Before I move on to anything new, I need to correct some recent misinformation I posted.
I’ve been making posts about Dickinson’s use of “don’t” and “doesn’t” in her poems – particularly the purposeful irregular uses of “don’t” – and I ran searches on the online Dickinson archive for “don’t” and “doesn’t,” and the info stated that Dickinson had used “don’t” in eight poems and “doesn’t” in three.
Therefore, the correct number of poems which include the contraction “don’t” & “dont” is 23 (and not 8); and the correct number of poems which include “doesn’t” and “does’nt” is 12 (and not 3).
I haven’t had time to peruse all of these poems, but suffice it to say that in some, she used the contractions correctly, and in others, she did not – and in each case, her choice was purposeful.
When it comes to exploring the works of Dickinson, I’ve learned that “this work is not conclusion” – and that brings me back to the poem I was going to my original plan for today, Dickinson’s poem, “This world is not conclusion,” another of my favorite poems about death and grief. I love the image of the first four lines: This World is not Conclusion / A Species stands beyond / Invisible, as Music / But positive, as Sound.
As far as her irregular use of “don’t” in line 6, I wrote about that yesterday HERE.
Now, before I move to the next poem in my inventory of poems about death and grief, let me share two articles about the use of “don’t” – “the usual contraction of “does not” for more than two centuries.”
The first, “When Dickens don’t use ‘doesn’t,’” is HERE. The second, “Was ‘it don’t’ once good English?” is HERE.
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