Yesterday was the 138th anniversary of the death of Emily Dickinson so I thought in the coming days I would post some of my favorites of her poems about death. I haven’t actually ranked them – they’re just ten of my favorites.
| Today: “Back from the cordial Grave I drag thee,” a short and shadowy poem that more than hints at necromania Oddly enough, this poem does not seem all that far-fetched for the Victorian era. For example, an entry from Ralph Waldo Emerson's diary dated a year and two months after his first wife's death indicates that he dug up her grave to embrace her once again. |  |
Check this out:
“On March 29, 1832, Ralph Waldo Emerson visited the tomb of his wife, Ellen, and opened her coffin. He’d been in the habit of walking from his home in Boston to her gravesite in Roxbury, a distance of almost five miles, every day, and had also been writing to her in his journals as if she were still alive. “
The full article is HERE.
Also, below is the front and back of a small scrap of paper on which Dickinson wrote her poem. Yikes – check out that handwriting! Could you decipher what Dickinson wrote? Also, it appears that Dickinson considered some other line – but oddly, the unused (& crossed out lines) seem to occur right in the middle of “put his spacious arm” and “around thee.”
“On March 29, 1832, Ralph Waldo Emerson visited the tomb of his wife, Ellen, and opened her coffin. He’d been in the habit of walking from his home in Boston to her gravesite in Roxbury, a distance of almost five miles, every day, and had also been writing to her in his journals as if she were still alive. “
The full article is HERE.
Also, below is the front and back of a small scrap of paper on which Dickinson wrote her poem. Yikes – check out that handwriting! Could you decipher what Dickinson wrote? Also, it appears that Dickinson considered some other line – but oddly, the unused (& crossed out lines) seem to occur right in the middle of “put his spacious arm” and “around thee.”
I would have thought she would have finished that line first before moving on to another line which –– due to her handwriting looks something like “the mower is luning he repthe.” LOL – obviously, I can’t make out what is actually written. Hmm...maybe it says, "The moment is turning the septhe"???
Anyway, maybe THAT line – the one I can’t make out – was already on that piece of paper, and then Dickinson crossed it out when she got the idea for the new, four-line poem?
Thoughts?
Anyway, maybe THAT line – the one I can’t make out – was already on that piece of paper, and then Dickinson crossed it out when she got the idea for the new, four-line poem?
Thoughts?
Is this poem a "Dickinson Riddle"? To find out, click HERE.
TO READ PART 2 OF AH! NECROMANCY SWEET! CLICK HERE.
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