Are you ready for this? Wait till you hear my plans, LOL!
First, before I get to my wild plans, here’s some background:
The Poetry Foundation site includes a biography on Emily Dickinson, and it includes links to pages with many of her poems.
I have not checked all of her poems (I’ll do that at a later date – LOL), but they have the wrong number listed for her poem “It sifts from Leaden Sieves.” Read about it HERE.
I have emailed the Foundation, but they have never responded. I have called and left messages, and they have never called back. I did speak to a receptionist once, but she seemed very disinterested in what I had to say.
The Foundation site includes this blog post, “On Emily Dickinson’s ‘Error’s,’” which explains their practice of “intentionally” representing Dickinson’s writings with her original – albeit incorrect – punctuation and spellings, “recreated from readings of her original manuscripts as published or available in archives.” To read that post, click HERE.
I tend to think that this is why they don’t respond to me. My theory is that they think I’m calling and emailing to report some error on the part of Dickinson that they don’t plan to change. However, I’m not contacting them about some misspelling or misuse of punctuation. I’m contacting them about an error on their part. They’ve misidentified a poem with a wrong number.
For now I’ve reached out to a contact at the Emily Dickinson Museum to see if somewhere there might help me in my quest to right this wrong.
I’ll update you once I hear back from the ED Museum; however, in the back of my mind, I have one other move up my sleeve: I will organize a nation-wide day of protest. LOL – I’ll coordinate this “major event” with a trip to Chicago to visit my daughter. Maybe in August?
I don’t have a definite date yet – so hold the entire month open on your calendars! Ha ha!
I’m thinking of calling this the “Sorry, Wrong Number” Protest – or maybe the “What’s the 4-1-1 on the 3-1-1” Protest (the poem’s correct number is J311).
This will be a hoot! Stay tuned!
Below: What the "4-1-1 on 3-1-1" protest might look like in front of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago.
First, before I get to my wild plans, here’s some background:
The Poetry Foundation site includes a biography on Emily Dickinson, and it includes links to pages with many of her poems.
I have not checked all of her poems (I’ll do that at a later date – LOL), but they have the wrong number listed for her poem “It sifts from Leaden Sieves.” Read about it HERE.
I have emailed the Foundation, but they have never responded. I have called and left messages, and they have never called back. I did speak to a receptionist once, but she seemed very disinterested in what I had to say.
The Foundation site includes this blog post, “On Emily Dickinson’s ‘Error’s,’” which explains their practice of “intentionally” representing Dickinson’s writings with her original – albeit incorrect – punctuation and spellings, “recreated from readings of her original manuscripts as published or available in archives.” To read that post, click HERE.
I tend to think that this is why they don’t respond to me. My theory is that they think I’m calling and emailing to report some error on the part of Dickinson that they don’t plan to change. However, I’m not contacting them about some misspelling or misuse of punctuation. I’m contacting them about an error on their part. They’ve misidentified a poem with a wrong number.
For now I’ve reached out to a contact at the Emily Dickinson Museum to see if somewhere there might help me in my quest to right this wrong.
I’ll update you once I hear back from the ED Museum; however, in the back of my mind, I have one other move up my sleeve: I will organize a nation-wide day of protest. LOL – I’ll coordinate this “major event” with a trip to Chicago to visit my daughter. Maybe in August?
I don’t have a definite date yet – so hold the entire month open on your calendars! Ha ha!
I’m thinking of calling this the “Sorry, Wrong Number” Protest – or maybe the “What’s the 4-1-1 on the 3-1-1” Protest (the poem’s correct number is J311).
This will be a hoot! Stay tuned!
Below: What the "4-1-1 on 3-1-1" protest might look like in front of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago.
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