From our 19th century historian Eudora Dickinson:
Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) and Charles Dickens met several times in the late 1800s, and Dickens was admittedly an avid reader of Dickinson’s poems. Dickens, in fact, made it no secret that he conceived the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol after reading Dickinson’s now classic poem “The right to perish is their thought” (below on the left). Dickinson’s poem also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “The right to perish might be thought” (below on the right).
Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) and Charles Dickens met several times in the late 1800s, and Dickens was admittedly an avid reader of Dickinson’s poems. Dickens, in fact, made it no secret that he conceived the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol after reading Dickinson’s now classic poem “The right to perish is their thought” (below on the left). Dickinson’s poem also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “The right to perish might be thought” (below on the right).
| Of course, Emmett Lee Dickinson was quite a visionary, and the subjects and themes of much of his poetry ring true to this day. For example, the poem below, “The right to perish is their thought,” seems to depict the current despicable moves on the part of the GOP to deprive health insurance to millions of Americans. “If the uninsured are going to die then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population,” growled Mitch McConnell as he took the first steps in the Senate to pull the plug on the health care needs of Americans. “If I could work my will,” echoed Paul Ryan in the House, “every idiot who tweets #SaveACA should be boiled in his own chicken soup and buried with a hypodermic needle through his heart.” Are their shameful actions straight out of Dickinson – or Dickens – or both? Pictured at the right: Mitch McConnell is delighted at the passing of another American on whom he pulled the plug. |  |
| By Emmett Lee Dickinson: The right to perish is their thought The undisputed Right – Accept it, all the Uninsured And don’t put up a fight With outright glee the GOP – Elects to pull the plug By nature all mankind does pause To hear their, “Bah! Humbug!” | By Emily Dickinson: The right to perish might be thought An undisputed right – Attempt it, and the Universe Upon the opposite Will concentrate its officers – You cannot even die But nature and mankind must pause To pay you scrutiny. |
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