In December 1861 Emily Dickinson sent two letters to two different individuals on the same day, one to Reverend Edward S. Dwight and the other to an “unidentified” other – possibly a romantic interest? However, in January 1862, she discovered that she had mixed the letters up. The one intended for the unidentified other was sent to Reverend Dwight; the letter for Dwight was sent to the other.
“Dear friend,” wrote Dickinson to Dwight in January 1862 – when she realized her error – “I made the mistake - and was just about to recall the note - misenveloped to you - and your's - to the other friend.”
I discussed this yesterday (HERE), and concluded with, “Hmm…I wonder who the unidentified friend was – and which poem she had enclosed?”
I explored this a bit, and started with the online archive of Dickinson’s letters. I thought I’d check letters from December 1861 to see if I could figure this out. The archive had a link to “Correspondence with Unknown Recipients,” so that’s where I started – and lo and behold, there was one letter dated as “about 1861.” That turned out to be one of Dickinson’s three “Master Letters” found in her room after her death, letters addressed to “Master” but never mailed, so that turned out to be a dead end.
On another site, though, I found info that suggested the mystery recipient for the other “misenveloped” letter was Charles Wadsworth, a prominent Philadelphia Presbyterian minister and a deeply admired friend and spiritual confidant to Emily Dickinson – and a possible romantic interest? Wadsworth, though, was married and had three children; while some speculate that Wadsworth was a primary romantic figure in Dickinson’s life, others view him as a cherished, distant friend and intellectual soulmate.
I returned to the online archive and checked letters to Wadsworth. Just one was there, listed as “undated.” Interestingly, though, Dickinson scholar Thomas Johnson wrote that the letter “is unsigned and without date, but is in the handwriting of the Reverend Charles Wadsworth, with an embossed crest ‘C W.’ …The solicitous pastoral letter is placed here (in his volume of Dickinson’s letters) because it thus follows the last of the ‘Master’ letters, and because the present assumption is that ED thought of Wadsworth as ‘Master.’ Actually the letter may have been written at a quite different time.”
As Arte Johnson of “Laugh-In” used to say, “Verrrrrry interesting.”
Here’s a recap:
* In September 1861, Dickinson learned that Rev. Dwight’s wife had died. She sent flowers and this short note:
September 1861
Will little Ned lay these on Mama's pillow?
Softly - not to wake her!
Emily.
* About that note, Johnson wrote these comments:
“The Reverend Edward S. Dwight resigned his pastorate in the First Church at Amherst during August 1860, because of his wife's illness. She died 11 September 1861, Gorham, Maine. This note (from Dickinson seems to have accompanied flowers sent at the time of her funeral. Edward (Ned) Huntington Dwight was five years old.”
* In December 1861, she wrote to Dwight again. The letter opens with this:
“We thought for sorrow - perhaps you had rather no one talk -”
The complete letter is HERE.
Could this be the letter she “misenveloped” and (possibly) sent to Wadsworth? It is dated December 1861 – but there could have been others too that no longer exist.
* The undated letter to Dickinson from Wadsworth begins with this:
“My Dear Miss Dickenson
I am distressed beyond measure at your note, received this moment, - I can only imagine the affliction which has befallen, or is now befalling you.”
Could this be a response to the “misenveloped” letter he received – the one intended for Rev. Dwight following the loss of his wife? The complete letter is HERE.
What do you think?
“Dear friend,” wrote Dickinson to Dwight in January 1862 – when she realized her error – “I made the mistake - and was just about to recall the note - misenveloped to you - and your's - to the other friend.”
I discussed this yesterday (HERE), and concluded with, “Hmm…I wonder who the unidentified friend was – and which poem she had enclosed?”
I explored this a bit, and started with the online archive of Dickinson’s letters. I thought I’d check letters from December 1861 to see if I could figure this out. The archive had a link to “Correspondence with Unknown Recipients,” so that’s where I started – and lo and behold, there was one letter dated as “about 1861.” That turned out to be one of Dickinson’s three “Master Letters” found in her room after her death, letters addressed to “Master” but never mailed, so that turned out to be a dead end.
On another site, though, I found info that suggested the mystery recipient for the other “misenveloped” letter was Charles Wadsworth, a prominent Philadelphia Presbyterian minister and a deeply admired friend and spiritual confidant to Emily Dickinson – and a possible romantic interest? Wadsworth, though, was married and had three children; while some speculate that Wadsworth was a primary romantic figure in Dickinson’s life, others view him as a cherished, distant friend and intellectual soulmate.
I returned to the online archive and checked letters to Wadsworth. Just one was there, listed as “undated.” Interestingly, though, Dickinson scholar Thomas Johnson wrote that the letter “is unsigned and without date, but is in the handwriting of the Reverend Charles Wadsworth, with an embossed crest ‘C W.’ …The solicitous pastoral letter is placed here (in his volume of Dickinson’s letters) because it thus follows the last of the ‘Master’ letters, and because the present assumption is that ED thought of Wadsworth as ‘Master.’ Actually the letter may have been written at a quite different time.”
As Arte Johnson of “Laugh-In” used to say, “Verrrrrry interesting.”
Here’s a recap:
* In September 1861, Dickinson learned that Rev. Dwight’s wife had died. She sent flowers and this short note:
September 1861
Will little Ned lay these on Mama's pillow?
Softly - not to wake her!
Emily.
* About that note, Johnson wrote these comments:
“The Reverend Edward S. Dwight resigned his pastorate in the First Church at Amherst during August 1860, because of his wife's illness. She died 11 September 1861, Gorham, Maine. This note (from Dickinson seems to have accompanied flowers sent at the time of her funeral. Edward (Ned) Huntington Dwight was five years old.”
* In December 1861, she wrote to Dwight again. The letter opens with this:
“We thought for sorrow - perhaps you had rather no one talk -”
The complete letter is HERE.
Could this be the letter she “misenveloped” and (possibly) sent to Wadsworth? It is dated December 1861 – but there could have been others too that no longer exist.
* The undated letter to Dickinson from Wadsworth begins with this:
“My Dear Miss Dickenson
I am distressed beyond measure at your note, received this moment, - I can only imagine the affliction which has befallen, or is now befalling you.”
Could this be a response to the “misenveloped” letter he received – the one intended for Rev. Dwight following the loss of his wife? The complete letter is HERE.
What do you think?
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