Oh, What A Tangled Web! Part 1

Did you know that E. B. White’s classic children’s book Charlotte’s Web was based on the lives of Emily Dickinson and Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request).  No one knows for sure why White characterized Emily as a spider (although it’s probably related to her role in the “family business” connected to the “publish or perish” wars in Amherst, MA, and beyond – information is HERE), though no one was surprised that Emmett Lee was represented as a pig (Dickinson was known in his hometown as “the boor of Washerst”).

One fundamental theme of the book, though, is that everything that is written on the web (i.e., the world-wide web)  – which was first imagined by Emmett Lee Dickinson – is true.

The accuracy and reliability of information on the Internet was in the news again, recently, when Donald Trump trumpeted “All I know is what’s on the Internet,” in response to questions by Chuck Todd on Meet the Press (HERE).

In his youth, Trump attended the Emmett Lee School for Boys in Queens, NY (pictured at the right). At the age of 13 he was asked to leave the school due to behavior problems (he was then enrolled in the New York Military Academy for Ruffians, Jackanapes, and Spoiled Brats); however, while at the ELDSBQ, Trump developed an admiration for the poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson.  He has said in the past that one of his favorite Dickinson poems is ‘The Only News I know” (below on the left), one of the first poems where Dickinson prophesied the coming of the world-wide web.  His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem with the same first line (below on the right).

Above:  The Emmett Lee School for Boys in Queens, NY (ELDSBQ)

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
The Only News I know
Is Bulletins all Day
From the Internet.
 
The Only Shows I see –
Tomorrow and Today –
Are those that feature Me –
 
The Only Friend I have
Is Me – on Easy Street –
Existence – I’ve endorsed
 
If Other News there be –
Or Admirable Show –
I’ll tell it You –

By Emily Dickinson:
 
The Only News I know
Is Bulletins all Day
From Immortality.

The Only Shows I see –
Tomorrow and Today –
Perchance Eternity –

The Only One I meet
Is God – The Only Street –
Existence – This traversed

If Other News there be –
Or Admirable Show –
I'll tell it You –

Of course, if it is one thing anyone can count on these days it is that everything on the Internet is true – especially when it comes to our site, TheDickinson.net, dedicated to the life and work of Emmett Lee Dickinson.  Our site is a model for truth and accuracy on the Internet, and we have even received the Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence by the President’s Commission for Internet Veracity and Online Quality (information is HERE).

Is everything on our site true?  Yes.  Rest assured that it is.