I have been writing about the poems by Emily Dickinson which editor William Hayes Ward accepted – or rejected – for publication in the New York Independent in 1891. However, since today is “Pi Day” (3.14), I thought I’d look into how often Dickinson’s used the word “Pi” (and “Pie”) in her poetry.
| The first Pi Day celebration was organized by physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988 (and just FYI: the 2015 Pi Day was called the "Pi Day of the Century" because its date in the day-month-year format was 3-14-15, which gives the first four digits of pi). However, the concept of pi, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, has ancient roots that date back to the Babylonians and Egyptians, around 2000 BCE and 1650 BCE, respectively. The first rigorous calculation of pi, using a geometrical approach with polygons, was devised by the Greek mathematician Archimedes around 250 BCE. |  For info on the Pi skyline shown above, click HERE. |
So did Dickinson ever use the word “pi” in any of her poems?
Nope.
However, Dickinson did use the word “circumference” in seventeen poems – or sixteen poems depending upon which version of “Two butterflies went out at Noon” you read. The 1863 version does NOT include the word “circumference”; her version from 1878 does.
Nope.
However, Dickinson did use the word “circumference” in seventeen poems – or sixteen poems depending upon which version of “Two butterflies went out at Noon” you read. The 1863 version does NOT include the word “circumference”; her version from 1878 does.
So back to pi: Although Dickinson never used the word “pi,” she did use the word “pie.” Well, not “pie” in the sense of a baked dish of fruit with a top and base of pastry. Instead, she used “cap-a-pie,” derived from the Middle French phrase "de cap a pe", which means "from head to foot.”
“Cap-a-pie” appears in the opening lines to “Sic transit gloria mundi” (“thus passes the glory of the world”). The complete poem (Dickinson’s longest) is HERE.
“Cap-a-pie” appears in the opening lines to “Sic transit gloria mundi” (“thus passes the glory of the world”). The complete poem (Dickinson’s longest) is HERE.
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