Category: Emily Dickinson Archive - The Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum

First Things First

1/2/2021

I have a friend who used to say that his birthday was on the one day of the year that no on wanted to celebrate -- January 2nd.

Of course, almost everyone celebrates on December 31st for New Year's Eve, and those who can't make it to midnight celebrate on the First of January, New Year's Day.

And then the Second rolls around -- and no one wants to party!

Well, I don't know if that is true or not, but if your birthday happens to be on January 2nd, then HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Oh, and since today is the second, I also looked into ordinal numbers used in the poetry of Emily Dickinson poetry, and I found five: first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. I didn't find a "sixth" of anything higher.

Interestingly, I found one poem that used all five of the numbers, "Finding is the first act":

Finding is the first Act
The second, loss,
Third, Expedition for
The "Golden Fleece"

Fourth, no Discovery --
Fifth, no Crew --
Finally, no Golden Fleece --
Jason -- sham -- too.

Here are the statistics related to Dickinson's use of ordinal numbers in her poetry:

Number / # of Poems in which the Number Appears:

First: 89

Second: 32

Third: 3

Fourth: 1

Firth: 1

Christmas Presence

12/23/2020

Did Emily Dickinson ever mention Santa Claus in any of her poems?

Indeed she did.

In her poem "'Twas just this time, last year, I died," the following stanza appears:

And would it blur the Christmas glee
My Stocking hang too high
For any Santa Claus to reach
The Altitude of me –

Did Dickinson use other Christmas-y words in her poems? Again -- indeed she did.

Below: The following Christmas-related words appear in various poems written by Emily Dickinson:

Below: Christmas-related terms used by Dickinson -- followed by the number of poems in which the word appears;

Elf: 1
Presents: 1
Reindeer: 1
Santa Claus : 1
Sleigh: 1
Decorate: 2
Elves: 2
Jolly: 2

Carol: 3
Christmas: 3
Bethlehem: 4
Stockings: 5
Candles: 6
Chimney: 6
Gift: 8
Savior: 8

Merry: 10
Jesus: 16
Peace: 25
Angel: 31
Bell/Bells: 38
Joy: 42
Snow: 57
Star: 63

Just after I posted the chart and table above, I checked on two other Christmas-related words: "'Twas" (as in "'Twas the night before Christmas") and "Hark" (as in "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"):

Hark: 2
'Twas: 90

Oh, and I also checked on the following:

Frankincense: 0
Myrrh: 1
Gold: 36

Merry Christmas to one and all. And in the words of Tiny Tim, "Tiptoe through the tulips!"

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON STATISTICS OF WORD USE IN THE POETRY OF DICKINSON, CLICK HERE.

Sense of Direction

12/15/2020

It feels shorter than a day since Emily Dickinson boarded a carriage and first surmised the horses' heads were toward eternity -- but what direction is "eternity"? Is it north or south? East or west?

I suspect it's toward the west, since that's where the sun sets -- but who really knows. Dickinson never said.

Anyway, speaking of directions and the the poetry of Emily Dickinson, which direction do you think Dickinson wrote about the most? North, south, east or west?

I checked this out at the online Emily Dickinson Archive, and the results are below.

Dickinson used the word "compass" in 4 poems, but in only one did she mean a "compass," an instrument to locate a direction. Three times she used the word as some form of the verb "to compass," to go around in a circular course. Dickinson also used the word "direction" once -- but she did use north, south, east and west multiple times.

North: 14

South: 16

West: 28

East: 30

Hmm. Maybe that carriage was heading east after all.

Eat, Drink, And Be Merry

12/12/2020

A neighbor brought some homemade cookies over today, so I made some coffee to have with them.

The coffee reminded me that this February -- or FeBREWary as we like to call it at the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum -- we will post more of Emmett Lee Dickinson's poetry about coffee -- HERE. This will be the 9th year in a row that we have posted "28 Days of Coffee Poems."

Of course, that made me wonder how often third cousin Emily wrote about coffee -- or tea -- or any other beverage. So I checked out the online Emily Dickinson Archive (HERE) to see how often Dickinson's poems used words of food and drink.

The results are below.

When it comes to words related to eating and drinking, here's what I found (the number following the each term is how many different poems in which the word appears):

Thirst: 11
Drink: 12
Drank: 3
Drunk: 1*
Eat: 6
Ate: ???**
Eaten: 0
Food: 9
Meal: 2
Breakfast: 7
Dinner: 3
Supper: 2
Feed: 8
Fed 3
Banquet: 6

* "Drunk" was used in three poems by Dickinson; however, she used it as the past participle of "drink" only once.

** Alas, I could not check the archive for "ate" because it seemed to malfunction. Instead of pulling up entries for the word "ate," it gave me every instance where the letters "ate" appeared -- as in gATE, dATE, fascinATE, etc. There were close to 900 entries -- so I did not check them all for the word "ate."

Although I did not check for all the various types of food that Dickinson wrote about, I did check for "bread" -- it appears in 7 poems -- and "loaf" -- it appears in 3 poems.

Now back to the coffee, the original word that prompted this post. I checked to see how often Dickinson wrote about coffee, tea, and other drinks -- and here is what I found:

Coffee: 1
Tea: 4
Milk: 1
Cream: 0
Brew: 3
Liquor: 6
Sherry: 0
Wine: 17
Water: 32

While Dickinson did have numerous references to "wine" and "liquor," I did not find any mention of "margaritas" in her poetry. However, that is not the case with her third cousin, Emmett Lee -- but I'll save that information for a later date.

Oh -- and by the way -- since I happened to be checking the online archive for "eat" (6 poems) and "drink" (12 poems), I thought I might as well check for "merry" (10 poems).

So eat, drink, and be merry this holiday season. Read some poetry. And join us in FeBREWary 2021 when we post 28 more poems about coffee by Emmett Le Dickinson.

For more statistics related to the poetry of Emily Dickinson, click HERE.

Appealing Colors

12/11/2020

It's that time of year again -- when Pantone selects the "Colors of the Year" for the coming year. I've written about Colors of the Year in the past -- click HERE and scroll down. For 2021 Pantone has selected two colors, Illuminating and Ultimate Gray.

The Pantone site states that the combination is "a message of happiness supported by fortitude" and that this choice of colors "gives us hope...that everything is going to get brighter – this is essential to the human spirit." The Pantone site on their chosen colors is HERE.

When I first saw the combination of colors, the palette of color looked very familiar to me. I had seen this synthesis of shades somewhere before, this color combination of happiness and fortitude, this blend of hues that suggests hope and all that is essential to the human spirit -- but where?

And then it hit me!

The yellow-gray color combination was the exact mix of tones in a an artwork I had purchased in Miami in January 2019, a piece I obtained to hang in the lobby of the world headquarters of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts (DOPE) to convey a sense of hope and fortitude for our effort to rebuild the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum which burned down on New Year's Eve in 2015.

I also purchased the artwork because it called to mind Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "To own the Art taped on the wall" (below on the left). Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "To own the Art within the Soul" (below on the right).

Information about my art purchase is HERE.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

To own the Art taped on the Wall
The Soul to entertain
With Duct Tape and a Banana
That Chemicals maintain

Is a well-nourished Circumstance
Possession is to Me
An Investment perpetual
A priceless fruit to See

By Emily Dickinson:

To own the Art within the Soul
The Soul to entertain
With Silence as a Company
And Festival maintain

Is an unfurnished Circumstance
Possession is to One
As an Estate perpetual
Or a reduceless Mine.

By the way, the artwork never made it to the walls of the DOPE headquarters. Alas, someone claiming to be a "performance artist" untaped my banana from the wall in the gallery in Miami -- even though it was clearly marked "SOLD" -- and ate it!!! The legal case involving this egregious action is still working its way through the courts.

Anyway, the announcement of the Colors of the Year and my memory of my lost artistic masterpiece made me wonder if Emily Dickinson ever included the names of fruits and vegetables in her poetry -- so I looked into that tonight.

It turns out that the word "fruit" appears in 3 poems by Dickinson, and the word "vegetable" never appears. However, she did write about specific fruits and vegetables. The breakdown is below:

Fruit/Vegetable / # of poems in which the fruit or vegetable in mentioned in a poem by Dickinson:

Apple: 10

Grape: 1

Strawberries: 1

Berry: 14*
Black berry: 1*

Apricot: 1

Pumpkin: 1

Corn: 8

Pea: 1

*Dickinson used the word "berry" in 15 poems -- but in one of them she wrote, "black berry," so I separated one entry out for "blackberry."

Dickinson did use the word "orange" once, but she used it as the color, not the fruit. I did not find any use of "pear," "lemon," "lime," or "banana" -- or any other fruits.

The only two vegetables I found used in Dickinson's poem were "corn" and "pea." If I find others, I will update the chart above.

For more statistics on the poetry of Emily Dickinson, click HERE.

Celestial Body Language

12/10/2020

I "attended" three different programs today in celebration of Emily Dickinson's 190th birthday. The first session was held at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA; the second was hosted at the Houghton Library at Harvard University in Boston; the final program this evening was sponsored by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC . Due to the COVID pandemic, all three were offered over Zoom. The details of the three programs are at the bottom of this post, HERE.

I'll write about the three programs and post pics soon. For now, though, I just wanted to post a quick response to some discussion form this evening's program about Dickinson's poetry of light and of the sun. I wondered how many of Dickinson's poems mentioned the sun and/or other heavenly bodies -- so I ran a quick check.

Here's what I found:

Heavenly Body / # of Poems in Which It Appears:

Sun: 164

Earth: 58

Moon: 23

Star: 63

Other (detailed below): 18

Here's the breakdown of the "other" in the chart above:

Heavenly Body / # of Poems in Which It Appears:

Mercury: 1

Mars: 5

Jupiter: 1

Planet: 2

Asteroid: 1

Galaxies: 1

Constellation: 1

Arcturus: 1

Orion: 2

Pleiades: 3

Note: Dickinson never used the words "Venus," "Saturn," " Neptune," "Uranus," "Pluto," or "Comet" in any of her poems.

Also, of all the zodiac signs, Dickinson used only one: "Capricorn" appears in "It sifts from Leaden Sieves."

For more statistics on the poetry of Emily Dickinson, click HERE.

New To Me

12/10/2020

Today marks Emily Dickinson's 190th birthday. Happy Birthday, Emily!

In a letter to her cousins in 1872, Dickinson wrote, "We grow not older with years, but newer every day." Therefore, today's birthday makes Emily 69,397 days new!

At the right: Emily Dickinson's letter to Frances and Louise Norcross from June 1872. Click the image to enlarge.

In honor of Dickinson's 190th birthday (and 69,397th day of being new), I checked the online Emily Dickinson Archive to see what birthday words appeared in her poetry.

The results are below.

For my search of birthday words, I initially checked for "anniversary," "birth," "birthday," "cake," "candle," "presents," "gift," "party," "age," "old," and 'older."

Based on her quote above, I then added "new" and "newer." Then I thought of "card" -- and then "wish" (for birthday wishes when blowing out the candles) and "surprise" (for surprise parties).

Here are the terms and the number of poems in which those words appear:

Anniversary 1
Birth 1
Cake 1
Card 1
Older 1
Presents 1 *

Birthday 2
Candle 6
Newer 7
Gift 8
Party 13

Wish 17
Age 19
Surprise 21
Old 72
New 99

* Dickinson used the word "present" in 27 different poems, but only once did she use it to mean "gifts." In her poem "It was given to me by the gods," she wrote, "They give us presents most -- you know."

Next, due to all of this examination of "new" and "old," I decided to check into Dickinson's use fo the words "past," "present," and "future."

This was a little tricky, because sometimes the words "past" and "present" could be interpreted in different ways. I did not include the words if they were used like "half-past three" or "A Light exists in Spring / Not present on the Year." I did include the terms if, in any way, they could be interpreted to designate the past or the present.

Here are the results:

Past: Used in 14 poems (out of 25 poems with the word "past")

Present: Used in 7 poems (out of 27 with the word "present")

Future: Used in 11 poems

If you're interested in checking out more statistics on the word choice in the poetry of Emily Dickinson, click HERE.

MORE EMILY DICKINSON BIRTHDAY INFO FROM THE EMILY DICKINSON MUSEUM:

Emily Dickinson Birthday Celebration
Thursday, December 10, 12-1pm
Join the Emily Dickinson Museum for an afternoon of fun including a team bake of Dickinson’s famous Black Cake, a conversation with Apple TV+’s Dickinson series creator Alena Smith, a make-at-home craft demo, an aerial journey over Amherst, video screenings from the “My Emily Dickinson” collecting project, and the singing of the birthday song. There will be a virtual guest-book to sign, interactive poll questions, and surprise special guests.
Learn more and register

Happy Birthday, Emily! with the Houghton Library
Thursday, December 10, 3pm
Live from Harvard University’s Houghton Library, join a distinguished roster of poets, food writers, librarians, scholars, students, and literati who will read their favorite Dickinson poems, share what the poet means to them, and generally wax eloquent on America’s cherished poet and her kitchen prowess.
Learn more and register

Tonight I am in Love: Dorianne Laux with the Folger Shakespeare Library
Thursday, December 10, 7:30pm
The Folger Shakespeare Library’s annual Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute, co-sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum, will feature a reading by poet Dorianne Laux. She is the author of five collections of poetry, a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, and a recipient of the Paterson Prize.
Learn more and get tickets

PoeTREE

12/9/2020

My wife and I went for a walk in the woods today, and from the pictures below, you probably won't be surprised by the poem the Emily Dickinson that popped into my head (below).

By Emily Dickinson:

Frequently the woods are pink –
Frequently, are brown.
Frequently the hills undress
Behind my native town –
Oft a head is crested
I was wont to see –
And as oft a cranny
Where it used to be –
And the Earth – they tell me
On its axis turned!
Wonderful rotation –
By but twelve performed!

While walking through the woods and in thinking of that poem, I wondered what trees appeared in Dickinson's poetry, so I looked into that once I got home. The results are below. I also looked into the parts of a tree mentioned in Dickinson's poems -- as well as how often the word "tree" appeared.

Before you scroll down to see the results, what do you think? Do you think Dickinson wrote more poems about trees -- or flowers? And what about shrubs and bushes? And when it comes to trees, what types of trees appear in the poems by Dickinson -- and in how many poems are they mentioned?

Once you've made some predictions, scroll down to see the results.

The first thing I checked was the number of Dickinson's poems that contain the word "tree." While I was at it, I also checked on "flower," "grass," and other related terms. The results are below.

Tree: 58
Sapling: 1
Bush: 7
Shrub: 1
Flower: 90
Grass: 33
Dirt: 1
Mud: 1
Ground: 26

Next I checked for the terms related to the parts of tree:

Root: 8
Trunk: 0*
Branch: 4
Twig: 12
Leaf: 8
Leaves: 11**
Bark 4
Sap 2

* Dickinson used the word "trunk" once, but not as the woody base of a tree. "To pack her trunk" appears in "Were nature mortal lady."

** The word "leaves" appears in 57 poems; however, only 11 of those pertain to trees' leaves.

Finally I looked into they types trees that appear in Dickinson's poems and the number of poems in which they are mentioned:

Oak 3
Elm 1
Maple 4
Pine 3*
Fir 2
Chestnut 2
Hemlock 4

* "Pine" appears in five of Dickinson's poems, but in only three of those poems does the word refer to pine trees.

For more statistics on word usage in Dickinson's poems, click HERE.

DO YOU FIND THESE STATISTICS INTERESTING? IF SO PLEASE READ THIS: My wife said that I should be raking the yard, unloading the dishwasher, or putting away laundry instead of analyzing Dickinson's poetry. She said that there can be only EIGHT PEOPLE* on this earth who find this interesting. Are you one of the eight? If so, please tweet to me, "I'm one of the eight." My user name is @The_Dickinson. So far, 12/9/20, no one has responded. : (

* BTW: My wife added "maybe TWELVE PEOPLE if you count those people" -- and by "those people" she meant the people who work at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA.

Weather Or Not

12/8/2020

Emily Dickinson used the word "weather" in just two poems -- "Myself can read the telegrams" and "Before you thought of spring." However, she wrote about the weather a LOT in all of her other poems! : )

Which type of weather did she mention most often? Sunny days or rainy? Snowy morns or clear?

I looked into this so you don't have to, and the results are below. However, before you scroll down, take a guess. What type(s) of weather did Dickinson mention most often?

There are some types of weather which Dickinson never mentioned: hail, tornado, and blizzard. Also, even though she used the words rain, fog, and cloud, she never used rainy, foggy, or cloudy -- BUT -- she did use sun and sunny, fog and foggy, storm and stormy, and chill and chilly.

Here are the weather-related terms found in the poems of Emily Dickinson followed by the number of poems in which the terms appear:

Sun: 165
Sunny: 4
Snow: 57
Snowy: 1
Rain: 11
Rainbow: 7
Fog: 6
Storm: 15
Stormy: 2
Thunder: 10
Lightning: 15
Hurricane: 3
Chill: 8
Chilly: 2
Cloud: 26
Sleet: 4
Wind: 80
Windy: 2

Dickinson also used the word "climate" in 2 poems and "clime" in 5 poems.

For more statistics on word usage in Dickinson's poetry, click HERE.

ALSO -- if/when you have a chance, please read this post, HERE: I'm looking for 8 people on this earth. I haven't found even one yet.

School of Thought

12/7/2020

When it comes to education, what fields of study did Emily Dickinson write about in her poetry? Did she write more about science than history? Did she write about geometry and trigonometry? Did she immortalize teachers in her poems? What educational terms do you think Dickinson used the most?

Well, I looked into this -- so that you don't have to (you can thank me later) -- and the results are below. However, before you scroll down, make a guess for each of the questions posed above.

When it comes to education, there are some words that never appear in the poems of Emily Dickinson. She never used the word "teacher," "professor" or "tutor," nor did she ever include the words "college," "academy," "seminary," "pupil," "faculty," or "study."

However, she did include many references to education, and in fact, she used the word "education" in two different poems, "Through the Dark Sod -- as Education," and "Sic transit gloria mundi."

Below are the educational terms I found in Dickinson's poems, and the chart & table depict how many different poems in which the words appear:

Research: 1
Library: 1
Student: 2
Education: 2
Class: 3
Instruct: 5*

Teach: 9
Taught: 12
School: 15
Learn: 24
University: 28

* This number includes "instructs," "instructed," and "instruction."

When it comes to academic classes, Dickinson wrote about algebra and geometry, but she never wrote about calculus. She penned poems about science, but none about geology or chemistry.

The pie chart below shows the different subject areas that are included in Dickinson's poems:

Academic Class / # of Poems:

Latin: 1
Arithmetic: 1
Geometry: 1
Biology: 1
Literature: 1
English: 1
Prose: 2
Algebra: 2
Geography: 2
Astronomy: 2
Philosophy: 3
Poetry: 4
Debate: 8
History: 8
Science: 10

Note: I did not find any poems that used the terms "calculus," "chemistry," "geology," "physics," or "civics" (although the word "civic" was used in one poem).

For more statistics on word use in Dickinson's poetry, click HERE.

IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE EIGHT PEOPLE ON EARTH WHO FIND THESE STATISTICS INTERESTING, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Below are the two poems by Emily Dickinson that use the word "education":

Through the Dark Sod – as Education –
The Lily passes sure –
Feels her white foot – no trepidation –
Her faith – no fear –

Afterward – in the Meadow –
Swinging her Beryl Bell –
The Mold-life – all forgotten – now –
In Ecstasy – and Dell –

From "Sic transit gloria mundi":

During my education
It was announced to me
That gravitation stumbling
Fell from an apple tree –

The complete poem is HERE.