I knew someone back in my college days who complained when a professor jotted a note in the margin of one of her papers, “intellectually unimpressive.” LOL.
I think that’s what Emily Dickinson thought about her mother.
I don’t doubt that Dickinson loved her mother, but how to describe their relationship? I can’t help but think of a 2009 movie title – it’s complicated.
In 1885, Dickinson opened a letter to Jeanie A. Greenough with, “I had the luxury of a Mother a month longer than you, for my own Mother died in November….” and she concluded the letter, “To have had a Mother, how mighty!”
The complete letter is HERE.
I think that’s what Emily Dickinson thought about her mother.
I don’t doubt that Dickinson loved her mother, but how to describe their relationship? I can’t help but think of a 2009 movie title – it’s complicated.
In 1885, Dickinson opened a letter to Jeanie A. Greenough with, “I had the luxury of a Mother a month longer than you, for my own Mother died in November….” and she concluded the letter, “To have had a Mother, how mighty!”
The complete letter is HERE.
| Oddly enough, though, in a letter to his wife, Dickinson’s mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson reports that upon meeting the poet at her home, Dickinson said, “I never had a mother. I suppose a mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.” Higginson’s correspondence about that meeting (and quote) is HERE. What to make of all this? On this Mother’s Day Eve, check out this article at LitHub.com by author Jerome Charyn -- HERE. Perhaps Charyn’s commentary will shed light on the poet’s mother-daughter relationship because – like I said – it’s complicated. |  |
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