Only two books were written about Emily Dickinson by people who actually knew the poet. “Emily Dickinson, Face to Face” was written by her niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, and “Emily Dickinson, Friend and Neighbor” was written by Macgregor Jenkins, a friend and neighbor.
Mabel Loomis Todd, Dickinson’s brother’s mistress (she was 25 and he was 53 when they first met) and the editor of the first edition of Dickinson’s poetry (published posthumously), never met the poet. She did speak to the poet – between rooms and doorways – but she never actually laid eyes on the poet until Dickinson was lying in her coffin.
Todd’s daughter, Millicent Todd Bingham, later wrote about her mother’s work as the editor of Dickinson’s poetry in her 1945 tome, “Ancestors’ Brocades, the Literary Debut of Emily Dickinson.” In that book, she also wrote about Emily Dickinson, whom she never met, and she described the poet’s siblings, Austin and Lavinia, whom she did meet.
“It was not Emily…but her closest relatives who fashioned the pattern of my life,” wrote Bingham.
Mabel Loomis Todd, Dickinson’s brother’s mistress (she was 25 and he was 53 when they first met) and the editor of the first edition of Dickinson’s poetry (published posthumously), never met the poet. She did speak to the poet – between rooms and doorways – but she never actually laid eyes on the poet until Dickinson was lying in her coffin.
Todd’s daughter, Millicent Todd Bingham, later wrote about her mother’s work as the editor of Dickinson’s poetry in her 1945 tome, “Ancestors’ Brocades, the Literary Debut of Emily Dickinson.” In that book, she also wrote about Emily Dickinson, whom she never met, and she described the poet’s siblings, Austin and Lavinia, whom she did meet.
“It was not Emily…but her closest relatives who fashioned the pattern of my life,” wrote Bingham.
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With regard to Dickinson’s sister Lavinia, Bingham said, “The harsh qualities of her father…had settled upon her.”
She described Lavinia with “an uncompromising, slender little figure.” She continued, “her sour, shriveled face with its long nose was wrinkled like a witch of the fairytale, her hands twisted and knotted like the faggots in the wood box. But her hair, her marvelous dark hair streaked with gray, seemed to concentrate all the juices of her wizened body – heavy, luxuriant, the focus of interest in her person. Sometimes it was tied in a sort of bowknot on the back of her head, held fast by two large pins shoved in from either side. But often she sat there with it hanging, while with her gnarled hands, outspread fingers rigidly extended, she thrust through it slowly, caressing it from root to farthest tip….Any tradition which pictures her as a mild, sweet New England spinster will be dissipated, I think, during the course of this narrative.”
Why so?
We tend to picture the Dickinsons as a starched and strait-laced Victorian family from the bucolic college town of Amherst in the rolling hills of rural Massachusetts. The relationships between family members, friends and lovers, however, were filled with surprising levels of drama and passion.
She described Lavinia with “an uncompromising, slender little figure.” She continued, “her sour, shriveled face with its long nose was wrinkled like a witch of the fairytale, her hands twisted and knotted like the faggots in the wood box. But her hair, her marvelous dark hair streaked with gray, seemed to concentrate all the juices of her wizened body – heavy, luxuriant, the focus of interest in her person. Sometimes it was tied in a sort of bowknot on the back of her head, held fast by two large pins shoved in from either side. But often she sat there with it hanging, while with her gnarled hands, outspread fingers rigidly extended, she thrust through it slowly, caressing it from root to farthest tip….Any tradition which pictures her as a mild, sweet New England spinster will be dissipated, I think, during the course of this narrative.”
Why so?
We tend to picture the Dickinsons as a starched and strait-laced Victorian family from the bucolic college town of Amherst in the rolling hills of rural Massachusetts. The relationships between family members, friends and lovers, however, were filled with surprising levels of drama and passion.
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Following Emily’s death, Lavinia first turned to her sister-in-law Susan with her hopes of having her sister’s poetry published; after the work plodded along slowly and sluggishly, though, Lavinia enlisted the help of Austin’s mistress, Mabel Loomis Todd. After Austin’s death though, Lavinia clashed with Mabel Todd in court over a tract of land that Austin had promised Todd and her husband.
Hence, the harsh description of Lavinia Dickinson noted above.
And what of Austin Dickinson? How did Bingham describe him?
Stay tuned! I’ll get to Austin tomorrow.
Hence, the harsh description of Lavinia Dickinson noted above.
And what of Austin Dickinson? How did Bingham describe him?
Stay tuned! I’ll get to Austin tomorrow.
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