STOP THE PRESSES: I HAVE CORRECTED INFORMATION BELOW!
I contacted Dartmouth professor Ivy Schweitzer -- who is affiliated with the "White Heat: Emily Dickinson in 1862, A Weekly Blog," HERE -- about some confusion I encountered on that site when exploring Dickinson's Civil War poem "They dropped like Flakes."
The issue: The site noted that “They dropped like Flakes” was “First published in Further Poems edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leete Hampson in 1929.” However, just two lines later, the article said, “Dickinson’s first editors, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, recognized its subject and included it in the first collection of Dickinson’s poems published in 1890 under the title ‘The Battle-Field.’”
I contacted Dartmouth professor Ivy Schweitzer -- who is affiliated with the "White Heat: Emily Dickinson in 1862, A Weekly Blog," HERE -- about some confusion I encountered on that site when exploring Dickinson's Civil War poem "They dropped like Flakes."
The issue: The site noted that “They dropped like Flakes” was “First published in Further Poems edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leete Hampson in 1929.” However, just two lines later, the article said, “Dickinson’s first editors, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, recognized its subject and included it in the first collection of Dickinson’s poems published in 1890 under the title ‘The Battle-Field.’”
 | I looked through both the 1890 and the 1929 editions of Dickinson's poetry, and I could not find it in either one -- which led me to the age-old question, "What's up with that?" I poked around the White Heat site and found Dr. Schweitzer listed first on the page of collaborators HERE, clicked on her name and landed HERE, and emailed her my inquiry. "What's up with that?" |
Very quickly she responded, and here's what she said:
Dear James,
Thanks so much for pointing out these problems.
Indeed, somehow the comment box has disappeared. I will talk to my web designer about that and correct it. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Then, regarding “They dropped like Flakes,” you are right about the conflict in its publication info. It happened because that poem appears on a sheet with another poem. And we got the credits mixed up with the first poem. But I have corrected it now.
As for finding the poem, are you saying you looked at the 1890 Poems and the 1929 edition and could not find it? I think because that information refers to the first poem on the sheet. Also, you have 1890 in your message but it’s 1891, so that might be the problem there. It’s definitely in that third publication of her poems edited by Mabel Loomis Todd.
I really appreciate your email, and hope I got everything correct now.
Have a great Sunday.
Ivy
Dear James,
Thanks so much for pointing out these problems.
Indeed, somehow the comment box has disappeared. I will talk to my web designer about that and correct it. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Then, regarding “They dropped like Flakes,” you are right about the conflict in its publication info. It happened because that poem appears on a sheet with another poem. And we got the credits mixed up with the first poem. But I have corrected it now.
As for finding the poem, are you saying you looked at the 1890 Poems and the 1929 edition and could not find it? I think because that information refers to the first poem on the sheet. Also, you have 1890 in your message but it’s 1891, so that might be the problem there. It’s definitely in that third publication of her poems edited by Mabel Loomis Todd.
I really appreciate your email, and hope I got everything correct now.
Have a great Sunday.
Ivy
Imma be honest: When I received her response so quickly, I almost fell out of my chair! As you may know, I've been "fighting another battle" dealing with the misnumbering of Dickinson's poems on the Poetry Foundation site -- and peeps from the PF and the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst have ignored my emails, calls and messages -- so I'm sort of used to being ignored! LOL! Don't fret though, dearest readers. If I can't get that issue resolved soon, I'm going to call for a National Day of Protest on March 11, 2025 (LOL -- 311 is the proper number that should be displayed on the PF site).
Anyhoo -- Dr. Schweitzer responded for which I am very grateful. She gave me the correct year of the publication, 1891, and I checked an online edition of that book, HERE, and voila! There it was! See below!
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We can all relax and breathe a little easier tonight thanks to one Ivy Schweitzer of Dartmouth College!
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