In a letter from Emily Dickinson to Mrs. J. G. Holland in May 1866, Emily wrote, "Friday I tasted life. It was a vast morsel. A circus passed the house - still I feel the red in my mind though the drums are out." The complete letter is HERE.
How cool is that? To have a circus parade by just outside your bedroom window!
How cool is that? To have a circus parade by just outside your bedroom window!
 | Dickinson's niece Martha Dickinson Bianchi wrote about the incident in her 1936 book "The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson." See below -- and also click HERE.  I did not see a circus parade this summer; however I did stumble upon two vacant carnivals -- and I too was thrilled by their wild vagrancy and pathos (though there were no signs of "utter sophistication"). |
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Above left, center and right: An abandoned carnival in Kilmarnock, Virginia. Below left, center and right: An abandoned carnival in Wachapreague on Virginia's Eastern Shore (part of the DelMarVa Peninsula).
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Below: A slide show with additional pictures from both abandoned carnivals. NOTE: Slide shows don't always work on Android devices, so the pics are best viewed on a laptop, iPad or iPhone.
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