I have been writing about the decisions early editors had to make concerning Dickinson’s poetry related to spelling, grammar, capitalization, word choice, rhyme and more.
“Just how much shock, of form or of content, could the reader absorb?” wrote Millicent Todd Bingham in 1945 about her mother Mabel Loomis Todd’s early work in preparing selected poems for publication.
“Irregularities of usage and roughnesses of expression now accepted as part of Emily’s technique, many readers thought merely grotesque half a century ago.”
“Such things,” wrote Bingham about her mother’s approach to Dickinson’s work in 1890, “must not be permitted to subject her (i.e., Dickinson) to ridicule, or course. But, my mother told me, technical correctness seemed to her beside the point. She always doubted whether the poetry should be judged by such a standard. For instance, should a poem be rejected because it was rough when an inner spark might hold enough power to change the course of a life? Should it be discarded if it contained a word not in the dictionary?”
For example, “gianture,” a word Dickinson coined for the poem “The giant tolerates no gnat” (I wrote about words coined by Dickinson yesterday).
“Just how much shock, of form or of content, could the reader absorb?” wrote Millicent Todd Bingham in 1945 about her mother Mabel Loomis Todd’s early work in preparing selected poems for publication.
“Irregularities of usage and roughnesses of expression now accepted as part of Emily’s technique, many readers thought merely grotesque half a century ago.”
“Such things,” wrote Bingham about her mother’s approach to Dickinson’s work in 1890, “must not be permitted to subject her (i.e., Dickinson) to ridicule, or course. But, my mother told me, technical correctness seemed to her beside the point. She always doubted whether the poetry should be judged by such a standard. For instance, should a poem be rejected because it was rough when an inner spark might hold enough power to change the course of a life? Should it be discarded if it contained a word not in the dictionary?”
For example, “gianture,” a word Dickinson coined for the poem “The giant tolerates no gnat” (I wrote about words coined by Dickinson yesterday).
“When Emily Dickinson was unknown, her acceptance by the literary world problematical,” wrote Bingham, “such decisions were weighty. The poems chosen to introduce her must not be too queer. The editors never ceased to feel handicapped by this limitation.”
Due to the “problematical” nature of Dickinson’s work, publishers in 1890 weren’t keen on printing her work. For example, Houghton Mifflin Company turned her down. “It has always seemed to me that it would be unwise to perpetuate Miss Dickson’s poems,” wrote another. More on this tomorrow.
Due to the “problematical” nature of Dickinson’s work, publishers in 1890 weren’t keen on printing her work. For example, Houghton Mifflin Company turned her down. “It has always seemed to me that it would be unwise to perpetuate Miss Dickson’s poems,” wrote another. More on this tomorrow.
RSS Feed
