In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that in the mid-1800s, the arrival of a letter from Emily Dickinson among her friends was viewed as a “remarkable occasion.” Her letters were described as “so full of meaning and so poetical” and “little gems!” I also said that Dickinson seemed to realize her own repute. She shared in a letter to friend Edward Dwight that others “think me larger than I am.” The story behind that letter is interesting.
Reverend Edward S. Dwight was the pastor at the First Church in Amherst, and in this letter, Dickinson admitted that a previous letter to him with a poem was meant for another.
“I made the mistake,” she wrote to Dwight and stated she had “misenveloped to you - and your's - to the other friend.” LOL – don’t you love her confession, “misenveloped”?
She surmised that her letter & poem “must have surprised your taste - I have the friend who loves me - and thinks me larger than I am - and to reduce a Glamour, innocently caused - I sent the little Verse to Him. Your gentle answer - undeserved, I more thank you for.”
Dickinson scholar and editor Thomas Johnson said of the letter, “ED had reversed the contents of envelopes posted about the same time in December, one to Dwight and one to the (unidentified) friend who ‘thinks me larger than I am.’ Dwight replied, enclosing a verse and a photograph of his late wife. This letter, which acknowledges Dwight's, concludes with the final stanza of ‘There came a Day at Summer's full,’ adapted to the memory of Mrs. Dwight.”
Hmm…I wonder who the unidentified friend was – and which poem she had enclosed? Well…I’ll have a bit to say about this tomorrow.
Reverend Edward S. Dwight was the pastor at the First Church in Amherst, and in this letter, Dickinson admitted that a previous letter to him with a poem was meant for another.
“I made the mistake,” she wrote to Dwight and stated she had “misenveloped to you - and your's - to the other friend.” LOL – don’t you love her confession, “misenveloped”?
She surmised that her letter & poem “must have surprised your taste - I have the friend who loves me - and thinks me larger than I am - and to reduce a Glamour, innocently caused - I sent the little Verse to Him. Your gentle answer - undeserved, I more thank you for.”
Dickinson scholar and editor Thomas Johnson said of the letter, “ED had reversed the contents of envelopes posted about the same time in December, one to Dwight and one to the (unidentified) friend who ‘thinks me larger than I am.’ Dwight replied, enclosing a verse and a photograph of his late wife. This letter, which acknowledges Dwight's, concludes with the final stanza of ‘There came a Day at Summer's full,’ adapted to the memory of Mrs. Dwight.”
Hmm…I wonder who the unidentified friend was – and which poem she had enclosed? Well…I’ll have a bit to say about this tomorrow.
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