I have a log where I keep info on all of my Dickinson-related posts. I write down all the topics I’ve posted in the past, ideas for future posts, interesting quotes and bits of trivia, Dickinson-related sites and blogs, and even “loose ends” – ideas to revisit in the future that might be related to some past post.
Today I have a “loose end” – “Grand Rapids’ Emily Dickinson Connection” – but I can’t remember exactly to which past post this “loose end” connects. I’d typed out the following note beside a link I saved, “See letter to Sue at start of ‘A narrow fellow in the grass,” but none of this seems to make sense to me now.
Concerning the note I’d written to myself: In 1870 or as late as 1872, Dickinson sent a copy of “A narrow fellow in the grass” to her sister-in-law Susan Dickinson, probably because Susan’s copy of the poem had been forwarded to The Springfield Daily Republican. That poem had been printed in the newspaper as “The Snake” on February 14, 1866 – it was one of the ten poems of Dickinson’s that was published during her lifetime – and Susan must have requested another copy of the poem.
When Dickinson sent the poem to Susan, she included news that the Norcross cousins were expected for a visit. Apparently Sue had sent over a note saying that she would like to make an evening call, so at the top of the poem, Dickinson wrote, “My Sue – Loo and Fanny will come tonight, but need that make a difference? Space is as the Presence –”
Today I have a “loose end” – “Grand Rapids’ Emily Dickinson Connection” – but I can’t remember exactly to which past post this “loose end” connects. I’d typed out the following note beside a link I saved, “See letter to Sue at start of ‘A narrow fellow in the grass,” but none of this seems to make sense to me now.
Concerning the note I’d written to myself: In 1870 or as late as 1872, Dickinson sent a copy of “A narrow fellow in the grass” to her sister-in-law Susan Dickinson, probably because Susan’s copy of the poem had been forwarded to The Springfield Daily Republican. That poem had been printed in the newspaper as “The Snake” on February 14, 1866 – it was one of the ten poems of Dickinson’s that was published during her lifetime – and Susan must have requested another copy of the poem.
When Dickinson sent the poem to Susan, she included news that the Norcross cousins were expected for a visit. Apparently Sue had sent over a note saying that she would like to make an evening call, so at the top of the poem, Dickinson wrote, “My Sue – Loo and Fanny will come tonight, but need that make a difference? Space is as the Presence –”
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A copy of that complete letter/poem can be seen HERE.
According to the Dickinson archive,
“This is among the writings that strongly suggest that Sue and Emily's not seeing one another for long periods of time is a biographical construction based on unreliable gossip received as fact (e.g., stories told by Mary Lee Hall and recirculated by Richard Sewall in The Life of Emily Dickinson; Hall helped perpetuate tales of Dickinson's unrequited and/or unrealized love for a male suitor, felt particular animosity for Susan and her daughter Martha, and strongly allied herself with (Mabel Loomis) Todd and (Millicent Todd) Bingham.”
Sooo…on my log, next to a link about a connection to Grand Rapids, Michigan, I had typed a note to myself, “See letter to Sue at start of ‘A narrow fellow in the grass,” and now I can’t figure out why I wrote that.
The Grand Rapids’ link does have to do with Susan Dickinson’s family, but “Loo and Fanny” in the letter/poem to Susan Dickinson are not of that family, but of Dickinson’s mother’s family, the Norcrosses.
Anyway, the link is HERE, and I’ll touch on more of this tomorrow.
According to the Dickinson archive,
“This is among the writings that strongly suggest that Sue and Emily's not seeing one another for long periods of time is a biographical construction based on unreliable gossip received as fact (e.g., stories told by Mary Lee Hall and recirculated by Richard Sewall in The Life of Emily Dickinson; Hall helped perpetuate tales of Dickinson's unrequited and/or unrealized love for a male suitor, felt particular animosity for Susan and her daughter Martha, and strongly allied herself with (Mabel Loomis) Todd and (Millicent Todd) Bingham.”
Sooo…on my log, next to a link about a connection to Grand Rapids, Michigan, I had typed a note to myself, “See letter to Sue at start of ‘A narrow fellow in the grass,” and now I can’t figure out why I wrote that.
The Grand Rapids’ link does have to do with Susan Dickinson’s family, but “Loo and Fanny” in the letter/poem to Susan Dickinson are not of that family, but of Dickinson’s mother’s family, the Norcrosses.
Anyway, the link is HERE, and I’ll touch on more of this tomorrow.
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