Category: Shakespeare

Stir Up a Poet's Nest

6/18/2026

In yesterday’s post (HERE), I examined Dickinson’s use of the word “drey” (a squirrel’s nest) in her poetry. Today, I thought I’d investigate her use of the word “nest.” Here’s the scoop (along with a recap re: “squirrel” and “drey”):

Dickinson used the word “squirrel” in 15 poems, and she never used the word “drey.” The word “bird” appears in 140-plus poems – along with many poems which use the names of specific birds (like sparrow, robin, owl, wren, eagle, jay and more) – and she used the word “nest” in 20 poems.

At the right: Dickinson's "nest" poems.

I would say that the most famous of the “nest” poems is “If I can stop one heart from breaking.” The poem is shown below with (very minor) revisions made throughout the years. In 1890, editor Mabel Loomis Todd “cleaned up” the work’s punctuation and capitalization to align it with the poetic norms of the day and to make it more palatable for public consumption. To be honest, in this case, the edits were somewhat insignificant. However, there are other cases where Todd modified works more considerably; take for example, the changes made to “Because I could not stop for Death," also shown below.

In the words of the Bard's brother, Finnick E. Shakespeare:

To edit, or not to edit, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the tome to edit
The slips and errors of outrageous grammar,
Or to accept the poet’s page of troubles
And by resisting, print them.

Pictured at the right: William Shakespeare's brother, Finnick E. Shakespeare

On the Poetry Foundation’s site, Digital Archive Editor Robert Eric Shoemaker notes that “The Poetry Foundation often receives questions about Emily Dickinson's poems, particularly the typographical, orthographical, and grammatical ‘errors’ in copies of her poems found on the website.” He goes on to say that the poems printed on the site are – unlike the early publications of Dickinson’s works – “intentionally represented with the original punctuation as written…recreated from readings of her original manuscripts as published or available in archives.” The complete article is HERE.

The site for the Emily Dickinson Museum also touches on the editing of Dickinson’s works in this article, “The Posthumous Discovery of Dickinson’s Poems,” HERE.

When He Himself Might His Quietus Make

4/25/2026

Some of my recent posts have focused on Robert Frost’s first published poem, “My Butterfly, An Elegy,” along with some butterfly poems by Dickinson which likely inspired him. There were other poems, too, that inspired Frost in the 1890s when he first encountered Dickinson’s works. George Monteiro reported that the youthful Frost “was immediately taken by her, discovering in her poetry the voice of a kindred New England soul.” Frost’s biographer Lawrence Thompson shared that Frost was “fascinated to find that this new author was ‘troubled about many things concerning death,” and he offered a poem by Dickinson that was greatly admired by the young Frost, one that he would have read in the first edition of Poems in 1890, "I reason, earth is short." Additionally, in Robert Frost and the New England Renaissance, Monteiro asserted, “That Frost was influenced by this poem, and particularly by Dickinson’s handling of the theme of death and its aftermath, is evident in his own poem ‘The Birds Do Thus,’ which appeared in the Independent on August 20, 1896.”

From Monteiro:

“When the poems are juxtaposed, Frost’s ‘The Birds Do Thus’ can be read as a reply to Dickinson’s poem. Her anxiety is countered by his whimsy. Whereas she decides plaintively, in her twelve-line, three stanza poem, that ‘earth is short’ (meaning by ‘earth’ the human lifetime, of course) Frost answers that ‘Life’s not so short.’ For Dickinson, ‘anguish is absolute,’ but Frost’s advice is to sleep away ‘the unhappy days.’ Even Frost’s use of the short line coincides with Dickinson’s custom, but there is a difference. While Dickinson moves from two-foot to three-foot lines and back again, Frost stubbornly sticks to the greater regularity of the two-foot line.”

Let’s dissect those lines from Monteiro, shall we?

“When the poems are juxtaposed, Frost’s ‘The Birds Do Thus’ can be read as a reply to Dickinson’s poem": True enough, I suppose, but certainly not as close a response, say, as Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” is to Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man.”

By the way, an interesting on the pair of Cyrus-Mars songs is HERE.

As far as the two poems go, Frost’s trio of staves focus solely on the passage of time and the fact that “Life’s not so short” to doze away any difficulties or dilemmas. Dickinson’s trio, though, progresses through the tribulations of life, the reality of what comes after, and the human-created understanding of some “new equation” in the Great Beyond (Dickinson also addresses the promise of divine stewardship of earthly anguishes in “I shall know why – when Time is over” {at the right}; sardonically, the speaker in the poem states that “Christ will explain each separate anguish / In the fair schoolroom of the sky”).

Back to Monteiro: “Her anxiety is countered by his whimsy.” Yep – it’s her “Absolute anguish” vs. his good nap and (sooner than later) good times. More on this continues below.

Monteiro: “Whereas she decides plaintively, in her twelve-line, three stanza poem, that ‘earth is short’ (meaning by ‘earth’ the human lifetime, of course) Frost answers that ‘Life’s not so short.’ For Dickinson, ‘anguish is absolute,’ but Frost’s advice is to sleep away ‘the unhappy days.’ “ Again, yep.

Coincidentally, another poem by Dickinson I discussed recently (HERE) involved “sleep” – but certainly not the same sort of slumber Frost describes in his poem; no, Dickinson’s “sleep” in "The Heart asks Pleasure first" was more akin to the sleep in Hamlet’s soliloquy as he enters stage left and Polonius and King Claudius withdraw stage right . The princely Dane wonders if, once we have shuffled off this mortal coil, what dreams may come? Dickinson contends, “ I reason, that in Heaven / Somehow, it will be even / Some new Equation, given / But, what of that?”

Yeah, Hamlet – what of that?

I’m all the only one starting to whistle Peggy Lee’s hit, “Is that all there is?” (and note the singer had been sleeping):

And I stood there shivering in my pajamas
And watched the whole world go up in flames
And when it was all over I said to myself
"Is that all there is to a fire?"

Is that all there is?
Is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is

By the way, Frost’s lines “To have you soon / I gave away / Well Satisfied / To give – a day” reminded me of Dickinson’s “If you were coming in the Fall, / I'd brush the Summer by / With half a smile, and half a spurn, / As Housewives do, a Fly.” The complete poem is below.

More from Monteiro: “Even Frost’s use of the short line coincides with Dickinson’s custom, but there is a difference. While Dickinson moves from two-foot to three-foot lines and back again, Frost stubbornly sticks to the greater regularity of the two-foot line.” True enough – though I’m surprised Frost didn’t consider a two-syllable word for “unhappy” in his penultimate line to stick to the pattern: The WOEFUL days? The GLOOMY days? The CHEERLESS days? The DISMAL days? #justsaying

So what of that? Is that all there is? No matter. Let's break out the booze and have a ball.

Out of Time

8/27/2025

My recent posts have featured Dickinson’s “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House.” Yesterday, based in response to a blogger’s comment about the poem, I also explored William Carlos Williams’ “Tract,” a multi-layered poem about funeral protocols – and, beneath the surface, a sly critique on how poets should approach their practice.

Another comment I came across related to the final image in Dickinson’s poem called to mind a work by Robert Frost. I’ll get to that poem in a minute, but first, here are the concluding lines of “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House”:

There’ll be that Dark Parade

Of Tassels – and of Coaches – soon –
It's easy as a Sign –
The Intuition of the News –
In just a Country Town –

The blog comment related to those lines suggested that the poem “reads like a matter-of-fact news report ‘In just a Country Town.’”

That statement coupled with the emotionally detached observations throughout Dickinson’s poem reminded me of Robert Frost’s “Out, out –” which was, as a matter of fact, written by Frost after he came across a country town’s news account of a boy’s death:

Yes, in March 1910, there was a Death in an Opposite House in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Raymond, one of the twin sons of Michael and Margaret Fitzgerald, received calls from the Minister and the “Man of the Appalling Trade.” Then there came “that Dark Parade.”

What connected the two poems in my mind were that newspaper account of the incident and Frost’s own emotionally detached final lines – a la Dickinson – “No more to build on there. And they, since they / Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs."

Raymond now rests for all eternity in the Glenwood Cemetery in Littleton, New Hampshire.

Info on Raymond Fitzgerald's grave site is HERE.

By the way, the title of Frost’s poem is an allusion to a line in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” but not “Out, out – damned spot.” Lady Macbeth does, in fact, utter something similar – “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” – but she doesn’t say, “Out, out.” No, Frost’s allusion relates to Macbeth’s Act V soliloquy, “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow”: “Out, out, brief candle!”

OH – one last thing about Dickinson’s poem. Beyond the macabre details of the poem, did anything strike you as odd? Take one more look at the poem to see, and then I’ll get to what I’m talking about tomorrow.

Close Encounters of a Poetic Kind

7/6/2025

I have now returned home after trips to New York City and Baltimore, and my “Close Encounters of a Poetic Kind” experience occurred while visiting the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. I was there with one of my daughters while my wife and other daughter were running errands, and we were all going to meet up at the Metropolitan Museum later in the day.

While at the library, we visited the library’s “first-ever permanent exhibition” highlighting items from their world-renowned collections. For example, we saw a First Folio of Shakespeare printed in 1623, music composed in Mozart’s handwriting (from Symphony No. 32 in G Major), and the original Winnie the Pooh and friends (all pictured below).

Info on the library’s free exhibit, “Treasures,” is HERE.

When we exited the exhibit on the first floor, I told my daughter that we should run up to the third floor just to take a quick peek at the study and research rooms because they are spectacularly beautiful; however, when we got up there, I saw that the rooms are now roped off and one cannot go in unless conducting research and/or studying (I assume with an appointment). We could look in only from an allocated spot several feet from the entry doorway.

We peered in to see as much as we could see, and then as we were about to leave, I had an idea. I walked up to one of the guards and asked if I could go in. I told her that I published daily posts about Emily Dickinson, and I wondered if the library had a copy of the first edition of Dickinson poem published posthumously in 1890.

I gave a bit of background – about the number of poems Dickinson wrote, how they were discovered after her death, how lucky we are that her sister didn’t burn them, etc. – and the guard was so intrigued that she agreed that I must see a copy of the book – IF the library had one!

She then discreetly ushered my daughter and I into the main study area, and she told me to speak with a reference librarian.

LOL – we were in, and my heart was pounding!

I gave a similar spiel to the reference librarian, and she was equally fascinated, so she began her online search. Alas, thousands of entries popped up when she typed in “Dickinson,” so I suggested that she run a more specific search for the name “Mabel Loomis Todd,” and that did the trick.

She showed me her screen as the search narrowed, and I saw a book published by Todd and Higginson in 1890 and whisper-screamed, “That’s it!”

“No,” she said, “this says ‘sixth edition.”

I explained that the first printing of “Poems” had six printings in 1890, and that that book – edited by Todd and Higginson and published by Roberts Brothers of Boston – was indeed a first edition.

She got so excited she looked into this a bit more, and it seemed that the library seemed to have a first edition from the first printing.

She printed the information, handed it to me, and pointed to some doors on the far wall of the research room.

“See those doors?” she said. “Go there. That’s our rare book collection. Buzz to get in, and tell them that I sent you.”

Needless to say, my heart was palpitating wildly, though I tried to exhibit a calm and professional aspect on the outside. Inside, I was doing the Snoopy dance.

My daughter walked to the doors, but we could not figure out how to “buzz” ourselves in, so we returned to the reference librarian to ask.

She looked at the doors and then looked at us, and I could tell by the look on her face that “Houston, we have a problem.”
“Oh, I forgot,” she said. “Today is Monday, and the rare books room is closed on Mondays.”

OOOOOHHHH NOOOOOO!

Alas, I could not return the next day as the hour of our train departure would not allow sufficient time to see the book! Woe was me!

BUT – I have all the info I need for my next visit to New York – so that is something to look forward to!

As my daughter and I exited the study area, the guard came running over to see what I had found out. LOL – she was as disappointed as I was – but I told her I’d stop by to see her on my next visit!

Ide Notice

3/15/2025

Beware, everyone, ’tis the Ides of March! But did you know that the “ides” for each month is NOT the 15th?
Here's a breakdown:

15th Day of the Month: March, May, July, and October
13th Day of the Month: January, February, April, June, August, September, November, and December

Did Emily Dickinson ever use the word “ides” in any of her poems?

Nope.

Did she ever mention Caesar in any of her poems?

Yep. In three poems: “Great Caesar! Condescend,” “Knock with tremor,” and “The Child’s faith is new.”

She even mentioned Shakespeare in one poem, “Drama’s Vitallest Expression” (and she even gave “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet” a shout out too).

Dickinson LOVED reading Shakespeare, and in a letter to Joseph Lymon she wrote, "Going home I flew to the shelves and devoured the luscious passages. I thought I should tear the leaves out as I turned them. Then I settled down to a willingness for all the rest to go but William Shakespeare. Why need we Joseph read anything else but him?"

By the way: Joseph Lyman was a friend of Austin Dickinson, a beau of Lavinia Dickinson, and an admirer of Emily Dickinson, with whom he corresponded.

Just curious: Any Shakespeare fans out there who agree with Dickinson -- "Why read anything else but him"?

Cross Pollination

5/21/2024

I’m posting ten of my favorite ED poems about death and grief, and today’s entry will take a few twists and turns to include lines by Robert Frost, William Shakespeare and Elton John’s lyricist, Bernie Taupin.

Today’s poem by Dickinson is "Apparently with no surprise," an unforgiving poem about the facts of life. The image where “The Sun proceeds unmoved / To measure off another Day” reminds me of “Out, out,” Robert Frost’s poem about the death of a boy, which concludes, “No more to build on there. And they, since they / Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.”

To the right and below I’ve posted Dickinson’s poem and Frost’s poem, and just FYI: Frost’s poem was written in response to a newspaper article he’d read about the death of a sixteen-year-old boy. The story, from the March 31, 1910, edition of The Littleton Courier of Littleton, New Hampshire, is also posted below.

And this is wild: in exploring all of this, I also found info related to the young man’s gravesite; that's his tombstone pictured at the right; click HERE for info.

By the way, the title of Frost’s poem is an allusion to a line in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” but not “Out, out – damned spot.” Lady Macbeth actually says, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” No, Frost’s “out, out” comes from Macbeth’s soliloquy, “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow” – and I’ve posted that below as well.

And this is where Elton John and Bernie Taupin come in: Shakespeare’s “Out, out, brief candle!” always makes me think of Elton John’s hit about Marilyn Monroe, “Candle in the Wind” – a song they re-worked and re-titled as “Goodbye England’s Rose” for Princess Diana’s funeral.

Of course, the blonde casualties from two renditions of Elton John’s song bring me back to the “blonde assassin” in Dickinson’s poem.

Do all of these lines call to mind any other poems or songs for you?

As Time Goes By

3/23/2024

This past Wednesday I participated in the second meeting of a monthly discussion group about selected poems by Dickinson sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum.

Dickinson was an avid reader of Shakespeare, and the main theme of this month’s discussion centered on four poems connected to The Tempest (or at least “possibly” connected).

At the start, our moderator Dr. Melba Jensen shared information related to Dickinson’s love of Shakespeare, the Bard’s reception in the nineteenth century, and the poet’s personal edition of The Tempest.

Most of the discussion centered on the first two poems, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” (info HERE) and “An awful Tempest mashed the air" (info HERE).

Alas, time passed all too quickly and very little time was given to “She rose to his requirement – dropt” and “A route of evanescence.”

The moderator’s main connection of “She rose to his requirement – dropt” was that, for her, the poem called to mind the character of Miranda. We also had a bit of discussion about the antecedent for the reflexive pronoun “Himself” in the final stanza. To me, that refers to the Sea – i.e. he who develops “Pearl and (sea)Weed” and who knows “The Fathoms they abide.”

The discussion session was an hour and a half, and time did run out by the time we got to the final poem – which does mention Tunis, a city named in “The Tempest” (prior to being shipwrecked, the men on the ship were in Tunis) – so the moderator just let us know that that particular poem – Dickinson’s tribute to the hummingbird – was included in several letters written to various friends and acquaintances.

We then bid adieu until our meeting in April! ; )

One or the Other?

3/22/2024

Earlier this week I participated in the second meeting of a monthly discussion group about selected poems by Dickinson sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum.

Dickinson was an avid reader of Shakespeare, and the main theme of this month’s discussion centered on four poems connected to The Tempest (or at least “possibly” connected).

At the start, our moderator Dr Melba Jensen shared information related to Dickinson’s love of Shakespeare, the Bard’s reception in the nineteenth century, and the poet’s personal edition of The Tempest.
After we discussed “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” we moved on to “An awful Tempest mashed the air.”

Of the four poems, this one had the most obvious connection to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” (LOL – Dr. Jensen began the discussion with “Did you note the ‘Easter eggs’ in the poem?’).

For one thing, Dickinson mentions the title of the play in the poem’s first line, and in addition to the poem’s depiction of a turbulent storm, the final stanza seems to suggest some of the play’s plot points.

to the play – or in any other

Interestingly, most of the participants’ discussion focused on the final stanza: If, indeed, this poem is in reference to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” who is the “monster” who/which has turned “slowly to his native coast”? Some in the group were sure the stanza alluded to Prospero, while others thought it suggested Caliban (I’m not so familiar with the play as to make an argument either way).

Also, since this poem was written at the time of the Civil War, our moderator asked if the images and themes in this poem could in any way – albeit subtly – reflect what was going on in the world (i.e., the United States) – and she presented the concept of the “multi-vocal poem” – with regard to the different paths one could take in interpreting this poem.

Are you familiar with Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”? Does this poem connect with you in regards to the play – or in any other way?

NOTE: I posted this on Counter Social as part of my daily Dickinson posts (#DickinsonDaily), and I received these two comments:

FROM ONE:

I am surprised that anyone would think Dickinson's "Monster" refers to Prospero, Shakespeare calls Caliban a monster several times in The Tempest.

FROM ANOTHER:

If it's Caliban, why is he turning to the coast of his native land if he's already on it? Is she therefore implying that Prospero is the monster and the coast is Italy?

Nobody But You

3/21/2024

Last night I participated in the second of a monthly discussion group about selected poems by Dickinson sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum.

Dickinson was an avid reader of Shakespeare, and the main theme of last night’s discussion centered on four poems connected to The Tempest (or at least “possibly” connected).

At the start, Dr Melba Jensen shared information related to Dickinson’s love of Shakespeare, the Bard’s reception in the nineteenth century, and the poet’s personal edition of The Tempest.

Then we examined the poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” This poem doesn’t necessarily have a direct connection to Shakespeare’s play; however, Dr. Jensen felt as though the theme of the poem called to mind the character of Ariel: In The Tempest, Act III, Scene 2, Trinculo hears an invisible spirit named Ariel playing music; he follows Ariel into a foul-smelling swamp.

Dr. Jensen also provided information from Charles Knight’s editorial note in Dickinson’s edition of Shakespeare’s plays which centered on an illustration of “Nobody,” a figure that appeared on medieval signs.

Because he had “no body,” his breeches” rose to his neck. Nobody’s endless “breeches” associated him with the legal profession (LOL – don’t ask me why), so the figure often held a roll of legal parchment and was considered a lawyer. Comic dialogues between “Nobody” and “Somebody” are recorded from the 17th-century onward. “Somebody” was often pictured as a soldier.

Most of our group’s talk on this poem focused on whether or not the speaker of “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” was addressing another person or if the lines represented an internal monologue (LOL – it certainly seems to be an anthem to the introvert) — and there was some discussion related to Dickinson’s view of fame and celebrity.

Members of the group also discussed how their reactions to this poem changed after hearing someone in the group read the poem out loud. To many, the public reading – vs. one’s silent reading – seemed to come across as more playful and sassy.

What are your thoughts on this poem?

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at “An awful Tempest mashed the air.”

Such Stuff As Poems Are Made On?

3/20/2024

I’m participating in a monthly discussion group about selected poems by Dickinson sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum. We’ve met once so far, and March’s meeting is tonight.

Here’s the major theme for tonight’s discussion:

“While Dickinson’s poems may not directly mention The Tempest, she was an avid reader of Shakespeare. During the discussion, Dr. Melba Jensen will share more about Dickinson’s relationship with Shakespeare, his reception in the nineteenth century, and the poet’s personal edition of The Tempest. We will explore four poems that Jensen considers allusive to the characters in the play.”

The four poems we will discuss are the following:

“I’m Nobody! Who are you?”

“An awful Tempest mashed the air”

“She rose to His Requirement - dropt”

“A Route of Evanescence”

Interestingly, I posted “A route of evanescence” yesterday (HERE) as part of a discussion about the first publication of Dickinson’s poems: Emily Dickinson sent the poem via a letter to Mabel Loomis Todd to thank her for a gift she’d received, a gift of a painting of some Indian Pipe flowers.

I’ll be interested to see if that story is a part of the discussion tonight.

Below: The cover of Emily Dickinson's book of plays by Shakespeare and the title page to The Tempest. You can access the book online HERE.