Dickinson in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates
214
Dickinson in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates
214Overview
In addition, promotional items, reviews, and correspondence relating to early publications are included, as well as some later documents that reveal the changing assessments of Dickinson’s poetry in response to evolving critical standards. These documents provide evidence that counters many popular conceptions of her life and reception, such as the belief that the writer best known for poems focused on loss, death, and immortality was herself a morose soul. In fact, those who knew her found her humorous, playful, and interested in other people.
Dickinson maintained literary and personal correspondence with major representatives of the national literary scene, developing a reputation as a remarkable writer even as she maintained extreme levels of privacy. Evidence compiled here also demonstrates that she herself made considerable provision for the survival of her poems and laid the groundwork for their eventual publication. Dickinson in Her Own Time reveals the poet as her contemporaries knew her, before her legend took hold.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781609383923 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Iowa Press |
| Publication date: | 01/01/2016 |
| Series: | Writers in Their Own Time |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 214 |
| File size: | 6 MB |
About the Author
Stephanie Farrar is assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she is working on a monograph titled “Maternity, Masculinity, and the Rhetoric of Rights in American Civil War Poetry.” She makes her home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Cristanne Milleris SUNY distinguished professor and Edward H. Butler professor of literature at the University at Buffalo SUNY. Her books on Dickinson include Emily Dickinson: A Poet’s Grammar, Reading in Time: Emily Dickinson and the Nineteenth Century. She lives in Buffalo, New York.
Read an Excerpt
Dickinson in Her Own Time
A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates
By Jane Donahue Eberwein, Stephanie Farrar, Cristanne Miller
University of Iowa Press
Copyright © 2015 University of Iowa PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-60938-392-3
CHAPTER 1
The Young Dickinson
From 1841 to 1847 and again in the fall of 1848, Emily Dickinson attended Amherst Academy, a private school closely connected with Amherst College and sharing with it a commitment to both Christian piety and intellectual growth; her brother and sister attended the same school. Enrolled first in the classical curriculum and then in the English, Dickinson also received a strong grounding in natural sciences. Although her schooling was interrupted at times for reasons of health, she enjoyed her studies, loved her teachers, and made close friends among other girls. Like most preceptors, Daniel Fiske taught only briefly after graduation from Amherst College before moving on to his ministerial career. He sent a brief reminiscence of Dickinson in response to her sister Lavinia's request for material to be included in the 1894 Letters. Dickinson attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for one year (fall 1847 to 1848); it was common for young women to have only a year or two of college education, unless they knew they would need to earn their living independently. There is no record of Dickinson's correspondence with Amelia D. Jones Stearns, but they knew each other at the seminary and Stearns's reminiscence gives a more rounded view of life at this institution than is provided by the usual scholarly focus on the school's religious orthodoxy. In a section not reproduced here, Stearns remembers singing with "E" for hours one afternoon. Since many popular girls' names began with that initial and she refers to having known this E in Springfield, we regard it as unlikely that her fellow singer was Dickinson. In contrast, the letter from Dickinson's cousin Emily Norcross (Dickinson's college roommate) to a neighbor of their common grandmother, in Monson, Massachusetts, speaks directly to Mount Holyoke's religious atmosphere. Dickinson's behavior at school was indeed observed — and Emily Norcross was not the only one reporting to Hannah Porter, whose husband (Andrew Wood Porter) was one of the first trustees at Mount Holyoke.
Daniel T. Fiske to Mabel Loomis Todd, 6 February 1894
Newburyport
Mrs. M. L. Todd
Dear Madam,
In reply to yours of the 3d inst. I would say that I have very distinct and pleasant impressions of Emily Dickinson, who was a pupil of mine in Amherst Academy in 1842–43. I remember her as a very bright, but rather delicate and frail looking girl: an excellent scholar; of exemplary deportment, faithful in all school duties; but somewhat shy and nervous. Her compositions were strikingly original; and in both thought and style seemed beyond her years, and always attracted much attention in the school and, I am afraid, excited not a little envy. Am sorry to say that I cannot furnish you any copies of either her compositions or letters.
The new volume from her pen which you are editing will, I doubt not, find many readers, and reveal new phases of her unique genius.
Very sincerely yours
D. T. Fiske
Amelia D. Jones Stearns, Reminiscence of Mount Holyoke days, 1899 (published in The Mount Holyoke, 1903; excerpt)
In looking backward fifty years and more, we remember not only the most important events of our Seminary course, but also numerous scenes and incidents of a trivial nature. And this is well, for the full shuttle of sunny memories is likely to weave the longest and brightest web of individual life. How cheering during hours of loneliness and in night vigils how refreshing to review our student period and to recall the acts and friendships of its happy days! In fancy we hear again the shouts of a long row of merry maidens as with joined hands they race down a steep and rugged declivity, striving in vain to reach its foot with line unbroken. Shocking rudeness! These were fresh students, of course, and there was no gymnasium in which to dispose of exuberant spirits, nor had the high step yet been introduced into our calisthenics. We hear the sound of many waters rushing into the cistern underneath the platform in the hall when the man below unwittingly starts the force-pump during devotions, and we smile to think how quickly one of the teachers went down to check his mistimed zeal. Once more we view from the western windows of our seminary home the golden glow of the sunset, nor cease to wonder if the gates of Paradise are just beyond. From the windows toward the sunrise we discover through the rising mist the browsing cattle and the trees, few and shapely, that adorn the brow of the hill; and soon, down where the stream spreads to a lakelet, the old red mill looms clear. We see the sandy knoll near the cemetery, blue with lupines in their season; the "fairy glen" where the maiden-hair ferns, and the dog-tooth violets grew; the unsuspected bog into which the glossy leaves of the early fragrant cabbage enticed our incautious feet; — visions which our open eyes never more behold because of the changes that time has wrought! Companions of our student years! Again we see them, a flock of new-comers, as they crowd into the hall for the opening exercises, some comely and graceful, and some destined to win admiration by their shining virtues and talents. We mark one modest, pale-faced maiden crowned with a wealth of auburn hair. Who could have divined that Emily Dickinson's brain teemed with rare notes that would sing through the land? How could we imagine that the tall, slender brunette who served time with us on the knife circle would ever be chosen as the first president of our beloved college? Truly we had opportunity to study character as well as text books, and to find congenial spirits with whom to form a strong and lasting friendship.
Emily L. Norcross to Hannah Porter from Mount Holyoke, 11 January 1848
Holyoke Sunday
My Dear Mrs. Porter,
As Sarah Jane is quite busy this week we decided that I should write to you first. We miss you very much indeed especially myself as I called upon you so frequently in Miss Lyons rooms. I hope you arrived home safely and that your health has improved. I feared you might take cold and become so fatigued as to make you sick.
It has been very cold since you left especially the last two days. Yesterday it was impossible to keep our room warm and we suffered very much with the cold. To day it has been a little more comfortable. I was intending to send you a letter on Monday morning but I found Miss Whitman was writing so I concluded to wait until to-day before I wrote. I have been very busy ever since you left and have had very little time for writing. I suppose Miss Whitman wrote you the principal facts with regard to the religious interest here. It has been quite an interesting time to me since you left and I think there has appeared to be quite as much interest in school. Last Tuesday evening Miss Lyon appointed a meeting in the Seminary Hall of about half an hour. She talked to us on the subject of prayer. On Wednesday several prayer meetings were appointed. Every one spoke of them as being exceedingly interesting. Our meeting was very interesting indeed. Every one lead in prayer and each one stated something in regard to their own feelings. I attended an other meeting of Miss Lyons this eve. I hope she will have them every Tuesday eve. She wished us to make it an object of prayer that the religion in our family might be continued. She said the very essence of prayer is its continuance and without it prayer is nothing. The same she said is true with religion and it is this which marks it from other things. She spoke of Eternity as being unchangeable and asked why we should not be unchangeable in our preparation for eternity. I was very much interested in her remarks. Tomorrow we have several prayer meetings. I hope it will be a very profitable day to us. I received a letter from Sarah Reynolds on Saturday eve in answer to the note I sent by you. I thought she seemed considerably interested in the subject of religion. She said she wished she might be here to enjoy the religious privileges. I intend to write to her today if I have time.
Emily Dickinson appears no different. I hoped I might have good news to write with regard to her. She says she has no particular objection to becoming a Christian and she says she feels bad when she hears of one and another of her friends who are expressing a hope but still she feels no more interest. Miss Lyon had a meeting on Sabbath morning for those who had some hope that they had found the Savior this term. There were thirty-seven present I understand. One of the young ladies told me that they had a very interesting meeting. I have no more time to write to night and will finish it in the morning.
Wednesday morn. Yesterday I suppose I was remembered in your prayers and I thought of it with great interest. Have you learned any thing as yet with regard to my making a public profession of religion? I have thought of it very much since I received my last letter from Grandmother. I expected to have some time to write this morning but I have been delayed and it is just time for the letters to go. Sarah Jane sends much love. Emily wishes to be remembered to you and says she intended to write you a note to send in this but did not have time. She wishes me to say that she will do it the next opportunity she has. I shall be very happy indeed to hear from you whenever you find it convenient to write.
In haste yours affectionately Emily L. Norcross
Jeanie Ashley Bates Greenough, Reminiscence, n.d.
Jane Ashley Bates (1835–1921) grew up in Westfield, Massachusetts, and was the recipient of several letters from Emily Dickinson. In 1860 she married James C. Greenough, who later became president of Amherst Agricultural College from 1883 to 1886. She remembers Dickinson from the three-week trip Emily and Lavinia took in 1855 to visit their father in Washington, D. C., after his election to the U.S. House of Representatives (not to the Senate, as she misremembers). She concludes by quoting a "characteristic note of sympathy" that Dickinson sent her around 1885, after Greenough's mother died.
My first acquaintance with Emily D. was in Washington many years ago. Her father was U.S. Senator. He, with his two daughters, my father and mother and myself were together at Willard's Hotel. Emily impressed me as a girl with [a] large, warm heart, earnest nature and delicate tastes and we soon became friends.
Some years after, when my father had symptoms of paralysis, she wrote me a note full of sympathy, accompanying flowers.
In Amherst, I did not see her, (as she saw no one) but Lavinia came to renew our acquaintance and brought me Emily's love, or flowers, or notes.
After I lost my mother, I received the following characteristic note of sympathy: [L1022, beginning "I had the luxury of a Mother a month longer than you," late October 1885].
Austin Dickinson to Joseph Lyman, 20 December 1848(?) (excerpt)
Joseph Lyman, a schoolmate and close friend of Austin Dickinson, was distantly related by marriage to the Dickinson family through the Lyman Colemans of Amherst. Lyman lived with the Dickinson family for most of a school term in 1846, when he became romantically involved with Lavinia Dickinson and developed a close friendship with Emily. Lyman continued to make frequent visits to the Dickinsons until he left New England in 1851. He maintained a friendship with Emily through correspondence over the years that followed and remained deeply nostalgic for the pleasant times he enjoyed with all three Dickinson siblings in Amherst. In a letter of 1856, he fondly remembered "Emily Dickinson who used to read German plays with me and sat close beside me so as to look out words from the same Dictionary — 10 years ago." The following letter from Austin to Lyman gives a lively sense of life within the Dickinson home during Emily's youth. The phrase "with none to molest or make us afraid" was a popular nineteenth-century revision of a claim repeated in the Bible, "and none shall make thee afraid" (Job, Ezekiel, Micah). A "colporter" is a peddler of inexpensive books, and Mr. Howe owned the Amherst House hotel.
Amherst, December 20
Friend Jo,
Pardon me for not having before answered your letter....
To begin, then, it is a beautiful, warm morning. I am seated at the kitchen table, which stands by the north window. Before me lie, "Webster's big Dictionary", four volumes of "Paulding's work," the "Statesmans manual"; the "American Journal of Science and Arts," "Day's mathematics," a letter (of eight pages) directed to J H Thompson, (my room mate) which I wrote yesterday, a letter directed to Lo[u]isa Dickinson, (which Emily has just laid there, saying "I want you to take that to the post office, when you go down") and to finish off the table, pens, ink paper, etc. etc. The window is wide open. Within is no one, without is Mr Godfrey, feeding his hens; a brisk fire crackles in the old stove. The cocks, all about, are crowing, Emily has just come in with an old tin pail in her hand, (what she has been, or is going to do with it I dont know) and, now, has gone out again. The college clock is striking "seven" — a great lumber wagon has just rumbled by here — Now you have got enough of momentary description, to go a little fa[r]ther back, I go[t] up at 5:o.clock, fed the horse, then eat my breakfast. At 6.o.clock, I led the horse, attached to the buggy to the front steps, and in the space of two or three minutes perceived two mysterious forms emerging from the front door, apparently a male and female, which, upon raising my lantern, proved to be those of my father and mother who immediately seated thems[e]lves in the wagon and drove off to Monson, bidding us "good morning", as they went, expecting to return tomorrow — Vinnie is at Boston, spending a few weeks, and, therefore, you being quick at figures, will perceive that Emily and I are left, lord and lady of the "mansion", "with none to molest or make us afraid". We are anticipating a fine time in the absence of the ancient people. Wish you were here to help us laugh — I think there is a chance for our having some company tonight. — Almost three weeks of the college vacation have passed, during all of which time until last Sunday, the weather had been so rainy and unpleasant as to prevent all riding or other pleasant outdoor exercise, so now that it is pleasant, I intend to have enough better time to make up for the gloominess of what has past — there is nothing of importance going on here, this winter. The village is rather dull — the young ladies have formed, what they call, a sewing society, meeting once a fortnight, the avowed object of which is "to support a colporter", but the real, to have fun. They exclude married ladies — appoint "6 o.clock" as the time for meeting, all try to be there by 71/2.o.clock for the gentlemen are received at "eight." This plan, you see, makes a very convenient plebeian party, once a fortnight "rain or shine", and they are generally, pretty mirthful times. Last night, they met at Mr Howe's, when I got there, they were all out in the "Dancing Hall," playing "blind man's buff," after which game, there was some dancing. ... Emily sends her respects, and says she shall answer you[r] letter soon —
Good bye — Yr friend Austin
CHAPTER 2Dickinson as Poet
Susan and Emily Dickinson, Exchange on "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers," 1861–62
On 1 March 1862, Dickinson's "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers" was printed anonymously in the Springfield Daily Republican as "The Sleeping," with the postscript "Pelham Hill, June, 1861." Susan Dickinson evidently received a copy of the poem around 1859 and Dickinson also copied it onto a sheet bound into a fascicle in late 1859. Around 1861, Susan initiated an exchange about this poem — oddly, two years after she may have first received it but perhaps following a visit by Samuel Bowles, editor of the Republican. In response to Susan's criticism, Emily sent her a second copy of the poem with a new second stanza ["Grand go the years"], commenting, "Perhaps this verse would please you better–Sue–." As the correspondence below indicates, Emily then tried two additional versions of the second stanza — one of which she apparently did not show Susan at all but copied (with the other new stanzas) into another fascicle. The version that was published was the earliest. Upon its publication, Susan congratulated Emily, as if they had both looked forward to the moment when her work would appear in print. Letters from Bowles to Susan and Austin indicate that he not only repeatedly asked them to have Emily send him some "gems" of poetry (which she often did), but also requested poems from both women for publication. A letter of 1864 concludes, "Speaking of writing so you & Emily give us some gems for the 'Springfield Musket', & then come to the Fair." To our knowledge, Susan's poetry does not appear in the Republican during the 1860s. The letters below are the only exchange documenting a process of poetic revision between Emily and Susan. Dickinson chose this poem (using the "Grand go the Years" second stanza) to send Thomas Wentworth Higginson in her introductory letter to him, 15 April 1862.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Dickinson in Her Own Time by Jane Donahue Eberwein, Stephanie Farrar, Cristanne Miller. Copyright © 2015 University of Iowa Press. Excerpted by permission of University of Iowa Press.
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