Recent posts have been about Emily Dickinson’s handwriting, and one back on June 12th (HERE) – about “A bird came down the walk” – mentioned Dickinson’s use of the word “plash.” Well, today’s post combines these two topics: Dickinson’s handwriting AND her use of the word “plash” – or is it “plush”?
In the June 12th post, I included the following:
One doesn’t come across the word “plash” all that often – at least I don’t – and “plash” is the sound produced by liquid striking something or being struck. Dickinson used a form of the word in three poems:
Plashless: A Bird came down the Walk
Plashing: A Prison gets to be a friend
Plash: I’ve known a heaven like a tent
And then I came across this letter from Thomas Wentworth Higginson to Mabel Loomis Todd as they discussed their editing of Dickinson’s poetry for their volumes of her work yet to be published; here is a portion of the letter about the poem “The night was wide, and furnished scant”:
Dublin, N.H.
Aug 18, 1891
Dear Friend
Also, I had altered “Like intermittent plush” to “In intermittent plash,” thinking it must be plash – but as you say it is not, I have altered it back to your reading.
Ever yrs.
T.W.H.
Every edition of Dickinson’s poems I have checked has the word as “plush” – though I tend to agree with Higginson that “it must be plash.” LOL.
I’ve included the handwritten manuscript of the poem below. What do you think? Is it “plash” – or is it “plush”?
In the June 12th post, I included the following:
One doesn’t come across the word “plash” all that often – at least I don’t – and “plash” is the sound produced by liquid striking something or being struck. Dickinson used a form of the word in three poems:
Plashless: A Bird came down the Walk
Plashing: A Prison gets to be a friend
Plash: I’ve known a heaven like a tent
And then I came across this letter from Thomas Wentworth Higginson to Mabel Loomis Todd as they discussed their editing of Dickinson’s poetry for their volumes of her work yet to be published; here is a portion of the letter about the poem “The night was wide, and furnished scant”:
Dublin, N.H.
Aug 18, 1891
Dear Friend
Also, I had altered “Like intermittent plush” to “In intermittent plash,” thinking it must be plash – but as you say it is not, I have altered it back to your reading.
Ever yrs.
T.W.H.
Every edition of Dickinson’s poems I have checked has the word as “plush” – though I tend to agree with Higginson that “it must be plash.” LOL.
I’ve included the handwritten manuscript of the poem below. What do you think? Is it “plash” – or is it “plush”?
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