My two most recent posts (HERE and HERE) have focused on the Dickinson family’s library and various quotes Emily Dickinson made about books. Hmm…that made me wonder, how often did Dickinson use the word “book” in her poetry?
| If you search the word “book” in the online Dickinson archive, fifty-three entries pop up, and they represent eighteen different poems. The list includes one other poem, “Read, sweet, how others strove,” that was given the title “The Book of Martyrs” by editor Mabel Loomis Todd; however, the poem itself does not include the word “book.” I would say that Dickinson’s most famous “book” poem is the oft quoted, “There is no frigate like a book.” |  |
Sooo….did Dickinson ever use the word “library” in any of her poems? Yes, in one, “Unto my books so good to turn.” Also, when Mabel Loomis Todd first published Dickinson’s “A precious, mouldering pleasure ’tis,” she gave that poem the title, “In a Library.” That poem opens with these wonderful lines about old books:
A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think
A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think
 |  |
CAUTION: If, by chance, you are a teacher and decide to cover "Unto my Books so good to turn" with your students, please note that line 5 uses the word "Retarded" -- but not as "the R word" as a pejorative term. No, in stanza two, she is comparing the reading of books to the tasting of flavors at a banquet, and the "Retarded Guests" are those who arrive late. Perhaps you could tie it in to a discussion on the idea of being "fashionably late." ;-)
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