teach the Footman from Vevay –
Mistress is “not at home” – to say –
To people – any more!
Emily Dickinson died in 1886. Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson published the first posthumous collection of her poetry in 1890. As the two wrote back and forth to discuss the publication of a second series of poems in 1891, Todd said this to Higginson:
“If ‘The flower must not blame the bee’ seems too enigmatical, let us leave it out – there is a sufficient number certainly, although Mr. Niles said he did not in the least object to a larger number than the first volume showed, since the public certainly wants them.”
Todd’s letter, sent from Amherst, MA, is dated July 18, 1891. Interestingly, a letter to Todd from Higginson, in Dublin, New Hampshire, was dispatched on the exact same date – July 18, 1891. In his letter, Higginson said this to Todd:
“I demur about ‘The flower must not blame the bee,’ for though the first verse is exquisite, yet the footman from Vevay is so perplexing. She has associated bees and Vevay elsewhere, but here a bee is not a foot man & it is the bee who is repelled. What do you make of it.”
He closed the letter with “So far, so good. More anon. T. W. H.”
The poem at the center of the discussion is this:
The Flower must not blame the Bee –
That seeketh his felicity
Too often at her door –
But teach the Footman from Vevay –
Mistress is “not at home” – to say –
To people – any more!
So what do you think? Did the poem make it into the second series or not? I’ll leave you to wonder, and I’ll divulge the answer tomorrow.
Oh – and for those wondering, “What is ‘Vevay’?” – here is what is noted on the online Dickinson lexicon: “City in Switzerland; a luxurious European resort; [fig.] the vibrant fields of summer flora and fauna.”
Oh – and for those wondering, “What is ‘Vevay’?” – here is what is noted on the online Dickinson lexicon: “City in Switzerland; a luxurious European resort; [fig.] the vibrant fields of summer flora and fauna.”
UPDATE ADDED ON 1/31/26:
In preparing for the publication of the second series of poems by Emily Dickinson, editors Mabel Loomis Todd (in Massachusetts) and Thomas Wentworth Higginson (in New Hampshire) wrote letters back and forth to discuss which poems to include. Interestingly, both sent letters to one another dated July 18, 1891, and both asked about the same poem, “The Flower must not blame the Bee.”
Todd said to Higginson: “If ‘The flower must not blame the bee’ seems too enigmatical, let us leave it out….”
Higginson wrote to Todd: “I demur about ‘The flower must not blame the bee,’ for though the first verse is exquisite, yet the footman from Vevay is so perplexing.”
So…did the poem make it into the second series or not?
Nope, Todd and Higginson did not include it. As a matter of fact, they did not print it in the 1896 third series either.
Turns out, Todd and Higginson never published the poem. Instead, the poem first appeared in the 1935 edition of Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Dickinson’s niece Martha Dickinson Bianchi and her co-editor Alfred Leete Hampson (and just FYI, following the death of Martha Dickinson Bianchi in 1943, Hampson and his wife, Mary Landis Hampson, inherited the Evergreens, the home of Bianchi’s parents, Austin and Susan Dickinson).
In preparing for the publication of the second series of poems by Emily Dickinson, editors Mabel Loomis Todd (in Massachusetts) and Thomas Wentworth Higginson (in New Hampshire) wrote letters back and forth to discuss which poems to include. Interestingly, both sent letters to one another dated July 18, 1891, and both asked about the same poem, “The Flower must not blame the Bee.”
Todd said to Higginson: “If ‘The flower must not blame the bee’ seems too enigmatical, let us leave it out….”
Higginson wrote to Todd: “I demur about ‘The flower must not blame the bee,’ for though the first verse is exquisite, yet the footman from Vevay is so perplexing.”
So…did the poem make it into the second series or not?
Nope, Todd and Higginson did not include it. As a matter of fact, they did not print it in the 1896 third series either.
Turns out, Todd and Higginson never published the poem. Instead, the poem first appeared in the 1935 edition of Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Dickinson’s niece Martha Dickinson Bianchi and her co-editor Alfred Leete Hampson (and just FYI, following the death of Martha Dickinson Bianchi in 1943, Hampson and his wife, Mary Landis Hampson, inherited the Evergreens, the home of Bianchi’s parents, Austin and Susan Dickinson).
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While I was exploring this poem, I came across these lines from Kahlil Gibran’s “On Pleasure," (HERE):”
In life, Gibran recommends, “be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.” And to all you Flowers out there – be sure to forgo the need for a footman! LOL.
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