TeacherTreks17

My apologies to EMILY DICKINSON

(and to those who know her well).....

For the years I have read Emily Dickinson's poetry with my classes, I alway presented her one way; however, after my visit to the MORGAN LIBRARY in New York City, I have much that stands to be corrected!

Before I begin--some information about the Morgan Library. It is a beautiful structure built by Mr. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), an avid collector of literature, rare books, art, and music. His collection grew so much that he needed to construct a special library to house these works.

I visited to learn more about Emily Dickinson, and I not only learned more, but I gained a new perspective on this woman. I'll make it easy by breaking concepts down to what I believed (and therefore taught) to what I now know ( and am therefore teaching!)

Falsehood #1: The only portrait of Emily (as I'll refer to her from this point on) is the one in the above photograph. By the way, she is 16 in this picture. One class insisted that a classmate looked like Emily---the classmate was not happy with the comparison. (Message me if you know who that is or who you are....)

Truth #1: I viewed 2 other representations of Emily:

This is a portrait of her (left) and older brother Austin and younger sister Lavinia.

This is a picture of her and a girlfriend, Kate Scott Turner.

Falsehood #2: Emily was a goody-goody. (OK , I admit I never actually used those words in class, but I may have implied them.)

Truth #2 : She wasn't all that complacent in life. As a matter of fact, in her 1 year at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (a rather strict religious facility if you didn't get that from the name) she was placed in a particular category. The college labeled the girls in 3 groups: "Saved"; "Some Hope"; "No Hopes".......Our Miss Emily fell into the last one.

Falsehood #3: Emily was a recluse---no friends.

Truth #3: She had many friends and enjoyed several close family relationships. She was particularly close to her sister-in-law, Susan, who was the recipient of many of Emily's letters and 252 poems. She was friends with the Bronte sisters. She was so friendly with Kate (pictured above) that she sent her a lock of her hair!

(There's that hair thing again---remember Poe?.......) Also notice that Emily's hair is a bright auburn, not the dark hair we normally picture.)

Falsehood #4: No boyfriends.

Truth #4: She had some crushes, and we have evidence. She wrote to some men she met in her travels (another falsehood, by the way--she traveled to both Boston and Philadelphia). She was often seeking literary advice from the men. She was even asked on a date...........

....to a CANDY PULLING event! Whoo Hooo! George Gould asked her to go see this candy being pulled. She not only saved the hand-written invitation, but she also wrote a poem on the back of it.

As it turns out, many of Emily's poems were written on the backs of envelopes, letters, programs.

Falsehood #5: She did not have a desire to be published.

Truth #5: She had contacted a few people to mentor her, and she was looking for a male mentor in Samuel Bowles. She contacted Thomas Wentworth Higginson in 1862 and sent him 4 poems. His response to her : "Work longer and harder."

Well she took his advice because after her death in 1884 her sister found almost 1,800 poems. I imagine her going through her closet: "What do we have here? Oh my...so THAT's what Emily has been doing!"

Her sister knew they should be published, so she asked for help from Mabel Loomis Todd (her brother's mistress (!) They were published, but they were often heavily edited, changing words and punctuation. Titles were added also, which I'm sure Emily would not have liked.

The poem we read together in class, "I'm Nobody"

is an example of this change:

This is the original manuscript of "I’m Nobody! Who are you?"

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –  
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –  
To an admiring Bog!

Emily originally wrote "Banish" instead of "advertise.

Interesting for my students reading Romeo and Juliet, she admired Shakespeare. She once said, "Why is any other book needed?" Maybe THAT'S why she liked the word "BANISH."

As I said before, Emily used whatever she could find to write her poems. While I was in the exhibit, I forget to bring my Moleskin tablet that my brother gave me as a sabbatical gift...so I used my admission ticket to take notes!