On and off since May 15th, the 138th anniversary of Dickinson’s death, I’ve been posting my Top Ten favorites of Dickinson’s poems of death and grief – and today I reach the tenth and final entry.
I haven’t ranked the ten poems in any way, except that I'd have to say that these are really my top two. Oh – I forgot to mention that my “Top Ten” has turned out to be eleven poems in all, because today’s entry is a pair of favorites.
I haven’t ranked the ten poems in any way, except that I'd have to say that these are really my top two. Oh – I forgot to mention that my “Top Ten” has turned out to be eleven poems in all, because today’s entry is a pair of favorites.
| Back in the eighth grade, in English class, my teacher was presenting a unit on poetry, and at the start I remember we studied the lyrics of the Beatles’ songs as poetry. I thought that it was so cool. The Beatles were still a group then, and they had released “Abbey Road” that year. Info about the album is HERE. Then at some point, after studying various of the Beatles’ lyrics, my teacher read these lines of Dickinson to the class: |  |
ecause I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
I remember feeling at the time that the top of my head was taken off – and my body was so cold no fire could warm me.
LOL – I’m paraphrasing Dickinson’s own definition of poetry she gave to Thomas Wentworth Higginson: “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?”
The next poem my teacher shared was “After great pain – a formal feeling comes.” “The hour of Lead” and those final three lines hooked me:
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –
First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –
More on these two poems tomorrow.
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
I remember feeling at the time that the top of my head was taken off – and my body was so cold no fire could warm me.
LOL – I’m paraphrasing Dickinson’s own definition of poetry she gave to Thomas Wentworth Higginson: “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?”
The next poem my teacher shared was “After great pain – a formal feeling comes.” “The hour of Lead” and those final three lines hooked me:
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –
First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –
More on these two poems tomorrow.
TEN = ELEVEN, PART 2:
Yesterday I finished my series of recent posts of my Top Ten favorites of Dickinson’s poems of death and grief, and my tenth and final entry was a “twofer” – two poems for the price of one: “Because I could not stop for Death” and “After great pain – a formal feeling comes.”
Yesterday I finished my series of recent posts of my Top Ten favorites of Dickinson’s poems of death and grief, and my tenth and final entry was a “twofer” – two poems for the price of one: “Because I could not stop for Death” and “After great pain – a formal feeling comes.”
| Not only did those two poems hook me on Dickinson, but they are also the very poems that turned my interest to the study and examination of the poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request. I was hooked on his poetry when I read his now-classic poems, “Because I could not stop for Debt” and “After formal feedings – a great pain comes.” I became such a fan, I established the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op laundromat in Washerst {pronouced WAS-erst}, Pennsylvania), and I created the museum’s website (the very site you are on now). |  |
 |  Alas, the actual museum burned to the ground at the end of 2015, and our fund-raising to rebuild is moving slowly, so all that is left at this point is the website. Info is HERE. |
Okay, so now I’m going to let you in on a secret, a secret that is classified at the highest level of classification of secrets – it is not just “top secret,” but “tip-top top secret” – and you must SWEAR that you will not divulge this tip-top secret to anyone. ANYONE!!! If you agree to keep this tip-top secret a secret, then read on. If, though, you have trouble keeping secrets, and you agree to keep this secret a secret but you DON’T – then I will hunt you down and subject you to an unrelenting span and extraordinarily wide spectrum of annoying behaviors of an angry and disrespectful teenager.
Sooo…if you do NOT accept the vow of complete tip-top-secrecy, then stop reading here. Thx, bye.
If you DO accept the vow of complete tip-top-secrecy, then here is the tip-top-secret:
There is no such person as “Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request.” I made him up! He is a character for the ages, a persona through which I can have fun with my love for Dickinson.
Now PLEASE don’t let me hear that you let this secret out! I’ll be quite upset!
Sooo…if you do NOT accept the vow of complete tip-top-secrecy, then stop reading here. Thx, bye.
If you DO accept the vow of complete tip-top-secrecy, then here is the tip-top-secret:
There is no such person as “Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request.” I made him up! He is a character for the ages, a persona through which I can have fun with my love for Dickinson.
Now PLEASE don’t let me hear that you let this secret out! I’ll be quite upset!
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