In his Foreword to Sharon Leiter’s “Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson, A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work,” poet Gregory Orr noted that “More of Emily Dickinson’s poems begin with ‘I’ than any other word” (143 poems.)
I wrote about that the other day, HERE.
That bit of trivia made me think of that old saying, “Me, myself and I” – and yes, that led me to wonder about how many different poems did Dickinson use the words “me,” “myself,” and “I.” I also checked into “my” and “mine.”
Well, this venture (as I expected) turned out to be a bit overwhelming.
When I ran a search for the pronoun “I” on the online Dickinson archive, 1,657 entries popped up. However, this number does not mean “I” appears in 1,657 different poems because multiple entries can represent a single poem (for example, one entry might represent the version of the poem as it appears in the Johnson edition of Dickinson’s poetry; another entry might represent the version of the poem in Franklin’s edition; another entry might represent the poem as it appeared in the 1890 publication of Dickinson’s “Poems,” while still another entry might represent a variation of the poem she included in a letter to a family member or cherished friend, etc.).
Sooo…in how many different poems did Dickinson use the pronoun “I”?
Yikes! The number of entries was far too high for me to dive into – but here’s what I did.
First I checked the number of archive entries for the various pronouns:
I : 1,657
My: 1020
Me: 993
Mine: 238
Myself: 163
Since the number was relatively low for “myself” (163), I analyzed those entries and found that the number represented 68 different poems, or 41.7% of the total number of entries.
IF that ratio holds true for the other pronouns, then “I” shows up in 691 poems, “my” in 426 poems, “me” in 414 poems, and “mine” in 99 poems.
I then put my hypothesis to the test: I analyzed the entries for “mine” (238) to see if I’d come up with 99 poems – or 41.7% of the entries. The results were close: the 238 entries for “mine” represented 93 different poems, or 39.1% of the entries.
Next, I combined the two categories I’d analyzed: 401 entries (238 for “mine” and 163 for “myself”) represented 161 poems, or 40.1% of the entries.
Based on this new percentage – if it were to hold true – then “I” would be in approximately 665 different poems, “my” in 409 poems, and “me” in 398 poems.
I wrote about that the other day, HERE.
That bit of trivia made me think of that old saying, “Me, myself and I” – and yes, that led me to wonder about how many different poems did Dickinson use the words “me,” “myself,” and “I.” I also checked into “my” and “mine.”
Well, this venture (as I expected) turned out to be a bit overwhelming.
When I ran a search for the pronoun “I” on the online Dickinson archive, 1,657 entries popped up. However, this number does not mean “I” appears in 1,657 different poems because multiple entries can represent a single poem (for example, one entry might represent the version of the poem as it appears in the Johnson edition of Dickinson’s poetry; another entry might represent the version of the poem in Franklin’s edition; another entry might represent the poem as it appeared in the 1890 publication of Dickinson’s “Poems,” while still another entry might represent a variation of the poem she included in a letter to a family member or cherished friend, etc.).
Sooo…in how many different poems did Dickinson use the pronoun “I”?
Yikes! The number of entries was far too high for me to dive into – but here’s what I did.
First I checked the number of archive entries for the various pronouns:
I : 1,657
My: 1020
Me: 993
Mine: 238
Myself: 163
Since the number was relatively low for “myself” (163), I analyzed those entries and found that the number represented 68 different poems, or 41.7% of the total number of entries.
IF that ratio holds true for the other pronouns, then “I” shows up in 691 poems, “my” in 426 poems, “me” in 414 poems, and “mine” in 99 poems.
I then put my hypothesis to the test: I analyzed the entries for “mine” (238) to see if I’d come up with 99 poems – or 41.7% of the entries. The results were close: the 238 entries for “mine” represented 93 different poems, or 39.1% of the entries.
Next, I combined the two categories I’d analyzed: 401 entries (238 for “mine” and 163 for “myself”) represented 161 poems, or 40.1% of the entries.
Based on this new percentage – if it were to hold true – then “I” would be in approximately 665 different poems, “my” in 409 poems, and “me” in 398 poems.
Soooo…do you find this information vital – and telling – or a bit more nugatory? LOL. Either way, I’ll have a bit more to say about this tomorrow.
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