Category: Emily Dickinson - The Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum

Field of Study

7/18/2020

By Emily Dickinson:

The Bird did prance – the Bee did play –
The Sun ran miles away
So blind with joy he could not choose
Between his Holiday

The morn was up – the meadows out
The Fences all but ran,
Republic of Delight, I thought
Where each is Citizen –

From Heavy laden Lands to thee
Were seas to cross to come
A Caspian were crowded –
Too near thou art for Fame –

Yikes! It was in the high 90s today, so we visited Shenandoah National Park for part of the afternoon where it was a good 10-degrees cooler on Skyline Drive.

Pics below are from a meadow on Bear Den Mountain -- and yes, the birds did prance and the bees did play.

Below left: Entrance to the meadow on Bear Den Mountain -- through a "kissing gate."

Social Outcast

3/22/2020

From Jarvis MacKinnon III:

Historians state that Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) conceived of the idea of social distancing during an outbreak of yellow fever in 1878. Others disagree. They claim that Emily Dickinson, the queen of social distancing, originated the idea much earlier when she took out a restraining order against her third cousin (one thing that all historians do agree on is that the relationship between Emily Dickinson and Emmett Lee Dickinson was quite volatile).

Below: A sliver of a painting of Emily Dickinson by Alaskan Raven Studio. You can see and read about the entire painting (and even purchase a print), HERE.

Of course, it may very well be true that Emily Dickinson invented social distancing because shortly after she obtained a restraining order in 1853, Emmett Lee Dickinson wrote his poem "That Distance that's between Us" (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem, "That Distance was between Us" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

That Distance that’s between Us
That should be Six Feet or Ten –
The Space it is that situates –
Well-being – always then –

By Emily Dickinson:

That Distance was between Us
That is not of Mile or Main –
The Will it is that situates –
Equator – never can –

A Something in a Winter's Night

12/22/2019

From Jim Asher, the world's leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request):

On December 9th I attended "a something in a winter's night" -- okay, in a late autumn's night -- a celebration of Emily Dickinson's 189th birthday at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Billed as an "Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute," the program included the presentation of the Emily Dickinson Museum's "Tell it Slant" award to one of the evening's speakers, artist Lesley Dill. Tom Sleigh also read some of his and Emily Dickinson's poetry.

Below left and right: Prior to the event, I celebrated with the traditional drink to celebrate Dickinson's birthday, a Margarita on the rocks with salt, and with Emily Dickinson's favorite meal -- chicken enchiladas.

Below left: Emily Dickinson. The tribute on December 9th (her actual birthday is December 10th) was for her 189th birthday -- though I have to admit, she doesn't look a day over 188. Below center: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. Below right: The library is in the shadow of the US Capitol.

Below left: The program for the program. Below center and right: Following the birthday tribute, there was a reception with Emily Dickinson's "black cake" paired with some delicious Trimbach white wine.

Below left: Artist Lesley Dill Below center: Just a few examples of Dill's art inspired by the words of Emily Dickinson Below right: Poet Tom Sleigh

Dill opened the program by showing some highlights from her opera "Divide Light" (shown below), an operatic choral reading with shape note singing of selected poems by Dickinson. The title is taken from the second line of Dickinson's poem "Banish Air from Air" (at the right).

Banish Air from Air -
Divide Light if you dare -
They'll meet
While Cubes in a Drop
Or Pellets of Shape
Fit -
Films cannot annul
Odors return whole
Force Flame
And with a Blonde push
Over your impotence
Flits Steam.

Dill then posed the question, "How did I come to use language and text in my artwork?"

How ruthless are the gentle –
How cruel are the kind –
God broke his contract to his Lamb
To qualify the Wind –

"Meaning was already in me -- and then my mother gave me an unwieldy (I think that was the word Dill used) book of poetry."

She confessed that she wasn't much into poetry, but she did glance at the book -- and then she began reading it. Then she began devouring it.

"Prior to Dickinson, I already had a rebellious mind, but I wasn't aware of the impact these poems would have on me. These words had wings, and I felt the words like...like a blue light."

She then recited "How ruthless are the gentle (at the left).

"The words (of Dickinson) went in and came out willy-nilly for me. It was magical."

One example she gave, "White had always been cold for me -- but now -- heat?" She quoted from "Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?" (at the right).

"I held an ocean of images in response to the words," said Dill.

"We hold so many words -- inside us -- the words that actually reach the air are few compared to those inside."

She then confessed, "I am a word thief. Words don't come to me like images do -- but the words make want to move ideas out of my mind."

Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?
Then crouch within the door –
Red – is the Fire's common tint –
But when the vivid Ore

Has vanquished Flame's conditions,
It quivers from the Forge
Without a color, but the light
Of unanointed Blaze.

Least Village has its Blacksmith
Whose Anvil's even ring
Stands symbol for the finer Forge
That soundless tugs – within –

Refining these impatient Ores
With Hammer, and with Blaze
Until the Designated Light
Repudiate the Forge –

Your thoughts don’t have words every day
They come a single time
Like signal esoteric sips
Of the communion Wine
Which while you taste so native seems
So easy so to be
You cannot comprehend its price
Nor its infrequency

Dill compared her exploration and discovery of words to the wilderness:

"Wilderness: Words are Where What I catch is me -- what makes me a poet. The wilderness out there -- and inside."

Click the image below for information on this past show at the Nohra Haime Gallery.

Poet Tom Sleigh followed Dill, and he alternated readings of his own poetry with poems by Emily Dickinson. He began with Dickinson's "I cannot live with you" (at the right) -- "my favorite," said Sleigh.

Following the poem, he paused -- and then whispered, "Not too shabby."

Other Dickinson poems he read included, "These Strangers, in a foreign World," "My Triumph lasted till the Drums," and "There is no Frigate like a book."

In between the readings of Dickinson, Sleigh read some of his own poems, each with simple stories -- but deep encounters -- with particular and precise words. One was about the life of a refugee (right after Dickinson's "These Strangers, in a foreign World), and one -- "a personal poem," he said -- on how soldiers deal with war.

Sleigh also told stories form is youth to explain the source of his love of language. For a time, his parents ran a drive-in movie theater, and he'd be there on nights when no babysitter was available.

"I'd listen to the opening strains of the movie music," he said, "and then the voices -- interwoven with dreams -- because I'd fall asleep to this -- and I believe it gave me a heightened sense of language."

Dill responded, "How interesting -- words floating on the air and into you."

I cannot live with You –
It would be Life –
And Life is over there –
Behind the Shelf

The Sexton keeps the Key to –
Putting up
Our Life – His Porcelain –
Like a Cup –

Discarded of the Housewife –
Quaint – or Broke –
A newer Sevres pleases –
Old Ones crack –

I could not die – with You –
For One must wait
To shut the Other's Gaze down –
You – could not –

And I – Could I stand by
And see You – freeze –
Without my Right of Frost –
Death's privilege?

Nor could I rise – with You –
Because Your Face
Would put out Jesus' –
That New Grace

Glow plain – and foreign
On my homesick Eye –
Except that You than He
Shone closer by –

They'd judge Us – How –
For You – served Heaven – You know,
Or sought to –
I could not –

Because You saturated Sight –
And I had no more Eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise

And were You lost, I would be –
Though My Name
Rang loudest
On the Heavenly fame –

And were You – saved –
And I – condemned to be
Where You were not –
That self – were Hell to Me –

So We must meet apart –
You there – I – here –
With just the Door ajar
That Oceans are – and Prayer –
And that White Sustenance –
Despair –

Following both speakers, Jane Wald, the Director of the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA, presented Lesley DIll with the Museum's "Tell It Slant" award.

Below right: Following the program, I snapped a selfie with the Dickinson Museum's Director Jane Wald!

Tell all the truth but tell it slant –
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind –

Dinner Belle

7/27/2019

From our art columnist, Jarvis MacKinnon III:

Members of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts visited New York City last weekend -- the travelogue from our trip is HERE -- and on one of the days, we visited the Brooklyn Museum.

The main draw to see the museum was a painting by Edward Hopper ("Macomb's Da Bridge"). Hopper was a lover of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request), and he said the life and poetry of Dickinson was his greatest inspiration as a painter.

However, when we arrived at the museum we were also thrilled to learn that it is the permanent home of Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party."

What is "The Dinner Party"?

Here is information from the Brooklyn Museum's site: "The Dinner Party, an important icon of 1970s feminist art and a milestone in twentieth-century art, is presented as the centerpiece around which the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art is organized. The Dinner Party comprises a massive ceremonial banquet, arranged on a triangular table with a total of thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history."

More information is HERE.

Of course, we were thrilled to find a place setting for the Belle of Amherst, Emily Dickinson, at "The Dinner Party." We were a little surprised, though, that a prominent color at her seat was pink -- but hey, we were happy that she was included in the guest (and rightly so).

Who else is at the table? Below is a complete list:

Wing I: From Prehistory to the Roman Empire
1. Primordial Goddess
2. Fertile Goddess
3. Ishtar
4. Kali
5. Snake Goddess
6. Sophia
7. Amazon
8. Hatshepsut
9. Judith
10. Sappho
11. Aspasia
12. Boadicea
13. Hypatia

Wing II: From the Beginnings of Christianity to the Reformation
14. Marcella
15. Saint Bridget
16. Theodora
17. Hrosvitha
18. Trota of Salerno
19. Eleanor of Aquitaine
20. Hildegarde of Bingen
21. Petronilla de Meath
22. Christine de Pisan
23. Isabella d'Este
24. Elizabeth I
25. Artemisia Gentileschi
26. Anna van Schurman

Wing III: From the American to the Women's Revolution
27. Anne Hutchinson
28. Sacajawea
29. Caroline Herschel
30. Mary Wollstonecraft
31. Sojourner Truth
32. Susan B. Anthony
33. Elizabeth Blackwell
34. Emily Dickinson
35. Ethel Smyth
36. Margaret Sanger
37. Natalie Barney
38. Virginia Woolf
39. Georgia O'Keeffe

Above: The first place setting is for Primordial Goddess. Note that the runner looks like an animal skin.

For information for each of the women at the table in Judy Chicago's "the Dinner Party," click HERE.

Unsolved Mysteries

7/17/2019

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

Back in March of this year, I wrote about a mysterious letter “E” that appears before “It sifts from Leaden Sieves” in my 1998 Franklin edition of The Poems of Emily Dickinson – you can read about that HERE.

Now, I’m looking into a second mystery: I just realized that “I would distil a cup” appears in my 1960 Johnson edition of The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (J-16), but I can’t find it anywhere in my Franklin edition. What gives?

Here’s the the poem:

By Emily Dickinson:

I would distil a cup,
And bear to all my friends,
Drinking to her no more astir,
By beck, or burn, or moor!

Below: "I would distil a cup" -- J-16 -- appears at the page break for pages 13 and 14 in the Johnson edition of The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson.

I checked the Emily Dickinson Archive to see if that might shed some light on the mystery, but it indicated that “I would distil a cup” – which Emily had included in a letter to Samual Bowler and Mary Bowles – appeared only in the Johnson edition. I searched the words “distil,” “beck,” and “astir,” and all three queries yielded the same information. I thought, perhaps, that the lines (or similar lines) from “I would distil a cup” would appear embedded in some other poem by Dickinson in the Franklin edition. Alas, no. “I would distil a cup” seems to have vanished with Franklin’s edition of the Belle of Amherst’s poetry.

Below: The results when I searched the word "beck" in the Emily Dickinson Archive turned up one entry for "I would distil a cup":

Do any Dickinson scholars out there have any info on this mystery – as to why “I would distil a cup” does not appear in the Franklin edition of The Poems of Emily Dickinson?

FYI: Information related to the origin of “I would distil a cup” can be found HERE.

The Write Stuff

4/19/2019

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

On a recent trip to Chicago, I stopped by the American Writers Museum, "celebrating American writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, our culture, and our daily lives."

From the museum's website:

The American Writers Museum strives to:

Educate the public about American writers – past and present
Engage visitors to the Museum in exploring the many exciting worlds created by the spoken and written word
Enrich and deepen appreciation for good writing in all its forms
Motivate visitors to discover, or rediscover, a love of reading and writing
Inspire the young writers of tomorrow

The exhibits are wonderful, and they include -- as their website notes -- interactive displays from "typewriters to touchscreens."

Below: A touchscreen display in the lobby allows visitors to learn about writers from each of the fifty United States. The page on Massachusetts includes Emily Dickinson, the Belle of Amherst; the page on Pennsylvania shows Emmett Lee Dickinson, the Bore of Washerst.

Left: A timeline runs above the main exhibit dedicated to the most influential American writers. Not surprisingly, the lineage highlights the birth of Emmett Lee Dickinson in 1803.

Below: Emmett Lee Dickinson is included in the display of America's most influential writers. He is line with some of his best friends -- Edgar Allan Poe, Abraham Lincoln, and Henry David Thoreau.

Click the images to enlarge.

Right: The photograph of Frederick Douglass at the American Writers Museum includes a year of birth -- but no date listed as a year of death. Many point to this to explain Donald Trump's enigmatic comments in 2017, "Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more."

Below left and right: The display on Emily Dickinson.

Below left (and above right): Emily Dickinson's poem "'Hope' is the thing with feathers" is included on the display for Emily Dickinson. Below right: Emily Dickinson was inspired to write her poem after reading her third cousin Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "'Hype' is the thing with bullfeathers."

By Emily Dickinson:

"Hope" is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –

I've heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of Me.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

“Hype” is the thing with bullfeathers –
It preaches to enthrall –
It stretches Truth with guileful words –
And doesn’t care – at all –

Though sweeter – in the Sale – than sweetest –
More real – than genuine –
It carries no precaution of
Consequence– from Saccharine.

New – Improved – Superlative –
It’s magnified and grand –
It charms consumers – senseless –
With sleight of underhand.

Right: An interactive display allows visitors to submit their favorite books -- and I was tickled pink to discover that The Complete Poems of Emmett Lee Dickinson was listed as the top pick!

Below: The AWM's gift shop included finger puppets of famous American writers. Emmett Lee Dickinson is at the center, left of the photo -- circled in red.

What The H?

3/29/2019

From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III:

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the American Heart Association's poll for the "Man with the Smallest Heart" and the "Woman with the Smallest Heart" (HERE).

In that post, I wrote about Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "For smallest Woman's Heart we know," which inspired Emily Dickinson to write, "For largest Woman's Heart I knew."

However, in gathering information about those two poems, I came across this on Wikisource:

Huh? For largest Woman's HEARTH? Isn't that supposed to be HEART?

Of course the first place I checked to investigate this was the Emily Dickinson digital archive, and I found this:

I would say that settles the debate since "Heart" is in Emily Dickinson's own handwriting.

I also came across this analysis of Dickinson's poem on The Prowling Bee -- HERE.. On that post, blogger Susan Kornfeld was asked about the very same peksy "H," and she also checked the Dickinson archive to confirm "heart" vs. "hearth."

So what's up with that "h"? Or should I say, "What the H?"

This just goes to show you the importance of editing -- for just a single letter can make all the difference in the world. To that point, check out these Dickinson's first lines which are altered by the addition or omission of just a single letter:

There’s a certain slant of flight

Because I could now stop for death

Wild Knights! Wild Knights!

I heard a fly buzz – when it died

Hope is the thing with fathers

This certainly proves the point that a single letter can make all the difference in the world. Or should I say that a single letter can make all the difference in the word. What the L? Am I right?

Thirst Editions

3/23/2019

From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson:

I saw this on Twitter today:

Of course Mr. Atkinson's chart might make one wonder what libations would top a similar list for poets?

Well, in the case of the Dickinsons, we know exactly what would rank as their "thirst editions."

For Emily Dickinson -- and her sister Lavinia -- the choice would be a keg of beer. There was nothing the sisters loved more than frat parties and keggers at Amherst college.

For Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request, the choice would be a Margarita, the lime libation he invented! Information about Dickinson & his delicious concoction is HERE.

Of course, Emmett Lee Dickinson knew of his third cousin Emily's fondness for keggers at Amherst College, and he immortalized her addiction to frat parties in his now-classic poem, "As School Bells end the summer" (below on the left). His poem inspired Emily to pen her poem "As Sleigh Bells seem in summer" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

As School Bells end the summer
And Boys, at Amherst show –
So friendly – so flirtatious
The individuals go
Replete with strong libations –
A Party does ensue –
She’s down there in an instant
Till Dawn the Ingénue.

By Emily Dickinson:

As Sleigh Bells seem in summer
Or Bees, at Christmas show –
So fairy – so fictitious
The individuals do
Repealed from observation –
A Party that we knew –
More distant in an instant
Than Dawn in Timbuctoo.

Pictured at the right: In 1849, Emily Dickinson wrote to her cousins Frances and Louisa Norcross. In her letter, Dickinson stated the following:

"There is to be a party at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house tomorrow night. They say that home is where the heart is ~ I think it is where the Sigma house is, and the adjacent buildings.

Vinnie and I will be happy amid this delightful kegger, and well we will drink our icy beers ~ and the world there will be so beautiful, and things so sweet and fair, that my heart will be soothed and comforted."

Letter of Introduction

3/17/2019

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

Recently I have published some plog (poetry blog) posts about variations in poems by Emily Dickinson in the Johnson and Franklin editions of her poetry. This all started with a post about a quote from Oscar Wilde -- HERE -- and then I moved on to discuss Johnson v. Franklin -- HERE (from 3/10/19) and HERE (from 3/13/19).

In the post dated March 10, 2019, I discussed Dickinson's poem "It sifts from Leaden Sieves," which is number 311 in Johnson's edition and number 291 in Franklin's. Following the opening stanza, the poem differs significantly in the two volumes. In Johnson's book, the poem is 5 stanzas long. In Franklin's it is 3 -- and Franklin noted in the introduction to his collection that he always chose "the latest version of the entire poem, thereby giving to the poet, rather than the editor, the ownership of change.”

However, besides the two very different versions of the poem, there is one other mystery (or should I say, "myster-E"?): In Franklin's volume "The Poems of Emily Dickinson," there is a capital "E" just before the opening line of the poem.

No where else in the over-six-hundred page book with 1,789 poems does a letter appear before the start of a poem.

Does anyone know what this E stands for? Is it just a printing error -- or is that E supposed to be there?

If you can help solve this myster-E, please let me know. Comment below, or reach out on our "Contact Us" page, HERE.

A World of Difference

3/13/2019

From our master grammarian & resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:

In a recent plog (poetry blog) post, I wrote about differences between The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, and The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by R. W. Franklin. The post is HERE, and in it I discuss the order of the poems, identical poems (or those with very insignificant differences), poems with interesting differences, and poems with significant differences – and that was just the start. There are other differences:

COMBINED/SEPARATED POEMS

Sometimes individual poems in one book are combined (or separated) to create a single poem (or multiple poems) in the other volume. For example, F-335, “Her smile was shaped like other smiles,” in the Franklin edition, is made up of two poems from the Johnson edition, J-514, “Her smile was shaped like other smiles,” and J-353, “A happy lip – breaks sudden.”

On the other hand, three poems in Franklin's book – F-29, “All these my banners be,” F-30, “To lose – if One can find again,” and F-31, “To him who keeps an Orchis’ heart" – are combined in one poem in the Johnson edition, J-22, “All these my banners be.”

RECENTLY DISCOVERED POEMS

Some poems in the Franklin edition were unknown at the time of the Johnson edition. Therefore, the “complete” poems edited by Johnson were the those poems known at the time, but the volume is no longer “complete.” I suspect Franklin realized that addition poems could be discovered in the future – and that is why he did not include the word “complete” in the title of his volume, “The Poems of Emily Dickinson.”

One example of a poem that is in Franklin but is not found in Johnson is F-1244, “Fly – fly—but as you fly”:

Fly – fly – but as you fly –
Remember – the second pass you by –
The Second is pursuing the Century
The Century is chasing Eternity –
What a Responsibility –
No wonder that the little Second flee –
Out of it’s frightened way –

Note: Franklin left the apostrophe in “it’s” as Dickinson wrote it.