Last Wednesday evening I participated in the first of five monthly Zoom discussions about Dickinson’s poetry sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum. If you scroll back to my #DickinsonDaily post for 2/21 you’ll see the write-up about the session and the poems we discussed – and one poem was what is classified as a “letter poem” (i.e., a letter in the form of a poem) written to her sister-in-law Susan.
This letter is included in the book “Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson’s Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson,” edited by Ellen Louise Hart and Martha Nell Smith.
The letter-poem in Dickinson's handwriting can be viewed by clicking HERE.
Interestingly, the second half of the letter is published alone as a stand-alone poem in Franklin’s edition of Dickinson’s “Complete Poems” (it’s not in the Johnson edition at all) – I’m not sure why the entire poem wasn’t published as a singular poem.
This letter is included in the book “Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson’s Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson,” edited by Ellen Louise Hart and Martha Nell Smith.
The letter-poem in Dickinson's handwriting can be viewed by clicking HERE.
Interestingly, the second half of the letter is published alone as a stand-alone poem in Franklin’s edition of Dickinson’s “Complete Poems” (it’s not in the Johnson edition at all) – I’m not sure why the entire poem wasn’t published as a singular poem.
Most of the discussion last Wednesday centered on Dickinson’s representation of time vs. temporality (one’s sense of passing time). For example, time almost stands still (“This is the hour of lead”) in “After great pain, a formal feeling comes; however, in “Consulting Summer’s clock,” time flies (“The second half of joy / Is shorter than the first”).
We discussed the sensation of time in this particular letter-poem, and one interesting take was on the opening lines of the poem: “Morning might come by Accident - Sister - Night comes by Event - “ and that was followed by a discussion of the next image: “To believe the final line of the Card would foreclose Faith - Faith is Doubt.”
What do you make of that opening statement: “Morning might come by Accident” and “Night comes by Event”?
What comes to mind concerning “the Card” (i.e., what type of card?) – where “the final line” would foreclose Faith?
More on this tomorrow.
PART 2 is HERE.
We discussed the sensation of time in this particular letter-poem, and one interesting take was on the opening lines of the poem: “Morning might come by Accident - Sister - Night comes by Event - “ and that was followed by a discussion of the next image: “To believe the final line of the Card would foreclose Faith - Faith is Doubt.”
What do you make of that opening statement: “Morning might come by Accident” and “Night comes by Event”?
What comes to mind concerning “the Card” (i.e., what type of card?) – where “the final line” would foreclose Faith?
More on this tomorrow.
PART 2 is HERE.
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