Yesterday (HERE) I shared a short tribute to Emily Dickinson entitled “Setting Out” written by George Monteiro (1932-2019). Monteiro was professor emeritus of English and of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown University and the author or editor of books on various authors, including Emily Dickinson (of course), Stephen Crane, Robert Frost and may more.
Interestingly, I found a tribute to Monteiro on the site of the Stephen Crane Society, HERE.
Interestingly, I found a tribute to Monteiro on the site of the Stephen Crane Society, HERE.
Annnd…I was “this close” to steering you, dear reader, to a curious connection to Crane in the form of a tribute penned to the Belle of Amherst – but no. ’Twas Hart Crane who wrote the poem “To Emily Dickinson” and not Stephen Crane.
That near-blunder made me wonder, though, if Crane (i.e., Stephen) ever read anything by or wrote anything about Dickinson. I ran a quick search and discovered Donna Campbell’s post from 2018 entitled, “Did Stephen Crane read Emily Dickinson? Better still, did W. D. Howells read Dickinson’s poetry to Crane?” The answer is a definite “maybe.” The article is HERE.
[QUICK ASIDE: Did you know that Stephen Crane was just 28 years old when he died? Oh, and Hart Crane was just 32 when he died.]
Back to Monteiro. In 1988 he wrote Robert Frost and the New England Renaissance. A description of the book on the publisher’s site includes this bit of info on Frost:
“Frost's insistence that Emerson and Thoreau were the giants of nineteenth-century American letters is confirmed by the many poems, variously influenced, that derive from them. His attitude toward Emily Dickinson, however, was more complex and sometimes less generous. In his twenties he molded his poetry after hers. But later, after he joined the faculty of Amherst College, he found her to be less a benefactor than a competitor.”
Then came this intriguing statement of Monteiro’s work:
“Monteiro tells a two-stranded tale of (Frost’s) attraction, imitation, and homage countered by competition, denigration, and grudging acceptance of Dickinson's greatness as a woman poet. In a daring move, he composes—out of Frost's own words and phrases—the talk on Emily Dickinson that Frost was never invited to give.”
Hmm…I believe Imma have to look into that. And by the way, as I was looking into all of this – the weave of connections entwining Dickinson and Monteiro – I found this: George Monteiro’s name is listed on the Emily Dickinson Museum’s page of “Core Founders":
That near-blunder made me wonder, though, if Crane (i.e., Stephen) ever read anything by or wrote anything about Dickinson. I ran a quick search and discovered Donna Campbell’s post from 2018 entitled, “Did Stephen Crane read Emily Dickinson? Better still, did W. D. Howells read Dickinson’s poetry to Crane?” The answer is a definite “maybe.” The article is HERE.
[QUICK ASIDE: Did you know that Stephen Crane was just 28 years old when he died? Oh, and Hart Crane was just 32 when he died.]
Back to Monteiro. In 1988 he wrote Robert Frost and the New England Renaissance. A description of the book on the publisher’s site includes this bit of info on Frost:
“Frost's insistence that Emerson and Thoreau were the giants of nineteenth-century American letters is confirmed by the many poems, variously influenced, that derive from them. His attitude toward Emily Dickinson, however, was more complex and sometimes less generous. In his twenties he molded his poetry after hers. But later, after he joined the faculty of Amherst College, he found her to be less a benefactor than a competitor.”
Then came this intriguing statement of Monteiro’s work:
“Monteiro tells a two-stranded tale of (Frost’s) attraction, imitation, and homage countered by competition, denigration, and grudging acceptance of Dickinson's greatness as a woman poet. In a daring move, he composes—out of Frost's own words and phrases—the talk on Emily Dickinson that Frost was never invited to give.”
Hmm…I believe Imma have to look into that. And by the way, as I was looking into all of this – the weave of connections entwining Dickinson and Monteiro – I found this: George Monteiro’s name is listed on the Emily Dickinson Museum’s page of “Core Founders":
| And to flip the famous catchphrase uttered by Porky Pig many a time, "Th-th-th-that's NOT all folks!." I was prepared to sign off this morning and publish this post when a synapse in my brain synapped. I wondered if Monteiro had any role in the founding of the Crane society. In the founding of it – no; however, I did find this: |  |
Okay, now it's time to sign off:
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