Of all the months, Dickinson mentioned “June” in more of her poems than any other – it appears in 21 different poems.
“June” appears in “They dropped like Flakes,” perhaps her most famous poem about the Civil War, and as I looked at it last night, I realized that the first stanza has five lines, and the second has four. I’d never really noticed that before (or at least, I’d never paid attention to it).
“June” appears in “They dropped like Flakes,” perhaps her most famous poem about the Civil War, and as I looked at it last night, I realized that the first stanza has five lines, and the second has four. I’d never really noticed that before (or at least, I’d never paid attention to it).
 | In reality, though, when it comes to syllables in the poem, the first stanza is really four lines, with the first line split into two – probably to call more distinct attention to the first two images: They dropped like Flakes They dropped like Stars |
| When I was exploring info on this poem, I came across an article (HERE) that mentioned that very aspect of the poem: “Cristanne Miller points out that the poem’s structure is the ballad measure’s four-line stanza with 8686 syllables and with the first line split, metrically, a technique Dickinson uses in other poems.” This poem was written in 1863, and it appears in Dickinson’s Fascicle 28. Was it about Gettysburg, which occurred July 1-3, 1863? |  |
I suppose it is possible – although Dickinson does cite “June” and not “July” in the poem – but that could also be due to the fact that a stressed, single syllable word is called for in line 4 of the poem.
Also, I don’t know exactly when Dickinson finished Fascicle 28 and began work on Fascicle 29. Info I found gives the date for Fascicle 28 as “Spring 1863,” and “second half of 1863” for Fascicle 29.
One other odd bit of info from the article I linked: At one point it states, “They dropped like Flakes” was “First published in Further Poems edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leete Hampson in 1929.” However, just two lines later, the article states, “Dickinson’s first editors, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, recognized its subject and included it in the first collection of Dickinson’s poems published in 1890 under the title ‘The Battle-Field.’”
Also, I don’t know exactly when Dickinson finished Fascicle 28 and began work on Fascicle 29. Info I found gives the date for Fascicle 28 as “Spring 1863,” and “second half of 1863” for Fascicle 29.
One other odd bit of info from the article I linked: At one point it states, “They dropped like Flakes” was “First published in Further Poems edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leete Hampson in 1929.” However, just two lines later, the article states, “Dickinson’s first editors, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, recognized its subject and included it in the first collection of Dickinson’s poems published in 1890 under the title ‘The Battle-Field.’”
 |  | I found an online copy of the 1890 edition (HERE), and I did not see it there. I found an online copy of “Further Poems” from 1929 (HERE) (NOTE: I had to register with the site to view the complete book), and the poem was not there either (as shown by the index of first lines at the left). Am I reading all of this wrong? What am I missing? SEE AN IMPORTANT UPDATE TO THIS POST, HERE. |
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