I discovered something I found very interesting – and something I never knew before. I knew that Dickinson had only ten (remember that number – TEN) poems published in her lifetime – all published anonymously; however, when I was reading a 2006 article by researcher Peggy Henderson Murphy titled “Isolated but not Oblivious: A Re-evaluation of Emily Dickinson’s Relationship to the Civil War,” I came across this information in a footnote: |
Wow – I was 26 years old when Dandurand discovered this previously unknown information – three published works by Dickinson in a Civil War fund-raising magazine, “The Drum Beat.”
How cool is that! LOL – not the fact that I was 26 – but that she stumbled across these three poems which no one knew were among the ones published in Dickinson's lifetime!
PLUS, Dandurand concluded that Dickinson AGREED to having them published. Yes, they were published anonymously; however – according to Dandurand – they were published with Dickinson’s consent.
Here’s more info from the article:
“In 1864, the wartime fund-raising magazine The Drum Beat published three of Dickinson's poems: ‘Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple,’ titled ‘Sunset,’ ‘Flowers Well if anybody,’ titled ‘Flowers,’ and ‘These are the days when Birds come Back,’ titled ‘October.’ If Dickinson chose to offer these poems for publication in The Drum Beat then they must be seen as her contribution to the Union Cause (Dandurand 18).”
More on all of this tomorrow.
Yesterday I mentioned that one letter and ten poems by Dickinson were published during her lifetime. All were printed without attribution. A complete list of the poems published is HERE.
I also noted that modern readers did not know of three of the published works until they were “discovered” in a Civil War publication, “The Drum Beat,” in the early 1980s. Prior to this, scholars believe that only seven of Dickinson’s works had been published in her lifetime. That changed when Karen Dandurand published “New Dickinson Civil War Publications” in the March 1984 edition of “American Literature.” That article is available at JSTOR, linked below; however, it is not available for free online reading. A portion of the online preview is pictured at the right, and the link to JSTOR is HERE. The three poems published in The Drum Beat were “‘Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple,” titled “Sunset,” “Flowers Well if anybody,” titled “Flowers,” and “These are the days when Birds come Back,” titled “October.” |
Plus, it turns out that Reverend Storrs knew the Dickinsons! I’ll have info on that tomorrow!
Recently I’ve posted info about three of Dickinson’s poems which – in the early 1980s – were discovered to have been published in the Civil War publication “The Drum Beat,” The three poems were “‘Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple,” “Flowers Well if anybody,” and “These are the days when Birds come Back.”
In one article I read, the author stated, “Although we cannot know for sure if Dickinson willingly offered the poems to The Drum Beat, there is ample evidence to support the assertion that she did so” – and she discussed the improbability that the publisher, Reverend Richard Salter Storrs would have printed Dickinson’s poems without her permission.
Plus, it turns out that Reverend Storrs knew the Dickinsons!
Storrs and his wife, Mary, developed an intimate relationship with Austin and Susan Dickinson beginning in 1862. A mutual friend, Samuels Bowles, introduced them to Austin and Susan, and after the introduction, the Storrses stayed at the Evergreens, the home of Austin and Sue Dickinson when they visited Amherst, which they did at least once a year.
During the early 1860s, Emily Dickinson spent a great deal of time at the Evergreens; therefore, it is possible that during these visits Dickinson became acquainted with the Storrses, and she began a correspondence with Mary Elwell Storrs who often helped her husband in his pastoral and editing duties – although none of their letters survive,
It is possible that it was on her suggestion that Storrs requested the poems that were published in The Drum Beat. Further, the acknowledgment written by Storrs in The Drum Beat claims that all of the “correspondents… voluntarily supplied the editor with the communications with which his columns have been largely filled” – so the evidence seems to point to the idea that Dickinson willingly submitted her poems for publication.